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5 Essentials of Hyperlocal Marketing to Help You Find Your Best Customers

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There has never been a time in history where people are exposed to so much information than now. From the important to the irrelevant facts, everything is searchable on the World Wide Web by anyone, even by a five-year-old.

Advertisers and marketers have used this to their advantage that it led to a billion dollar industry. The question, however, is if all these marketing efforts are worth all the money being spent on it. Sadly, even Google admits that only very few people click those ads. In fact, 56 percent of those ads were never opened. In other words, nobody really cares so if you are a small business, what are you going to do against all big competitions?

There’s only one answer: hyperlocal marketing.

 

Hyper… What?

Hyperlocal marketing is the new buzzword in marketing. However, it is more than that because it accomplishes more than what an ordinary marketing campaign can do.

With the world becoming more mobile than before, consumers don’t just search for businesses, products, or services in general. Not only have they become more specific about what they want, but they want those results to be as accessible as possible. In other words, they want those results within arms reach.

For example, if you want to have lunch with a friend, go to a gym, or find a new bestselling book, what do you search for? Basically, you type “restaurants near me,” or “gyms near me,” or bookstores near me that have this or that book.” By doing that, you have already conducted a hyperlocal search.

More so, users now expect that Google will take their location in consideration every time they conduct a search, even when they do not put location qualifiers, such as “near me” phrase, zip codes, or addresses. Google revealed that these types of searches have increased by 150 percent.

With those numbers and statistics, it makes sense that businesses should focus more on hyperlocal marketing. But how can you take advantage of it? Here are some practical tips to boost your hyperlocal marketing campaign:

 

#1 Categorize your business as local

Categorizing your business as local makes sense if you want to capitalize on hyperlocal marketing. But how do you do it? Schema markup, a code you place on your website that helps search engines conk out more informative results for users.

Some of the information that is included in the schema markup is the address, business days and hours, and event schedule page. Thus, when people search for your business, they won’t just see the business name but other useful information about your business as well.

Related: 7 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is Necessary for Small Businesses

 

#2 Build a Google My Business page

A comprehensive Google My Business (GMB) listing is another important element in boosting your hyperlocal marketing efforts. It displays your business in Map results along with your business hours and opening days as well as the busiest time or day of your business. It also tells users whether you offer other special services.

Here are some important elements you should place in your GMB listing to fully utilize it:

  • A unique description that contains links and your primary keyword. Your keyword should be placed within the first 100 words of the description.
  • A high-resolution cover photo and profile image
  • A local contact number
  • Your business address. Make sure that it is consistent with the address on your website and other social profiles.
  • Your open hours and business days
  • The correct category for your business

Related: How to Use SEO To Influence B2B Buyers On Social Media

 

#3 Optimize your website for mobile

More and more local searches have been conducted on mobile. A mobile optimized website has higher chances of appearing in local searches. Thus, you have to make sure that your website is responsive to make the user experience as pleasant as possible no matter what device they are using. It is also advisable to create a mobile app where you can engage your customers directly.

Related: 10 Undeniable Ways Mobile is Reshaping B2B Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC]

 

#4 Get reviews

Word-of-mouth marketing has been one of the powerful tools any business has. Think about the last time you were looking for a good place to have dinner with your friends. What were you looking for aside from the location? Customer reviews, right? If you did that, what makes you think that your customers aren’t doing the same thing?

A 2017 report from Moz revealed that

13% of how Google decides to display the search results for local search comes from customer reviews

Tweet this!

Related: How to Turn Customers into Brand Ambassadors

 

#5 Use geolocation tools

Geolocation tools work two ways – you allow your customers to find you easily and, at the same time, helps you reach out to the local audience. With these tools, people can see how far you are from their present location and how they can get to where your business is. On the other hand, these tools allow you to engage local social media influencers that can help you connect with the community better.

 

Conclusion

Start implementing these tips/strategies to your hyperlocal marketing campaign and take your business to the next level as you find new customers and prospects.

 

Author Bio:

Rebecca Matias

Rebecca Matias is a Business Development Manager at Callbox. She is a proactive marketer who is willing to share her passion, leadership principles and craft in marketing. Follow Rebecca on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

 

What do you think of hyperlocal marketing?

Let us know in the comments! 🙂

 

 

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Effective Lead Generation Channels to Watch For (In Case You Missed Them)

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Digital marketing, or marketing in general, is highly dependent on using different techniques to facilitate the acquisition of leads and their proper conversion into sales.

However, with the advent of new technology, lead generation has become a process that has continued to reinvent itself. In fact, it is so dynamic that sometimes we end up in a haze just trying to keep up with the times.

In this short article, we will be discussing a few of lead generation channels that are worth your valuable time.

 

Why is Lead Generation Important?

In order for us to properly understand the importance of lead generation, you will have to remember two things:

  1. Lead generation is a measurable factor that can determine the effectiveness of your marketing campaign, and;
  2. It can potentially lead to revenue.

 

Lead Generation Channels We Should Keep Our Eyes On

Search Engine Optimization

Do you want people to see you? Then, get visible. There are said to be over 200 different ranking factors that help get you on the first page of a search engine and when is the last time you did an SEO audit on your site?

The Internet is powered by search engines and keywords that indicate buyer intent, so what better of getting your name out there and getting people to visit than by being around when they are looking for what you offer.

Related: How to Use SEO To Influence B2B Buyers On Social Media

Email Campaigns

Email campaigns are one of the most powerful tools that we have in our arsenal and their veracity to generate, follow up, and create leads is unbridled. However, what are you doing with your email campaigns lately?

In the last two decades, email marketing has been such a powerful tool that it has not left the holster of any seasoned marketer. It has in fact grown with time and it’s probably time that you forget your preconceived notions of email marketing and read on.

The aim of the game is personalized automation. First of all, everyone is sick of spammy emails that are trying to target anyone and everyone, we all crave a little attention and so do the customers we are targeting. The latest technologies that we have today make personalization easier, couple this with selected mailing lists and you’re almost all set to go.

Non-stop ride for your email marketing strategy, check out this eBook, The Ultimate Lead Generation Kit To Jump start your Business!

However, don’t forget automation. Automation allows for you to send these highly targeted pieces of electronic correspondence to your targets with a click of a button, they automate everything from follow-ups, to even tracking if an email has been opened or not. They also sift through customer behavior and help you create better pieces.

Want to succeed? Step up your email game.

Related: Marketing and Transactional Emails: How to Leverage Both [VIDEO]

Social Media Marketing

Everyone from the person who just served you lunch to your grandma uses social media nowadays, and its prevalence has made lead generation a live game with a pseudo-level playing field for everyone.

There are plenty of ways to target customers and generate leads using social media, and it does not only stop at running targeted ad programs.

The things your company and your product does on social media describes its personality to the internet world and it helps create a brand that is both alive and real. From your rich media content to the advice that you give out, everything works hand in hand in order to develop your social media lead generation campaign.

Related: Leverage Social Media’s Influence to Reach More Targeted Customers

Rich Media and Content Marketing

Create content that captivates and provides information and disseminate them. This includes infographics, shareworthy posts, informational content, tutorial videos, calculators, spreadsheets, etc.

This signals to the people assimilating your content that you are indeed someone who is of value and a leader in the industry. This will develop trust and pretty soon they will be knocking on your door – or website in this case.

Related: How to write content that gets read and shared

Outreach

Getting featured on another blog – with a link to your website – is a great way to get some ranking potential (links help you rank) and generate valuable leads. When you get featured on someone else’s blog. It indicates to that person’s followers that you are a person of interest and you have something to show for.

You are essentially being given an entire market to sell your product to. There are a lot of ways you can do this, but whatever you do, do not hard sell to them. Just like content marketing, be a source of information, inspiration, and intelligence and not just jam your product or services on to anyone’s plate.

 

So there you have it, these lead generation techniques online will save you a lot of time sifting through the myriad of seemingly daunting lead generation tips. They are simple, easy to implement, and downright effective in what they offer.

 

Remember, lead generation is the aim of the game here. You have to play the game, to win the game.

 

Which lead generation channel gives you the best results?

Share in the comments below! 🙂

 

Search Marketing for Dummies: Stuff you might not know about SEO

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Stuff You Dont Know About SEO

We know the essence of search engine optimization and how it is used in marketing and in other fields. By definition, it is the intervention of the visibility of a website or other web contents to increase its ranking in the search results listings. But if you think it’s as simple as that, think again.

Here are some things you need know about search engine optimization:

It isn’t just about keywords

Bombarding web contents with keywords will not guarantee a rank increase in search results listing. This is because Google uses a new search algorithm called Hummingbird. This search algorithm enables Google to reassess particular web contents semantically. It does not only define every keyword but on how it was used in a sentence. To address this, digital marketers should create quality contents that define the keyword and use it in the way its sheer definition will be emphasized.

It isn’t just about You

If you think you have done enough on SEO to lead the search results listings, you are wrong. Just as how the logic behind SEO changes, so does the players in this game. Just like you, they can use SEO to promote their products and they keep on learning the best ways of E-marketing. Innovation in this field never stops; find new ways to further improve product promotion, lead generation, and customer satisfaction.

It’s about the entire Web

One mistake of most digital marketers is that they only focus their E-marketing strategies on their company website and forgot the other 1 billion websites within the web network. Use SEO not only with the on-site contents, but also with other web channels like social media, video sharing sites, blogs, and more.

It’s also about Social Media

SEO and social media integration is an advanced E-marketing strategy that uses the features of both for a doubled result. Social media has been used as a factor in SEO processes. Digitals marketers have been using social media functions in virtually linking their products and services to its target market to build social integrity.

It’s about Google

Among search engines, Google is the biggest with more than 3.5 billion searches per day. Focus on Google’s search engine optimization standards. Moreover, Google’s search algorithm constantly progresses and is getting intelligent based on the shifting trends and user activities; so you have to adapt to this changes to keep you on-track.

It’s about Quality Content

As mentioned, strengthening online presence through SEO is not solely dependent on the number a keyword that was used but on how it was used. In Ascend2’s “SEO Marketing Benchmark Summary” Report, creating a quality content is the most effective SEO tactic, though it is also the most difficult to implement. Focus on the strengths and features of your company; make clear, interesting, and influential.

Search engine optimization is more than what we think it is.  It offers more useful functions, use this as a competitive advantage to lead not only the search result listing but in the entire modern marketing.

Source : http://www.business2community.com/infographics/top-8-surprising-seo-facts-know-infographic-0965850?utm_source=B2C&utm_medium=Trending-Widget 

Search and Social: Integrating Two Giant B2B Marketing Channels

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Search and Social

Social media and search engine optimization are both offspring of information technology evolution that had helped us develop many areas of our lives.  In the business world, they both revolutionized the context of B2B marketing by introducing new and efficient strategies.

Social networking has created a comprehensive virtual environment that allows people around the globe to converse. It revolutionized our involvement to the global trend.

Search engine optimization, on the other hand, is the method of creating intervention on the organic stream of data searches of search engines. The search results are ranked depending on what the engine considers as the most relevant based on the inputted keywords.

It is apparent how these two advancements, as individual units, have changed how businesses operate around the world. Now, imagine what they can do if we integrate their functions to work as one.

Today, branding became more dependent on social recommendation and web interactions to emphasize product visibility and integrity. Because of this, marketers’ focal points should be on increasing product presence, thru search engine optimization, and increasing product integrity, thru social media.

Social integrity affects search ranking

The search system algorithms of search engines are intervened by social interactions. The trends within the social networks affect the ranking of web contents in the search result listings.

Social has integrated search

Socials have built-in search function that uses same algorithms as search engines. This will provide digital marketers the opportunity to maximize the features of social media. For instance, YouTube, with more than one billion users, has the most used search function; SEO makes it easier for the users to view the videos they wanted.

Effective customer service

Customer satisfaction is the one of the highest form of marketing success. Twitter’s optimized auto-tagging of relevant tweets is just an example of combined search and social that improves customer service.

For example, whenever customers’ tweets that his internet is not working; twitter will filter these relevant tweets so that it can be auto-generated in the twitter feed of customer’s internet provider. Search and social approach is an effective way of connecting to the needs of every customer.

Better promotion

A Nielsen study shows that 67% and 43% of consumers will buy new products that are learned from active search and social media, respectively. In launching a product, making the potential customer understand the key features of that product is a big advantage. Marketers’ digital promotion should also be done outside of their websites using quality content that are made specifically for the target market of a certain product.

Doubled results

Companies that optimize the search and social features gets doubled results in lead generation, conversion rates, and click-based revenue. Moreover, the combination of the two focuses on each channel separately, but the effect complements each other.

The search and social approach in modern marketing is a combination of proven schemes; this makes the integrity of the approach indisputable in crafting an edge on modern marketing. Marketers should grab this opportunity to dominate the harsh market competition.

Sources:

http://www.business2community.com/infographics/10-reasons-combine-search-social-infographic-0959819?utm_source=B2C&utm_medium=Trending-Widget#!bxzJ1M

 http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2013/a-multi-mix-media-approach-drives-new-product-awareness.html

Will Google’s NoFollow Link Policy Kill Your SEO? Not if you follow these tips

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Will Google’s NoFollow Link Policy Kill Your SEO - Not if you follow these tips

At one point or another, marketing teams resort to using techniques that are generally frowned upon by the online community. It will probably take a long time until the marketing realm is totally rid of these so-called “black hat” strategies, but Google is determined in its crusade against stopping it once and for all.

One of these resolutions is the recent requirement of nofollow tags in links from other websites.

The modus operandi

One of the traditional, overused tactics in SEO is to try and get as many backlinks from authority websites as possible. This is because those websites regarded as having high PR can influence the “linkers” in terms of authority, thus boosting their chances of getting a high rank. This happens despite of Google’s insistence that PageRank be treated as the strongest factor in SERP rankings.

This activity also poses a dilemma for websites in their fear that Google may suspect them as a “link seller”. But now, Google requires links to include the rel=”nofollow” tag to stop passing on authority “credit” to other sites, and to thus avoid being penalized.

 So when do you need to use a nofollow link?

If your site supports paid links, you need to use nofollow in order to keep these links from giving credit to other sites. Also, if your site has a comment section that you don’t always monitor, using nofollow links prevents commenters from getting credit from you, as well as posting bad links that could hurt your SERP rankings. This also applies to content posts that other people may contribute on your business blog.

Nofollow is also helpful when embedding media (such as infographics) or widgets that you obtained from other sites. The thing is, you don’t want Google to think that you’re endorsing those sources, so you need to make sure credit is not passed on to them.

Obviously, you also wouldn’t want to boost the authority of your competitors, so you need to make sure you attach a nofollow tag when linking to a site that most probably belongs in the same industry as yours.

There is nothing to fear so long as you stick by the rules

Google’s intentions are, at the end of the day, for everyone’s welfare. It may be a hurdle to our current marketing situation, especially to those who have been accustomed to using their own strategies, but it’s healthier to compete in leveled field rather than allowing a few to get ahead by not following the rules.

Un-complicate your SEO: A B2B Online Marketing Proposition for 2014

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Un-complicate your SEO: A B2B Online Marketing Proposition for 2014

In the world of B2B online marketing and SEO, there’s only one thing that’s constant: change.

The industry is almost purely dependent on Google algorithms and its rapid alterations, and marketers couldn’t help but wonder if there’s any kind of strategy than can remain stable despite of the wobbly conditions of search marketing.

Apparently, such a strategy exists. Here are some of the things you could do to make your SEO campaigns as simplified as ever, making it resilient through time:

Take it easy on keyword research; focus on context instead. A considerable amount of time and effort could be allocated on putting too much magnitude on keywords. Besides, Google has already made clear that a keyword-driven campaign may have unfavorable consequences. Instead, meet with your team to come up with a reasonable number of keywords you can build your content around. Remember: it’s the relevance that counts.

Use SEO tools effectively. According to Eric Siu, CEO of San Francisco-based digital marketing agency Single Grain, marketers should look for SEO tools that’ll simplify the process. WordPress extensions such as Yoast SEO (free) or All-in-One SEO (free) make managing blog SEO a snap, while programs such as QuickSprout Tools (free; paid versions available) or Moz SEO ($99+ a month) help tackle other SEO processes from a single, centralized location.

Ride the viral waves. Instead of hunting for link sources everywhere, why not invest on viral content? These are your videos, slides and infographics that have much more share-potential than typical text-based content. These media-driven pieces sell themselves; they can earn you countless backlinks from credible sources without you having to scavenge them yourself.

Responsive website design cam help, too. Without a responsive website design on your site, you need to host two separate sites for desktop versus mobile visitors. This means you’ve got to run two separate SEO campaigns.

Overload of recurring tasks? Outsource them! In a typical SEO campaign, responsibilities would often include checking monthly SERP rankings, doing keyword research, and adding new page links to your website directory. These are rather humdrum – albeit necessary – tasks that you don’t have to submerge into. You can acquire outside help so you can delegate tasks more efficiently and also to give you time to check on other important things. Outsourcing to lead generation company can also open some doors to innovative technology and modern trends.

Redefining Lead Generation With SEO Marketing

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Having a hard time generating qualified sales leads? That is to be expected. With the world economy still feeling the after-effects of the financial meltdown in the United States and Europe (and there is no denying that everyone still feels it), finding prospects can be pretty difficult at this point. Still, that is no reason to just sulk around, mope about your fate, or perhaps do a dozen other unproductive things in your office. Rather, this should be an opportunity for new lead generation tactics. That is where interest in search engine optimization (SEO)  marketing take off. And believe me, there are a lot of interested people here.

 

This form of marketing works by improving the standing a website, or group of websites, in internet search pages. This is a rather subtle operation, and results will definitely take longer than telemarketing, but it does present some interesting possibilities. Think of SEO as a form of support in the general marketing campaign. You have to admit that generating B2B leads using old channels is hard. Right now, sales is slow. But your priority is to keep your business visible in the internet. As long as you are there, it would be easy to promote your business to potential buyers. So how will you start on this?

 

  1. Remember to research your market well. Analyze what keywords they are most likely to use and incorporate that in your over-all SEO marketing campaign.
  2. In SEO marketing, your aim is to provide information, not to sell. The selling part can be done later. What is important is that you engage the interest of prospects, prove that you are an industry authority, and that you and your company can be relied on in the future.
  3. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are great mediums to engage prospects and customers in conversation. This will help increase your presence in the online community. Just keep in mind that your aim here is simply to have a conversation at this point.
  4. Try hosting a webinar or a video conference with interested prospects and attendees. This will help cement your reputation as an industry expert, as well as put an edge over your competitors. You will need the help of appointment setting specialists on this.
  5. Be active blogging and article contributions. In this way, you can promote your own business through other online channels. It would be a good boost to your reputation as well.

 

Once you have established your presence in the Internet, and search engine results appear to be favorable, then it is the time for you to engage in a more aggressive sales campaign. Seek your from your network interested prospects in the United Kingdom. Once they express willingness to talk business with you, now is the time for you to give them a telemarketing call. And it will be an easier job, since it will no longer be a cold call anymore.

 

Of course, if you have a hard time negotiating and doing business with prospects on the phone, it would be a good idea to work with a professional lead generation agency, then.

 

Top Three SEO Tactics To Avoid (Wait, Is SEO Still Relevant Anyway?)

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Top Three SEO Tactics To Avoid (Wait, Is SEO Still Relevant Anyway?)

Search Engine optimization (SEO) was the buzzword of years long ago, like, 17 years ago. One might think that because it’s been around for so long everyone knows how to leverage it for their personal use and drive hordes of potential sales leads to their website. Although there have been a few successful stories, SEO is still a science of such fluid structure that even now marketers are having difficulty taming it.

When it first gained popularity, everyone who was anyone adopted it as an online marketing strategy. Then Google released the Panda update and everyone’s efforts went back to zero. Now that almighty Google is promoting value-rich content, has SEO become a thing of the distant past? With today’s digital marketing terrain, is SEO still optimal for promoting your website?

SEO is still very much relevant, although is has taken a considerable step backwards to make room for other digital marketing strategies such as social media, email and especially content marketing. Good SEO cannot exist without equally good content, as is highlighted by Google’s algorithm. Sales leads are driven towards your site by these relevant, well-researched, reliable and authentic content.

Whether you are still using these top 3 detrimental SEO tactics or plan to use them in the future – DON’T:

  1. Keyword Stuffing. The number one no-no for SEO and considered as spamming. Relevant content discusses topics using more than one word, so do yourself a favor and try to expand your own blogging vocabulary. Also, readers (i.e. sales leads) generally abandon a site the moment they read the same word used more than three times in a sentence.
  2. Reciprocal links and link farms. Almighty Google hates it. Period.
  3. Spreading articles through article marketing directories. These artificial link generating sites provide little benefit for your website. It’s much better to share your articles with topic-related websites that help promote your authority about your chosen keywords.

The moral of this story is that there is no holy grail for lead generation marketing. Each and every effective marketing strategy is the result of careful research and implementation where ROI is measured by carefully defined statistics. The main purpose of optimizing one’s website is  still sales leads generation, so whether your digital marketing makes use of this age-old marketing model, as long as it’s not broken and is doing its purpose, there is no need to abandon it just to join the current fad.

The Function of B2B Lead Generation

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By: Markus Lundin

The need for a company to find business to business sales (B2B sales) has grown considerably with the abundance of contact and marketing information on the Internet. B2B lead generation is the process and steps to take in which you can market your business to another business whether through blogging, social networking sites like Twitter or FaceBook, and even modified press release coverage for blogging. With the diversity of the Internet any business not taking full advantage of what it has to offer should consider them self living in the dark ages.

B2B lead generation is taking flight and many businesses are getting on the bandwagon and making the most of this incredible idea. Twitter has been the talk of the town with creating new applications that are compatible with handheld devices such as the iPhone and setting new expectations in the name of social networking. Using join us” links and following people or businesses through Twitter has become a huge leader in B2B lead generation marketing.

Getting the word out not to just potential customers, but other businesses is a great way to expand your reach of business. If you are a manufacturer of computer parts than you can go to these social networking sites and create a good business to business marketing scheme. This is what technology is opening the door for and if you are reluctant to walk through it than you are only cheating yourself. No matter what side of the door you are on opening up communication between businesses can benefit every party involved. Not only can sites like Twitter or FaceBook spread your company name but it can link to invaluable information for businesses that are interested in what you are offering.

The power of blogging has become one of the greatest marketing strategies the Web has ever seen because this puts people in touch with people all over the world. Much like forums, blogs are creating new avenues of people meeting people and is the prime function of what B2B lead generation is all about. Creating a business lead in the new generation of networking from business to business and popularity that this is getting is unfathomable.

This is a fairly new interest in the world of Internet marketing but as the Web grows and reaches new plateaus so does the way we access it and manage it. The Internet has become such a valuable resource some companies are closing the doors to their physical stores and just taking up shop on the Web because of marketing strategies like SEO, B2B lead generation, and Google AdWords. The future is here and they are using the Internet in just about all walks of life in terms of reaching out to a broader spectrum of clientele. Getting on board now is only going to benefit you in the long run and make you more prepared for where this is all going. In terms of the Internet itself it’s still just a baby in a very large world that connects it through its nature. Utilizing and maximizing the full potential it has to offer will only make your business world a more fruitful and prosperous venture.