The economy in Mobile is experiencing strong growth and small businesses are a major reason why. These diverse businesses provide exceptional products and services to the local market. It can be difficult, however, for smaller businesses to effectively compete against larger companies for their share of the local market. The reason is that many smaller businesses still rely on traditional marketing like newspaper ads, billboards, TV, and radio ads. These are expensive, hit-and-miss approaches that offer little benefit to the business. Local digital marketing, on the other hand, benefits Mobile, Alabama businesses in 7 distinct ways.
In many ways, local digital marketing mimics traditional marketing techniques. It’s intended to attract the attention of new customers, retain current customers, generate leads and, of course, to make sales. There are several elements of local digital marketing, however, that are very different. For starters, digital marketing is centered on creating useful content intended to educate, entertain, and attract rather than simply trying to sell. Some digital marketing techniques include:
Competition is fierce for many Mobile, Alabama businesses and as new companies flock to the area, it will only become more competitive. It’s imperative, then, that businesses do everything they can to stand out from the crowd. Companies that choose to take advantage of local digital marketing will realize several benefits.
While a newspaper ad might grab the attention of some of the locals who subscribe to it, others simply won’t see it at all. A similar thing happens with television ads, radio spots, and even billboards. Only a few people actually see it and many of them may not be interested. The majority of people use their smartphone or other connected device to find products and services they need. This is true for residents of the area as well as people who are just passing through. When a local business incorporates digital marketing strategies into their marketing mix, they’re more likely to be seen by every potential customer.
One of the main issues with traditional forms of advertising and marketing is that they’re not targeted. For example, a billboard for a specialty store on the side of the highway is seen by everyone who passes, not just those who have shown an interest in the products sold. Local digital marketing only targets people who are likely to become customers. One of the best examples of this is “near me” searches on Google. When someone is looking for a specific business type, product, or service, Google’s search function automatically shows results for the closest businesses to them. Unless a business is listed locally, no one will ever know they exist.
Traditional marketing targets a large portion of the population without any real focus. While many people may see or hear the ad, it’s not targeted to the people who are most likely to become actual customers. While leads may be produced, they’re generally low quality. Local digital marketing targets individuals and groups that have either shown interest in a product or service, or who have already become customers. That results in a much higher quality of leads, which in turn leads to more sales and repeat customers.
Digital marketing is more than just creating advertisements and trying to make sales. It’s a way for brands to build long-lasting, strong relationships with their customers. Every business, no matter what industry, relies on repeat business, so this is an important point to note. Businesses that offer relevant, useful, and timely information are perceived by their customers to be more caring and helpful. Those things make people want to continue to do business with the company and gives them good reasons to recommend it to others.
Razor thin profit margins are nothing new and small to mid-size businesses feel the pinch even more than their larger counterparts. Paying for advertising that doesn’t get results is a waste of time and money. Small businesses that are already struggling to maintain their budgets simply cannot afford to throw money away. Local digital marketing helps businesses refine their advertising so that they’re only paying for ads that are likely to produce results.
Most traditional marketing takes weeks, or even months to fully roll out. For example, taking out an advertisement in the local newspaper requires at least a week for the ad to be created, reviewed, approved, and finally published. Then, it’s only visible for a short amount of time. Local digital marketing, on the other hand, is nearly instant and ads remain visible for much longer. That means businesses can see results, such as increased lead generation and sales, much faster.
It’s difficult for a business to track and analyze the effectiveness of traditional advertising like a radio ad. The number of listeners varies, the time of day the ad runs can impact its effectiveness, and the results are hard to define. Digital marketing provides businesses with a variety of tracking and analytics tools such as counting the number of click-throughs, conversion rates, and sales directly attributed to the ad. These tools make it easy to make changes to the campaign to improve its performance.
As a business owner in Mobile, Alabama, your main objective is to keep your business running as smoothly as possible. You spend your time improving your products and services to better serve your customers and the community. If you take the time to learn about local digital marketing techniques, it will take your attention away from what matters to you most. Instead, leave the digital marketing to the pros at Attractional Marketing.
Contact us today so that we can learn more about you, your business, and your goals. We’ll help you develop a successful digital marketing campaign that gets results time and again.
An aesthetically pleasing, logically organized, and well-design website is a necessary tool for effective digital marketing. Birmingham businesses need localized websites that address the people who are most likely to seek their products or services. At Attractional Marketing, we create an SEO-optimized website to help you rank high in online searches while being very accessible to your customers.
SEO is a critical factor in ranking well in the search engines. Can customers find your website when they search online for you? Our team does the work of determining the ideal keywords for your website based on your products and services. We’ll enhance your website to ensure Google finds you.
A key component of any digital marketing in Tuscaloosa is to be able to clearly understand how your digital marketing is performing. That’s why we provide comprehensive reporting as well as analytics to support your marketing efforts and enable you to have a crystal clear view of your digital marketing.
Your business relies on its online reputation far more than you may realize. Local customers will often look up a Birmingham shop, restaurant, or other company before patronizing them. If you have a lot of bad reviews or even too few reviews, they make choose another company. Our digital marketing services in Birmingham also encompass helping you build or improve your online reputation.
Increasing brand recognition for your company can be a complex, multifaceted process. As we handle every part of it, we also offer direct mail products. As part of an organized campaign, these can help reach customers who are thinking about buying something from your company and inspire them to go through with it. We offer Valpak direct mail and plastic postcards to increase your meaningful engagement with customers.
How you rank in online searches is also critical to reaching customers who are looking up the services or products you offer. Sometimes paid searches are the optimal way of reaching your target audience. That can help you get high-quality, targeted traffic coming in a steady stream to your website.
Sometimes customers want to reach a business with questions, concerns, and complaints. If you don’t have a way for customers to do that, they may immediately start posting negative things on social media or negatively review your company in a way that stays online permanently. If you instead have a way of helping your customers reach someone through a live chat service, the complaints may stay with the company, and you have the chance to make things right with your customer. We offer live chat services as part of our digital marketing in Birmingham.
Producing content for social media and your website is difficult, but Attractional Marketing makes it easy and simple. Our experienced team will create content for you on your website, blog, and social media sites, allowing you to deliver high-quality, on-point content to not just impress your customers but also to meet the needs of the search engines. If you need content, we can do it for you.
Video is where the most impactful types of content exist. Build your brand, communicate your message, and help your customers to understand exactly what you bring to the table. Let our team develop engaging video for your marketing efforts.
Valpak direct mail continues to be one of the best ways for companies to reach their local audience. Attractional Marketing will create the type of message that is going to get customers to stop and react to what you have to offer.
When you want your customers to hold onto your information longer, plastic postcards work best. Our professionals can design an outstanding postcard that gets noticed and one they keep in their possession for months.
Attractional Marketing also handles all of the commercial printing services you need. We’re dedicated to working closely with you to create marketing materials that are bright and communicate your message and your brand clearly.
When you want to start seeing results for your business, it’s time to talk to an Attractional marketing expert.
During your call, talk about your vision. Before you hang up, you’ll have the outline to a plan to reach your goals.
Start winning with your marketing, creating more interest in your business, and earning returns on your investment.
