Local businesses should be marketed differently than a national or international brand.
Using online advertising platforms such as Google Adwords (PPC) and Facebook Ads should include geographic boundaries. Messaging should reflect the mentality and culture of the local community. A sales message that works well in Lubbock, Texas may need to be tweaked to work well in New York. Imagery should also reflect the local landscape and culture.
The Local Directory Mess
First, local businesses were listed on Google. Then Google Local. Then both. Then Google Maps. Then Google Plus. Then Google Plus Local. Then Google My Business. During all of this, Google tried to grow a social network through Google Plus.
It was a mess. It is still a mess.
There are hundreds of directories that your business may be listed on, such as one of the Googles, Yahoo, Yelp, YellowPagesOnline, etc. Information is scraped from one directory to another. If and when your dealership information is incorrect, it spreads everywhere. It becomes challenging to tackle manually. Software is peddled to dealers to help clean up incorrect information, but many of them hurt local SEO. They also have flaws such as not allowing you to log in and respond to reviews via an online reviews system or even manually.
Online Reviews and Customer Feedback
This is presented in more detail on our online reviews system page. It is important to know that it plays a big role in local marketing. Local business reviews have continued to grow in importance over the last five years. We are at a point that it is no longer a bonus to have a system. It is necessary because it can improve all of your marketing. Your competition is looking to improve their reviews as well.
Spices to Go with the Secret Sauce
The secret sauce is to combine a slew of strategies to achieve profit-producing results. There are a number of “spices”, such as strategies and tactics for improving your SEO, boosting your PPC results, and driving more traffic to your website via local marketing methods. There are a number of offline strategies that when merged with online schemes, can also be a powerful combination.
Set up a dealer consultation to maximize your local potential.