As quality content becomes more important for the success of SEO campaigns, content marketing has become one of the most powerful strategies for digital marketers. In the past, content marketing campaigns were used only by large brands and agencies, but the tactics are now more accessible to entrepreneurs and small businesses. Content marketing has been democratized, giving small businesses the ability to compete with their larger rivals.
More and more, local businesses are finding success in content marketing by specifically targeting their local audience. They don’t need to worry about scaling back or appealing to a wider audience, but can instead focus on delivering content that will be useful to their community.
Since the internet is oversaturated with content, it can be difficult to break through the noise and reach your target audience. A content marketing campaign can help you cut through the clutter and reach your target market.
How to create a content strategy for your local business
1. Set SMART goals and objectives
There are several reasons why you might be interested in implementing a local content marketing strategy, but there are generally four goals that can be achieved through the process:
- Attract qualified traffic to your website
- Generate links to your website
- Generate social shares
- Increase brand awareness
The following goals are not mutually exclusive and a good campaign might hit all four marks, but knowing what your end goal is will help you better define where your campaign should start. For example, if you are just looking to increase your following on social media, you will want to create highly shareable content with viral potential. However, if you are looking for links to benefit your SEO, you might have better success publishing a local resource or guide.
Here are the different types of content that best align with each content marketing goal:
Any content with local information that will interest people in your geographic area will help attract qualified traffic to your website.
You can generate links to your website by creating content that is useful to other webmasters. This could include resources, statistics and studies, “ultimate” guides, useful lists (tools, tactics, ideas), and infographics.
To maximize social media engagement, your content should be shareable. This usually means shorter content pieces like Top 10 lists, “best of” lists, “you won’t believe this” lists, pop culture references, videos, and interviews.
If you want to increase public awareness of your brand, include it prominently in any local content you create.
2. Define your target audience
A deep understanding of your target audience is crucial for creating content that resonates with them. By tailoring your content to their wants and needs, you can more efficiently focus your efforts, be productive, and achieve your local content marketing goals.
Your target audience definition should be as specific as possible. When creating your definition, consider location, age, language, income, needs, and personalities. For example, if your business is in a predominantly Spanish-speaking area, create content in both Spanish and English.
Identify your buyer personas.
In order to better understand your audience, try creating buyer personas that represent different segments of your overall audience. By doing this, you can more easily create content that will be appealing to them.
It’s important to keep up with your buyer personas, as they change over time, to accurately represent your audience and brand.
As outlined in Forbes, here are two helpful methods to persona development and how you can use them for your local business:
- Interviews
- Take a look at your existing audience and ask them to participate in a feedback session.
- Using surveys or a series of interviews is a great way to gather valuable insights into your customers. Providing a small incentive for participating can increase engagement.
- Questions should be in-depth and cover demographic information, general interests, hobbies, what they love about your product or service, and what they want to see more of.
- Holding 3-5 interviews is a great way to notice trends or patterns in your persona responses.
It would help if you had a descriptive idea of your ideal customer, Whichever method you use. You can then sort this information into the following categories:
- Demographics and interests – Characteristics of your buyer persona, such as gender, age, relationship status, location, income, occupation, hobbies, purchasing trends, social media activity, etc.
- Goals – The buyer persona’s objectives in using your business.
- Values – The business characteristics that are important to your buyer persona.
- Challenges – The pain points that your buyer persona has that stand in the way of your business.
- Objections – The reasons your buyer persona would not use your business.
3. Choose the proper content formats for your target audience.
If you’re notcareful about the content format you use, defining your buyer personas can be pointless. It’s often best to use multiple content formats when you have multiple buyer personas, although you should be realistic about what works for your business.
Here are some fantastic content formats to incorporate into your strategy:
Blog posts and articles
Many companies use blogging as part of their content marketing strategy because it is an effective way to generate leads. Jeff Bullas reports that companies with a blog on their website can see a 434% increase in indexed pages and a 126% increase in lead generation.
Share content that is relevant to your business’s local area and that relates to your target audience. So, if you are a local interior designer, you might share a guide like “Best Homeware Shops in Austin.” Keep in mind that your content must be original and well written, with plenty of strong keywords, to help you appear higher in search engine results.
Videos
Videos are a great way to connect with potential consumers and generate leads. You can use hashtags and geotags to help people in your area find you. More and more people are spending time watching videos, so you should take advantage of this.
Images
Images on Instagram can help promote your business, and it can also be used to share your blog content. Engagement can be increased with visuals, as customers often look for local businesses online.
If you want to engage your target audience and help them understand your business, share infographics. For example, if you have a local environmentally-friendly cleaning product company, you could share an infographic that highlights the benefits of choosing earth-conscious solutions.
Podcasts
More than 41 million people in the United States listen to at least one podcast per week, making podcasts a powerful marketing tool for local businesses. Your podcast can be any length and include interviews, explanations, or a question and answer format.
If you want to save time by creating a podcast, repurpose content you have already created. For example, if you own a local nutrition business in St. Louis and want to establish yourself as an expert in your field, you could have people call in and ask quick questions about nutrition. Provide helpful and educational answers to these questions on your podcast.
E-books
Would you like to download a free e-book? Those free e-books can be very effective in attracting new customers. You can write your e-book by starting with a long-form blog post and expanding from there. E-books demonstrate your expertise and can also help you to collect information about potential customers. Just make sure that you require an email address in order to download the e-book, and then you will have a new database of leads for your content marketing efforts. An e-book can be about anything at all, such as a workout guide, how to make restaurant-quality food at home, how to make more environmentally friendly choices, or even a personal meditation journey.
The content format you choose needs to be appropriate for your audience and their habits. Create content that will help them solve their most significant problems. Choose the format that works best.
4. Create a content schedule
Your content schedule should contain when you post each week, the types of content, and where. An online template or calendar can help you stay on track and accountable. Consider how long it will take you to create the content, how often you want to post, and when when making your content schedule.
When planning your content, always keep your target audience in mind. Consider what topics they would be interested in and how that might change as they progress through the different stages of the marketing funnel. Also, decide how you will promote the content. For example, will you post blog articles to social media or use guest bloggers and backlinks? Make sure to include all of this in your content schedule.
It’s important to be realistic when setting goals and expectations. Understand what resources you have available and create a schedule that will work for you.
5. Set up a workflow
A content workflow for a local business typically includes the following tasks: outlining, writing, reviewing, editing, approving, and publishing. Each task should be assigned to someone and have a timeline for completion. Having a comprehensive workflow will make executing your content marketing strategy much easier.
6. Measure and improve your efforts over time
Once you start creating and distributing content, you need to measure how well it is performing. This will help you determine if your content marketing efforts are effective and where you need to make improvements.
The goals you want to achieve with your content will determine what metrics you use to measure your success. There are five general categories of metrics: traffic, conversions, engagement, SEO performance, or authority. Google Analytics is a tool you can use to measure how well your local content marketing strategy is performing.
You can improve your content by paying attention to what types of content your audience engages with. Try distributing more of that type of content to see if it has a positive effect.
7. Find Local Websites to Publish Your Content
The best way to find local websites to publish your content is by using Google. You can use a combination of Google search operators and a Chrome plugin to quickly and easily identify high authority local sites.
Before you search for a website, you should use the Moz Bar tool on Google Chrome. This will show you SEO statistics for websites. The websites with a high Domain Authority are the ones you want to choose, and the ones with a low Domain Authority or low link count are the ones you want to avoid. The plugin is free and easy to use.
If you want your content to be seen by a lot of people, then you should try to get it featured on Austin Culture Map. They have a strong Domain Authority and Page Authority, which means that a lot of people will see your content if it’s on their website.
Local Content Marketing Moves the Needle
crafting local content can be an effective way to generate traffic, inbound links, and leads. It can be time-consuming to build these relationships initially, but they can be beneficial in the long run. For example, you may be able to turn a one-time guest post into a regular contributor role, or you may be able to published on other website’s audience.
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