5 Strategies That Improve Local Lead Generation

November 1, 2017 Blog

Building brand awareness in your local community has evolved from handing out flyers and going door to door.

Thanks to the rise of internet usage and accessibility, companies can now reach consumers in their area much easier. Local lead generation has gone digital, and the results are phenomenal.

However, it takes more than a nice website and a set of search keywords to be effective.

Here are five things you can do to improve how you get local leads online.

1. Know Your Competitors

One of the best ways to boost your local presence is to see what your competitors are already doing.

Do a local search and pay attention to their online ads. What kind of keywords do they use in their copy? How are they utilizing Google extensions?

Extensions are a powerful tool to make your presence known. They add credibility to your search engine ad, which help boost overall trust.

These are more details about who you are and what you do, such as pictures of your brick and mortar location. They can also be reviews from recent customers or even your phone number for people to contact you right away.

Pay attention to your competitions’ landing pages and product offerings, too. The more you can dig deep in to their local search strategy, the better you can start working on yours.

2. Implement Lead Magnets

After browsing around the web for the competition, take a look at your landing pages.

Are you using lead magnets on your website?

Lead magnets help close the gap between traffic generation and conversions. They give you a direct point of contact with your audience in exchange for free information.

It’s like dropping a hint to continue the conversation later, like with a newsletter opt-in or e-book download. Offering such packages when users enter their email builds your list of local leads.

They might not even notice how valuable their email is. This is a crucial piece of information for you to reach them later and keep them coming back. You can use email marketing to offer special rates or say hello when a user goes a while without visiting your site.

This keeps your leads engaged and more likely to make a purchase later on.

3. Create Unique Content

No matter what kind of digital campaign you prefer, you have to be original.

Pushing unique content means more than standing out among competitors. It means using a branded message on all parts of your online presence. It also means consistently engaging your audience with new content.

To best leverage local leads, use local terms and phrases. Talk about the city you are in or the things only a local would know, like a popular event or location around town.

If your area is big enough to have local celebrities, reach out to them for a partnership.

Some cities love their mayor and frequent county events. Others are buzzing metropolitan areas with popular bloggers and influencers looking for new projects.

These people have a huge, loyal following with the local audience. Working with them can be the exposure you need to stay relevant in your area.

Examples of good partnerships include writing guest blogs for these people a few times a month. It can also be as simple as snapping a picture together for social media content.

4. Get Social

Speaking of social media, you need to know how to utilize a Facebook post or Instagram caption to get more leads.

More so, you should understand the different ways these work between national campaigns and local lead generation strategies. There are many local hashtags, locations, and online communities you can use to your advantage on social channels.

Hashtags

Hashtags are what you’ll arguably want to focus the most time on.

Using a generic term like #coffeeshop can get lost in the thousands of users worldwide searching for this. However, if you specify for the neighborhood you’re in, like #wynwoodcafe or #brooklyncoffeeshop, you have a much better chance of reaching users in your community.

Bonus points if you come up with a catchy, branded hashtag. This is your unique claim to social media space and can generate a big following.

Tagging Locations and Users

Tagging a location does wonders for your local efforts, too.

This kind of exposure works twofold. It creates an interaction with the most popular places around town, like a new restaurant or everyone’s favorite outdoor space. Additionally, it gives you another chance to be found by users with similar interests.

Say you run a roofing contracting business, and you get hired to do a project on a new building in downtown. Talk about it on social media! Tag the other businesses you are working with, and maybe even the local newspaper.

The more you use social media to start a conversation, the more users will want to keep interacting.

This works especially well with local lead generation. Users will appreciate your care to be involved with things going on around town.

5. Use Lead Scoring

As you start building your local lead generation strategies, don’t forget to use lead scoring.

Lead scoring allows you to keep track of user interactions. You can assign a point system based on your new tactics.

If you are introducing lead magnets and new social media hashtags, these are positive points. Lead magnets should be worth more, because they are more valuable information than a like or a follow on Twitter.

Also, include negative points in your scoring strategy. This can be if someone unsubscribes from your emails or unfollows you on social media. Again, assign a different value based on the strength of the interaction.

Over time, your point system lets you see what’s working and what is not.

Track how most points come and go. You might see many people interacting on social media, but not subscribing to your lead magnets. Or, you might see a rise in interaction with landing pages, but not enough to create conversions.

Whatever your pros and cons, a lead scoring system gives you a focus on users who are more likely to buy-in to your services.

The higher a user’s points, the closer they are to making a transaction.

Discover What Local Lead Generation Can Do for You

Building a brand presence does not happen overnight, but it can work much better when you focus on your immediate area.

There are many people in the community in need of your roofing services. The only problem is they haven’t found you yet. Make it easier to get in contact with local lead generation tactics.