Local Marketing Strategies

Local Marketing Strategies

Our Local Marketing Strategies from your Local Marketing Agency.

As a local business you need to find local customers. Our local marketing strategies work.

Let’s be honest. Times have changed and so too has marketing your business. Word of mouth still works, but you need to be innovative in your marketing efforts.
For some business owners, they like the local newspaper, letter box drops, or a flashy, new bells and whistles website, or even pouring thousands of dollars into Google Ads.
All the above can help and can work! But don’t dismiss the digital aspects of marketing. We’ve helped hundreds of local Sydney businesses reach, engage and gain more customers with our marketing strategies. As a local marketing agency, we apply the same marketing strategies and the results are amazing. Yes. It takes time. Yes, it requires work. But it does work.
“If you’re a local business, you need local customers”. Sergio Garcia – Founder : 2 Sons Marketing
This is especially true for business that have a bricks and mortar footprint like retail location, or localised client base. Whether you are an established Sydney beauty salon or a professional painter that covers a large area of Sydney.  Your business growth could be dependent on your local presence in the market.
Our full service Sydney based marketing agency, 2 Sons Marketing uses and recommends the following tips to it’s clients.
In the world of short attention spans, some of the oldest tricks in the book are the ones with cut-through. We’ve put together a list of classic marketing tactics that local businesses shouldn’t forget.
1. Sponsor a local sports team
Even if your child doesn’t participate at the local club, putting some support behind a local club team can quickly open up conversations with potential new customers. An investment of almost any size can go a long way and get your brand on the front of a jersey.  This can create goodwill within your local community, building the overall value of your business and exposing your business to potentially hundreds of locals each and every weekend.
2. Direct Marketing – Letter Box Drops
We hate junk mail.  Plain and simple. However if your demographic is a little older, a letter box drop might be perfect. The older demographic loves going through the junk mail! Maybe a magnet with your business details may be more effective?
3. Social Media & SEO
A well managed social media presence can help you build a network of fans and like-minded businesses around yours. However it must be consistent, well-managed, engaging and valuable.
When everyone was using the Yellow Pages you did, now everyone is using social media and you think you don’t need it!  Sergio Garcia – Founder : 2 Sons Marketing
If you are a small business, having an Instagram account allows you to reach a larger, more targeted audience. We manage quite a few Instagram accounts for Sydney local businesses as well as some businesses abroad and we know Instagram works! for any type of business.
Feel free to check some of our social media marketing and management work.
When using Instagram to market your local business, content, engagement and reach is the goal. Not likes!
4. Claim your Google Business Page
This may seem obvious, but the amount of businesses that do not have one is mind blowing.
It literally takes a few minutes to set up and it’s done. Note: This is a great way to drive new customers to you. As they search for products and services on their mobile device, if they have location services switched on – and they are near your business, you may very well get a call from them.
Please ensure you have the correct information listed and optimised on Google. It means you are more likely to appear in searches. Encouraging your customers to review you once you have provided a product or service will help to build your profile and entrust you to new customers.
2 Sons Marketing believes the best way to ensure marketing success is with a well thought out Marketing Plan, specific to your business and industry.
Smaller business will benefit from a strategic marketing plan just as big businesses do. A strategic marketing plan will ensure any activities will be in line with target markets, goals for the business and are realistic in terms on delivering leads that will turn into sales.
It will help you develop marketing activities that will reach, engage and convert customers.
Small, medium or large business? We’ve worked with them all.
Read why small business fail at doing social media

If you want to Grow your business or need help with digital and social media marketing, we’d be more than happy to work with you.

You can contact us here

View our full range of marketing services that are tailored specifically for your business.

Website Design

Search Engine Optimisation

Social Media Marketing 

To see samples of our work visit our Projects page here.

GET IN TOUCH

2 Sons Marketing

Phone: +61 2 9822 9554

Mobile: +61 414 997 205

Email: info@2sonsmarketing.com

Sydney, NSW, Australia

 

- Website Design
- Social Media Marketing
- Search Engine Optimisation

Website Design and Social Media Marketing Bossley Park, Wetherill Park, Liverpool, Parramatta, Western Sydney, Mascot, NSW

Tips to Optimise Your Site for Local Search on Mobile

Tips to Optimise Your Site for Local Search on Mobile

People that are new to SEO are often wondering whether mobile and local search go hand in hand.

Mobile and local search are a powerful SEO couple. When optimizing your website for mobile devices as a general SEO practice, you should optimize it for local search too.

Based on a comScore study, 61% of mobile users are searching for local things, and 58 % of respondents consider local search results reliable. Which means that the majority of websites have to be optimized for local SEO and mobile search.

All too often, the reason for the poor search results is a drawback of basic settings. By doing the following quick fixes, you will make sure that your mobile website is well-optimized for local search.

Tip #1 – Localise your SEO efforts

Everyone who serves their business communities face-to-face should care about their local SEO. Among these are brick-and-mortar businesses with physical locations (dentist offices, barber shops, real estate agencies, etc.) and service-area businesses operating in a certain geographic area (electricians, repair services, and so forth).

Today localization has a slightly different meaning. It is not just about changing a state, a city, a geographical region or a headline of your business, it should focus more on a neighborhood or a smaller locale. It includes everything from claiming a business listing to confirming that your business location appears in Google Local search. While also managing reviews, online ratings, and local-centric social media engagement.

On-page factors

All localized websites, even if they have a public domain, should create header tags and unique URLs for their specific location. Adding your region in your URL is a strong signal.

You should have a landing page for your location, specify the region name in the URL, and add toponym to the semantic core. If you have different locations, you can create a page where you can list each of your locations with a link to a map or with an H1 tag.

Creating a page with the contact info with the full address, postal code, phone number and store hours listed is a key differentiator. You can do this by adding your NAP to your Schema.org markup.

Google My Business

Once you are done with on-page factors, you should keep an eye on Google My Business to attract users’ attention to the fullest extent.

Your Google My Business Page should include your address, working hours, phone number, images, popular times, reviews, and links to your pages. Here’s our Google My Business account: 

Google-My-Business-2-Sons-Marketing

Make sure that the content on this page is consistent with your brand, the categories and description are on point, and the images are in high resolution.

Social signals

Links from social media sites are getting more and more juice, so updating your business social profiles on a regular basis is important. Adding social sharing buttons for a specific location could also prominently increase your local Google-search unit.

Online reviews

Once users find your business, they might check the reviews from your customers posted on different online directories, social media, forums, etc. The more reviews you get in your region, the better your local SEO will be.

Local search external location signals

External location signals involve the visibility of your NAP and other business information on online directories, such as Yellow Pages, Yelp, TripAdvisor, CitySearch, BBB.org, etc. It is essential to have the right NAP, as these online directories will extract your information from that. Some people also keep track of your reviews on these websites, and you should also pay attention to them.

Tip #2 – Be mobile-friendly

Today a growing number of mobile users look for local businesses every day. Based on comScore’s 2016 Mobile App Report, total digital media time increased by 53% in 2016, and 80% of that increase was due to mobile apps. That means that we need to adjust to this new world with mobile-focused efforts.

Check if your website meets Google’s requirements.

You can do this with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

Online businesses need to make content available to their audiences where they spend most of their time. The focus is to have a mobile responsive website that will actually end up helping SEO and engaging with mobile users.

Make your mobile users satisfied and follow one of these methods:

  1. Responsive web design (RWD) – the server always sends the same HTML code to all devices and CSS.
  2. Dynamic showing – the server responds with different HTML (and CSS) on the same URL depending on the user agent requesting the page.
  3. Separate URLs – different URLs for displaying the site on the desktop and on mobile devices (i.e. example.com and m.example.com)

Check your mobile and desktop rankings.

Once Google announced that they started testing their mobile-first index, mobile rankings have become important for everyone. This makes total sense as mobile rankings differ from desktop. To check your mobile rankings with precise accuracy use SE Ranking SEO Software or similar software that handle this SEO task with ease and precision. 

Tip #3 – Promote the right pages

When search engines identify different URLs leading to the same web page, it creates a variety of problems for the website eventually resulting in a rankings drop and possible penalty. Try a few of the techniques below to help search spiders find the page that’s relevant for a specific search query.

Canonical attribute

To prevent duplicate content issues, you should add to relevant pages the element with rel=”canonical”. The search engine determines this web page as the primary one, and it will be shown in the search results.

Tip: However, use the canonical attribute as the last resort to avoid duplicate content. Before trying this element, you should try the following solutions:

  • Use multiple CSS files to make mobile versions of your web pages.
  • Put 301 redirects from your old pages to your new pages.
  • Update your robots.txt file with the list of unnecessary directories from search engines.

It is essential to use the canonical attribute the right way. If you put the wrong URLs, it can have a detrimental effect on your search engine rankings.

Breadcrumb navigation for product pages

Breadcrumbs serve as a great visual aid showing the location of the user within your site’s hierarchy. Without breadcrumbs on a product page, it’s difficult to find a collection of products that often causes users to get stuck on the product page.

It is essential for users to find certain products regardless of whether they are reaching the product page from a different part of the website or from another website.

Hierarchy breadcrumbs work well for search, non-linear paths and promotions because users can easily turn their attention to linear product browsing. 

A combination of these quick fixes between local and mobile search will help you improve your search rankings and sales results. Make sure to integrate these tips into the creation of your mobile site and become the king of local mobile search.

We hope if you were not familiar with SEO strategies, that at least now you know it’s possible to help your business gain more exposure. If you would like to discuss your business SEO with us, you can contact us here.

View our full range or services that are tailored specifically for your business.

Search Engine Optimisation

Website Design

Social Media Marketing 

To see samples of our work visit our Projects page here.

People that are new to SEO are often wondering whether mobile and local search go hand in hand.

Mobile and local search are a powerful SEO couple. When optimizing your website for mobile devices as a general SEO practice, you should optimize it for local search too.

Based on a comScore study, 61% of mobile users are searching for local things, and 58 % of respondents consider local search results reliable. Which means that the majority of websites have to be optimized for local SEO and mobile search.

All too often, the reason for the poor search results is a drawback of basic settings. By doing the following quick fixes, you will make sure that your mobile website is well-optimized for local search.

Tip #1 – Localise your SEO efforts

Everyone who serves their business communities face-to-face should care about their local SEO. Among these are brick-and-mortar businesses with physical locations (dentist offices, barber shops, real estate agencies, etc.) and service-area businesses operating in a certain geographic area (electricians, repair services, and so forth).

Today localization has a slightly different meaning. It is not just about changing a state, a city, a geographical region or a headline of your business, it should focus more on a neighborhood or a smaller locale. It includes everything from claiming a business listing to confirming that your business location appears in Google Local search. While also managing reviews, online ratings, and local-centric social media engagement.

On-page factors

All localized websites, even if they have a public domain, should create header tags and unique URLs for their specific location. Adding your region in your URL is a strong signal.

You should have a landing page for your location, specify the region name in the URL, and add toponym to the semantic core. If you have different locations, you can create a page where you can list each of your locations with a link to a map or with an H1 tag.

Creating a page with the contact info with the full address, postal code, phone number and store hours listed is a key differentiator. You can do this by adding your NAP to your Schema.org markup.

Google My Business

Once you are done with on-page factors, you should keep an eye on Google My Business to attract users’ attention to the fullest extent.

Your Google My Business Page should include your address, working hours, phone number, images, popular times, reviews, and links to your pages. Here’s our Google My Business account: 

Google-My-Business-2-Sons-Marketing

Make sure that the content on this page is consistent with your brand, the categories and description are on point, and the images are in high resolution.

Social signals

Links from social media sites are getting more and more juice, so updating your business social profiles on a regular basis is important. Adding social sharing buttons for a specific location could also prominently increase your local Google-search unit.

Online reviews

Once users find your business, they might check the reviews from your customers posted on different online directories, social media, forums, etc. The more reviews you get in your region, the better your local SEO will be.

Local search external location signals

External location signals involve the visibility of your NAP and other business information on online directories, such as Yellow Pages, Yelp, TripAdvisor, CitySearch, BBB.org, etc. It is essential to have the right NAP, as these online directories will extract your information from that. Some people also keep track of your reviews on these websites, and you should also pay attention to them.

Tip #2 – Be mobile-friendly

Today a growing number of mobile users look for local businesses every day. Based on comScore’s 2016 Mobile App Report, total digital media time increased by 53% in 2016, and 80% of that increase was due to mobile apps. That means that we need to adjust to this new world with mobile-focused efforts.

Check if your website meets Google’s requirements.

You can do this with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

Online businesses need to make content available to their audiences where they spend most of their time. The focus is to have a mobile responsive website that will actually end up helping SEO and engaging with mobile users.

Make your mobile users satisfied and follow one of these methods:

  1. Responsive web design (RWD) – the server always sends the same HTML code to all devices and CSS.
  2. Dynamic showing – the server responds with different HTML (and CSS) on the same URL depending on the user agent requesting the page.
  3. Separate URLs – different URLs for displaying the site on the desktop and on mobile devices (i.e. example.com and m.example.com)

Check your mobile and desktop rankings.

Once Google announced that they started testing their mobile-first index, mobile rankings have become important for everyone. This makes total sense as mobile rankings differ from desktop. To check your mobile rankings with precise accuracy use SE Ranking SEO Software or similar software that handle this SEO task with ease and precision. 

Tip #3 – Promote the right pages

When search engines identify different URLs leading to the same web page, it creates a variety of problems for the website eventually resulting in a rankings drop and possible penalty. Try a few of the techniques below to help search spiders find the page that’s relevant for a specific search query.

Canonical attribute

To prevent duplicate content issues, you should add to relevant pages the element with rel=”canonical”. The search engine determines this web page as the primary one, and it will be shown in the search results.

Tip: However, use the canonical attribute as the last resort to avoid duplicate content. Before trying this element, you should try the following solutions:

  • Use multiple CSS files to make mobile versions of your web pages.
  • Put 301 redirects from your old pages to your new pages.
  • Update your robots.txt file with the list of unnecessary directories from search engines.

It is essential to use the canonical attribute the right way. If you put the wrong URLs, it can have a detrimental effect on your search engine rankings.

Breadcrumb navigation for product pages

Breadcrumbs serve as a great visual aid showing the location of the user within your site’s hierarchy. Without breadcrumbs on a product page, it’s difficult to find a collection of products that often causes users to get stuck on the product page.

It is essential for users to find certain products regardless of whether they are reaching the product page from a different part of the website or from another website.

Hierarchy breadcrumbs work well for search, non-linear paths and promotions because users can easily turn their attention to linear product browsing. 

A combination of these quick fixes between local and mobile search will help you improve your search rankings and sales results. Make sure to integrate these tips into the creation of your mobile site and become the king of local mobile search.

We hope if you were not familiar with SEO strategies, that at least now you know it’s possible to help your business gain more exposure. If you would like to discuss your business SEO with us, you can contact us here.

View our full range or services that are tailored specifically for your business.

Search Engine Optimisation

Website Design

Social Media Marketing 

To see samples of our work visit our Projects page here.

Google Mobile First Indexing

Google Mobile First Indexing

What is Google’s mobile first indexing and why should you care.

Do you have a mobile-friendly website?

If not, you might be in trouble. Google’s “mobile-first” update could see mobile websites appear earlier in the search results.

Google has rolled out a new algorithm update that could see mobile-friendly website appearing higher in google’s search results than desktop-only websites.

The update will rank webpages based on the quality of their mobile content, so if your mobile content isn’t up to scratch, your ranking in the search results could get hit, along with your website traffic, website enquiries and website conversions as a result.

You might think, “most people visiting my website aren’t using mobiles.” 

The bad news is the change is going to update the search results for both mobile and desktop users.

What does mean for your business? Basically, having a quality mobile version of a website will be more important than ever. The good news is that you have time to make sure your site is up to scratch.

Here’s what you should consider when evaluating your website for Google mobile first indexing:

1. Your website should be mobile responsive (mobile friendly) : if you don’t already have a mobile responsive website, get one now! A responsive website contains design elements that adapt to different screen sizes – from the widest desktop down to the smallest mobile and every size in between. That’s how you know if your website is mobile friendly? Check your website on your smart phone or tablet. If it looks, works and is readable on a smart device you could be safe. 

2. Optimise your website’s speed : website loading speed has always been important for SEO. Now it’s even more important with google’s mobile-first update. Try using google’s free mobile site speed tool to see how your webpage is performing. 

3. Create content for mobile devices : make the written content on your website easy to read by using short sentences and and easily digestible paragraphs. The layout of your website should also be clean and minimal wherever possible, with good use of white (blank) space. 

4. Say no to pop-ups : Google is planning to penalise websites with intrusive mobile pop-ups.If you have a pop-up on your website (an offer sign-up box, for example), consider integrating this into the body of the page instead.

5. Test, test and test : to some this may seem obvious, but one of the most important things you can do to ensure your website is ready for google’s mobile-first index is to test extensively on mobile devices. Keep an eye out for site speed, ease of navigation, and general layout and usability on mobile devices. Use tools like Screenfly to test your website at different screen resolutions – which you should do any time you make changes.

Related article: How website design has changed

Increase your online visibility, reach and engagement with2 Sons Marketing.
Want to get more reviews for your business online, while also getting found by more customers? It’s time speak with about your website, search engine optimisation or social media marketing. You can contact us here

View our full range or services that are tailored specifically for your business.

Website Design

Search Engine Optimisation

Social Media Marketing 

To see samples of our work visit our Projects page here.

How to use Google Local SEO for your business

How to use Google Local SEO for your business

Google Local SEO is super important to any business, particularly if you’re a local business relying on local customers.

Google Maps help in directions, and if you know about google maps marketing, you are already familiar with the concept of Google Places. When your business is searched, it adds a box to the right side of the search results displaying all the necessary details.

Google local seo shows on the Google maps. The most beneficial aspect about google local seo is the improved search ranking.

Google is the key place people go to look for answers. 3.5 billion searches happen every single day. on an average, approximately 97% of consumers browse for local businesses online. Through both organic and paid searches, google could substantially impact your brand awareness and customer traffic.

With increasing competition and businesses popping up, the need to know about businesses in the area has become a necessity this year. google places let us see what we need near us. Google local allows your business to be verified on google places. it gives trust and confidence to google that you are a legitimate and trustworthy company that provides its services.

The aim of all businesses is to be ranked among legitimate and trusted companies.

 Related article: How to get online reviews for your business.

Increase your online visibility, reach and engagement with2 Sons Marketing.
Want to get more reviews for your business online, while also getting found by more customers? It’s time speak with about your website, search engine optimisation or social media marketing. You can contact us here

View our full range or services that are tailored specifically for your business.

Website Design

Search Engine Optimisation

Social Media Marketing 

To see samples of our work visit our Projects page here.

How to get online reviews for your business.

How to get online reviews for your business.

Google, Facebook, or your own website, positive customer reviews can really help your business.

Instead of waiting for your customers to leave a great five stars review, there are a few ways you can proactively reach out and increase your review numbers. We share our very own strategy for requesting feedback from our customers, as well as our tips for, how to respond to the reviews you already have.

The importance of customer reviews.

Reviews are an important part of promoting your business online. Insights from the ACCC found that almost three-quarters of all Australians read online reviews before making a purchase. When these reviews are positive, they can go a long way to convincing a customer to shop with you. However, data from BrightLocal reveals that one negative review can drive away 40% of total customers.

As well as convincing customers to shop with your business, reviews help you rank well on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPS).

Companies with more reviews increase their likelihood of showing up in the top three positions on Google Search, while those without any reviews will appear lower in search results. With the numbers showing that over 25% of people click the first search result, ranking high can have a huge impact on both the online and foot traffic you get for your business.

How to ask customers to leave online reviews.

Create a short URL for customers to write reviews on your website or online business listing.

This makes it easier for customers to find you on the platform. With a Google My Business listing, simply sign in to Google My Business, click ‘Home’, then select the ‘Get more reviews’ card. You’ll receive a short shareable URL that you can then send directly to customers, which makes it easier for them to leave a review.

Ask your existing customers to leave a review.

Your existing customer base is your biggest asset when it comes to getting more positive reviews on online platforms. Share a post via your social media channels asking them to leave a review, along with the link to your listing.

If you’re not sure what to say, this template is a good starting point:

Thank you for being a loyal customer of [company name]. If you have a moment, please consider leaving us a review on [Google/Facebook/TripAdvisor]. It will only take a second, and your feedback helps us improve our [products/services] in the future.

Another way to do this is via email marketing. Send an email to your existing customers asking them to leave a review, along with a link to your different listings across Facebook, Google, and more.

Add reviews into your customer journey.

#GiveGiveGiveThenAsk – if you have delivered a great service or product, you have the right to ask for a review.

The best time to ask for a review is right after your customers have shopped with you or used your service. At this point in time their experience is fresh and they’re more likely to share their feedback online, as opposed to a few weeks or months after the fact.

There are a number of ways you can ask for a review after your customers have shopped with you, including:

  • Adding a sign at your checkout register. Print out a plaque or simply put up a sign that says ‘Leave us a review’ with the logos of the platforms you’re on. If you’re an eCommerce business, pop a thank-you card inside the package with a link to review your products or services online.
  • Include a call-to-action to leave a review at the bottom of your receipts. This could be at the bottom of an email receipt or at the bottom of a physical receipt that you print out for customers in-store.
  • Train your staff. If your staff are interacting with customers on a regular basis, it could be as simple as training them to ask at the point of sale. A simple sentence like “If you have a moment, we’d really appreciate it if you could leave us a review on [platform name]” can work wonders.

Replying to existing customer reviews.

If you receive a positive review, the process is fairly straightforward. Simply thank the customer for their feedback and express how much you look forward to welcoming them back in the future.

For negative reviews, the key is to acknowledge the customer’s feedback, express your regrets about the situation, and share how you have addressed the issue/s (if applicable). Try to take the conversation offline as soon as possible —  ask the reviewer to send you a private message or get in touch via email, so the matter doesn’t drag on in a public forum. Last but not least, try to fight the urge to get defensive. Keep in mind that your responses are there for everyone to see, and are a reflection of your business.

Increase your online visibility, reach and engagement with2 Sons Marketing.
Want to get more reviews for your business online, while also getting found by more customers? It’s time speak with about your website, search engine optimisation or social media marketing. You can contact us here

View our full range or services that are atilored specifically for your business.

Website Design

Search Engine Optimisation

Social Media Marketing 

To see samples of our work visit our Projects page here.