It is often overlooked that there are far more small to medium local companies who operate within a specific geographical area than there are international or purely online companies whose audience is worldwide. The significance of this plays into many areas of business, and one of those is local marketing.
Local digital marketing experts Tribeca Media say that the way local marketing is planned and implemented may have some generic crossover principles with global marketing but the actions and tools which are used to manage local marketing is going to be different. In particular, how marketing software and tools can help local businesses maximise the ROI of their marketing has many differences. For a start local marketing falls under 5 banners which are:
- Social Media
- Public Relations
- SEO
- Online Paid Advertising
- Citation Management
Within each of these, there are software and tools which can help local businesses manage and optimise campaigns so let us look at some of the top candidates.
Social Media
A hugely important marketing channel for local businesses and one made significantly more effective if campaigns are managed properly using software and tools.
#1 – Content Cal: Ideal tool for creating and scheduling social media posts for multiple platforms. Has analytics that provides reports on engagement so that you can improve future posts.
#2 – Buffer: This social media tool is a chrome extension meaning you can manage your social media from anywhere. Easy to use, it provides users with the means to schedule posts and assess follower engagement.
Public Relations
The last thing any local business needs is poor local press or a poor reputation so these tools can help ensure the opposite happens.
#1 – Muchrack: Gives local business owners the ability to search for local media outlets and journalists and to check for local news relating to their industry. It also has reporting tools to check on press hits and coverage which can be presented in reports and graphs.
#2 – Meltwater: This can be used for both PR and social media management. It monitors social media engagement, and most importantly within the realm of PR, it offers comprehensive monitoring of media across several outlets including the press, broadcast media, and online podcasts.
SEO
Being able to rank higher on Google than your local competition is a huge advantage, which is why tools that help boost your SEO are invaluable.
#1 – MOZ Local: Used by many SEO professionals, it is still easy enough for anyone to use. It can ensure that all your local listings are 100% optimised including Google My Business (GMB), which is one of the most important.
#2 – Bright Local: An all-in-one local SEO reporting tool providing businesses with support relating to improving their rankings on Google. It can track individual keyword rankings, audit your GMB listing, and provide reports across many SEO data points.
Online Paid Advertising
Any local business that has the budget for PPC advertising needs to analyse its performance and ROI which is why PPC management tools are essential.
#1 – AdEspresso: This can be used to manage campaigns on Facebook, Google, and Instagram. It offers excellent training plus it can boost ad optimisation, connect with CRM, and generate customisable reports to analyse ad performance.
#2 – ISpionage: Will provide insights and data relating to your local competitors’ PPC advertising so that you can create a campaign that improves upon what they are achieving thus generating you greater ROI and more local customers.
Citation Management
A crucial element of local marketing that can greatly boost your company’s online reputation and drive more traffic to your website from Google.
#1 – GatherUp: This allows you to reach out to your customers and ‘gather up’ as many 5 star reviews as possible. Also monitors reviews sites, and provides reports on your reviews, ratings, and feedback.
#2 – Yext: Has a menu of tools relating to local SEO and the one you need for local citations is the Yext Listings Tool. Here you can optimise citations by industry and location, as well as by which type of citation you wish to use.