Growing a local business is a bit like dieting, it rarely comes down to one big push. One hamburger isn’t going to make you fat but one salad won’t make you lose weight either. It works because of lots of smaller actions carried out consistently over time and marketing your business is not different.
More often than not brand visibility is built through a clear, consistent approach that makes it easy for nearby customers to find you, trust you and keep coming back. Getting the fundamentals right first makes every other growth effort work harder and lays the foundations for a successful start.
Build a clear local marketing strategy so nearby customers can recognise your business and understand what you offer. This does not need to be complicated. Knowing who your typical local customer is, what makes your business different from nearby competitors and which channels they actually use makes every future decision, from social media to local advertising, considerably easier.
When you start advertising Instagram or TikTok might seem like the places to be because that’s what everyone else does but if your customers aren’t on there, it simply won’t work. Business directories, the local newspaper and even a good old-fashioned leaflet drop may be just what you need to capture customers.
Keep your business profile, opening hours and contact details up to date across search and directory listings so people can find you easily. Inconsistent information across different platforms, such as an old phone number on one listing or outdated opening hours on another, quietly costs businesses customers who simply give up and go elsewhere.
This is more important than many business owners realise. Research shows that 76% of people who search for something nearby visit a business within 24 hours, which means outdated or inconsistent details can cost a business a customer who was ready to visit almost immediately.
A staggering 92% of shoppers trust word-of-mouth referrals more than any other kind of marketing, so it pays to treat your customers well and get them referring you to their friends and family. Encourage reviews and recommendations from local customers, and make it easy for them to offer feedback. A steady stream of genuine, recent reviews reassures new customers that your business is reliable, and it often carries more weight locally than any paid advertising could.
Growth strategies often stall because they try to appeal to everyone at once, rather than being specific about who the business genuinely serves best. A local cafe attracting parents with young children in the morning has very different needs, timing and messaging to one aiming to attract office workers at lunchtime, even if both groups walk past the same door. Being specific about your best customers makes marketing spend, social media content and even opening hours easier to plan around.
This does not mean turning other customers away. It simply means being clear enough about who you serve best that your marketing and promotion actually resonates, rather than trying to speak to everyone in a way that ultimately connects with no one in particular.
Get involved in community events, partnerships and local promotions to increase visibility and create stronger local connections. Sponsoring a local event, partnering with another nearby business or simply showing up consistently at markets and fairs builds familiarity that pays off well beyond the event itself.
You may think your business is well-known but you’d be surprised by how many people have probably not heard of you unless you’re consistently getting involved in the local and business communities.
Growth rarely happens overnight, but a business that gets these fundamentals right consistently tends to build a loyal, local customer base steadily over time. Being easy to discover in the first place is often the biggest barrier standing between a local business and its next customer.
As a local marketing strategy beds in, it’s worth periodically checking which efforts are genuinely bringing in new customers rather than assuming everything is contributing equally. Simple questions asked at the point of sale, such as how a customer heard about the business, can reveal far more than expensive tracking tools, particularly for smaller local businesses without dedicated marketing resources.
This kind of feedback often reveals surprises. A local business might discover that a modest, low effort activity such as a regular community noticeboard post is bringing in more new customers than a paid social media campaign, simply because it reaches people already primed to trust local recommendations. Reviewing this periodically helps direct future effort towards what is genuinely working, rather than what feels like it should be working. Download the Loci App today to grow your local business and reach more customers nearby.
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