Local Marketing Tactics For Your Side Hustle

This is a collaborated article.

Connecting with customers in your local area requires local marketing. But what are the best marketing tactics for targeting local consumers? This post delves into several different strategies that could be worth trying to boost the success of your side hustle. 

Local Marketing Tactics

Business Cards

You’ve just bumped into someone interested in doing business with you. What is the quickest way to share your contact details? A business card is a simple solution. This can provide them with a phone number, email address, website address, and any other information they may need. It’s a lot less awkward than getting them to type in your phone number on their phone or having to scramble around for a pen and paper.

Business cards are cheap to produce, and you can easily carry a wad of them in your pocket, bag, or wallet. Some sites allow you to design your own business card online using templates. Alternatively, you can hire a graphic designer to produce something more distinctive and unique.

Door-to-Door Flyers

Flyers have been a popular form of advertising for many years. They can contain more information than a business card while still being compact enough to hand out to people on the street – or even put through people’s letterboxes. Door-to-door flyer distribution can be an effective local marketing tactic because you more easily fine-tune which consumers you target by selecting buildings where they are likely to live or work. The rise in online marketing has led to a reduction in mail advertising, which has made it easier to stand out with flyers. People also spend more time indoors and are likelier to read flyers posted through their letterbox.

Some companies specialize in flyer and leaflet printing. Many of these companies have websites where you can choose your paper size and create your own design. You can then order as many copies as you need. Flyer printing is generally quite cheap and quick. The time-consuming part is distributing these flyers, although you may be able to pay someone to do this for you. 

Handouts

Flyers, business cards, or promotional products can also be handed out to people on the street. Such handouts can be handed out to every person, or you could pick and choose who you hand out to based on whether they are likely to be a potential consumer.

When doing this, it’s best to find a location where your target market will likely hang out. For example, if you’re promoting your side hustle as a rapper, you should hand out CDs outside a local music venue or by a local college. In many cases, you need permission to give away handouts in certain locations. There may only be select locations in your local area where you are allowed to hand out promotional materials. Make sure to look into this before you start distributing handouts. 

Public Notice Boards

Many towns and villages will have a public noticeboard where anyone can pin up flyers, posters, or business cards. This may be located somewhere in the center of town. There could also be coffee bars, community centers, places of worship, local tourism offices, and other buildings with public notice boards in them. Consider promoting your side hustle on these notice boards to increase local exposure.

When printing off flyers or posters on notice boards, make sure they are bold and attractive enough to get people looking. It’s worth using bright colors, striking images, and large text to help you get noticed. 

Local Trade Shows

There may be a local trade show in the area dedicated to the industry that your side hustle is part of. For example, some towns will regularly host craft fairs for local craftspeople to sell their creations. Local food fairs can meanwhile be a chance for local food producers to promote their goods. These trade shows are not just a good chance to reach out to consumers but also a great chance to network with fellow businesses and scope out competitors.

You usually have to pay to rent a stall at one of these trade shows; however, some are free. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll need to decide what to put on your stall and how to decorate it. You’ll probably want to lay a cloth over your stall; however, you could also consider paying for branded displays. Investing in a card reader could allow you to take card payments so that you’re not reliant on people carrying cash. When selling food at a trade show, consider preparing free samples to entice customers. 

Social Media Ads

Social media can be another great platform for building brand awareness. You can pay to distribute adverts through these platforms that many potential customers can see. These ads could contain links to website pages or be informational. 

On some social media sites, you can geo-target ads to only reach social media users in your local area. You may also be able to target social media users using other demographic labels like age, gender, and interests. When designing your advert, make sure that it is striking so that people will notice it when scrolling. Video adverts on social media get some of the most engagements and leads. However, for a video to be effective, it’s important that it is high quality – consider hiring professionals to help you produce your advert.

Local SEO

Do you have a website? It could be worth investing in local SEO to help local consumers find your website on search engines like Google and Bing. For those who aren’t aware of the term, SEO stands for ‘search engine optimization’ and is a strategy used to boost a website’s rankings. It involves tactics such as using certain keywords, using hyperlinks, improving page speed, and improving site security. This, in turn, can help more people stumble upon your site.

Local SEO involves targeting local keywords (like ‘plumber near me’) and making sure that you’re listed on Google Maps. Because it can be quite complex, it’s often worth paying an SEO agency for local SEO. Your best option is to look for an agency in your area that understands the types of local keywords most relevant to your business. 

Cross-Promotion

Cross-promotion involves promoting another company in exchange for them promoting you. In doing so, you can each reach out to a different audience. The best way to cross-promote is to collaborate with a company in the same industry as you but not a direct competitor. For example, it could make sense for a local dog walking service to cross-promote with a local dog grooming service.

You can promote each other’s businesses through social media posts, flyers, or word of mouth.  

Community Project Sponsorship

Sponsoring a local community project, such as a festival or the planting of new trees, could help get your name out there. Sponsorship typically involves contributing money in exchange for marketing. For instance, you could sponsor a charity run in exchange for having posters and branded banners at the event.

How much you are willing to contribute may determine how much you are able to advertise. You probably don’t want to invest too much money into sponsorship opportunities when promoting a side hustle. 

Local Networking

You could find new customers by speaking to people in your local area. There could be people out there who can benefit from your service themselves or people who know of someone who can use your service. Only by making an active effort to talk to strangers and introduce yourself can you make these connections. 

Joining local social groups and attending local events can be a great way to meet people. You can also network online using social media. 

Local News Features

Promoting your business by getting a feature in a local newspaper may be possible. You’ll usually need to have a story worth sharing first. This might include a story that influenced you to launch your side hustle or something noteworthy that you have achieved. 

A local PR agency may be able to help you get featured in local publications. This could include writing a press release and sending pitches on your behalf. 

Local Radio Advertising

Finally, you can promote your business by advertising on a local radio station. Unlike other advertisements that can be easily skipped, radio ads are more likely to be listened to and could make a big impression in your local area.

Some companies can help you produce a catchy and memorable radio advert. You’ll then need to contact the radio station and work out a slot to play your advert (adverts are typically more expensive to broadcast during popular listening periods). 

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