How to advertise a small local business

Looking to launch your new business in your local area? Find out how to advertise your small business using a variety of different channels in this guide by Countingup.

We’ll walk you through how to emphasise the ‘local’ part of your business’ brand, as well as market online and in-person so you can gain more sales. 

Discover:

• Why advertising is important
• How to develop a ‘local’ brand
• How to market online and in-person
• How Countingup can help

Launching a new business can be difficult enough without additional learning curves for marketing and financial admin. Read on to discover how Countingup can help.

Advertising your business is important because it engages existing customers and attracts new ones.

If you’re starting a new business, you won’t have the luxury of big-budget product launches or existing customers to generate income. However, you can still be successful in building a business with a strong brand and good sales figures with good advertising. Advertising your small business successfully takes a clear brand and an effective marketing plan. Before we get to some advertising ideas you can use, we’ll quickly discuss branding first. 

Your business’ brand is its identity and as you’re looking to advertise, your brand is what you lead with. Customers recall and understand brand identities when they’re well developed and easily recognisable. What makes a brand and how can you make one for your business? A brand is made up of things like a business’ colour scheme, logo, design format and tone of voice. 

These elements might seem unimportant on their own, but they’re able to leave a lasting impression on customers when they’re used together and consistently. When these conditions aren’t met, poor branding stands out. Therefore, when advertising your small business, understanding and improving your brand can make your marketing more effective and cohesive, helping your audience to understand what you’re selling. 

As a business serving a group of people in your local area, emphasising a community element in your brand can be especially helpful. 

Consumers often interpret ‘local’ to mean convenient and relatable, which can be useful selling points for you to use. Depending on your business, you can call attention to this in a number of ways. The convenience your customers may experience will differ if you’re a plumber versus a coffee shop. Therefore, your advertising should showcase how you can benefit your customers because of your close proximity to them.

Similarly, a strong ‘local’ brand for your business can be a point of pride for your customers to consider. As you advertise, emphasising that your business supports your local economy and represents your community can be an additional source of value.

Finally, including ‘local’ elements in your branding can help you stand out from bigger competitors as this is something they often lack. Because your business is local, it can be advertised as more integrated with your customers, allowing you to offer a closer and more trustworthy relationship. 

If you’re looking to start advertising a local business, having key marketing tools like a website and a social media presence are a must. 

Other advertising strategies can include email marketing. However, businesses can only email customers who have provided their email address in the first place. In contrast, social media and website advertising more easily allows your business to find new customers. If you’d like to learn more about email marketing, read our guide How to Write a Newsletter.

Building a website can be done quickly and on a budget with website hosting services like WordPress, Squarespace or Shopify. When building your website, it can be a platform for anything you want it to, even if you’re not selling anything directly from it. 

You can post news and advertise your business to showcase interesting product details, new opening hours, seasonal deals, or updates to your service. Some aspects may change as you adapt and grow, so it’s essential to keep your website up to date. Similarly, regular advertising is essential to increase your customers’ interest in your products early on.

Advertising your website can be straightforward with search engines and marketing platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon. Your advert is placed strategically for interested customers to see, allowing them to find your website no matter where they live. You can specify that your website is advertised more heavily to people within and around your local area, allowing you to build more local brand awareness. 

Maintaining a social media presence provides a versatile tool for growing your small business. Social media platforms can function as a hub for your marketing, customer feedback and inquiries in one system.

Social media marketing is a similarly cheap and effective method of attracting customers. Your business may be suited to one specific platform, depending on your industry and your customer demographics. For example, some social media platforms host certain age and interest demographics more than others, so finding your audience is important.

Read more in-depth advice in our guide How to Use Social Media for Business.

If you’re launching a local business and need to advertise, these methods might be the ones you use most. Typical strategies can include billboard advertising, local radio or television campaigns or sharing/posting flyers. These are easy and time tested methods to advertise your business and are effective at specifically targeting your local area. 

Other more novel advertising methods, including street or viral marketing, are available to your business but may not be suitable. Advertising methods should partly fit your business’ brand and what your customers respond to best. Therefore, finding this balance is crucial even if it takes extra time to establish.

Advertising a local business on your own can be one of the most time-consuming parts of launching a business. Unfortunately, so is bookkeeping. 

The Countingup app automates your financial admin so you can stay focused on building your sales and developing your local brand. 

Countingup is the business current account and accounting software in one app so that you can save time and understand your finances faster and more easily.

With our automated invoicing tools and handy receipt capture, you can be confident that your books are accurate. And with real-time profit and loss data, you’ll be able to quickly understand where your marketing efforts are beginning to pay off. 

Gain complete confidence in your books and save time with the Countingup app.

Find out more here and sign up for free today.