21 Local Advertising Ideas to Grow Your Small Business
Local advertising is an effective way to boost awareness of your brand and attract customers within a specific locale. It allows you to target nearby prospects based on the audience of the medium used (e.g., newspapers or radio stations) or to use ad targeting tools to put your advertisements directly in front of your ideal customers. With that in mind, here are 21 local advertising ideas you can use to grow your small business.
1. Get Free Local Advertising in Online Business Directories
Average cost: Free
Your listings can appear in online directories when people search for a business “near me”
What We Like
- More ways to get found in local searches online
- Improves your website’s search engine optimization (SEO)
- Another source of website traffic
- Most directories are free to list in
What's Missing
- Can be time-consuming to submit, monitor, and edit listings if you have a lot of listings to manage
Best For
- Any type of local business
- Retail, service-based, restaurants, and travel or tourism-dependent businesses
There are multiple benefits from adding a listing for your business to online business directories. It offers another place for local patrons to discover your business (in the actual directory) and benefits your website’s search engine optimization (SEO), helping your site rank higher in local search results. At a minimum, your local advertising strategy should include adding the following listings:
- Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business)
- Facebook (business profile)
- Bing for Business
- Yelp for Business
- Angi (formerly Angie’s List) for service-based businesses
This gives you a good start at increasing your brand’s online visibility. From there, add your business listings to the best online directories that make sense for your company or industry.
2. Turn Customers Into Advocates With a Referral Program
Average cost: $45 to $100 per month
An example of local business advertising through referral rewards (Source: ReferralCandy)
What We Like
- Rewards customers for word-of-mouth marketing
- Improves customer retention
- Generates new business
- An affordable local advertising idea
- Software makes it easy to manage
What's Missing
- May take time for customers to adopt
- Incentives may not be rewarding enough to work
- Referrals might not match your ideal customer type
Best For
- Service-based businesses
- Retail stores
- Restaurants and coffee houses
- Online retailers
Everyone loves a discount, freebies, or other small rewards—especially from a local company they already love. Referral rewards programs turn your customers into brand advocates by incentivizing them to spread the word about your business. This is one of the local business advertising ideas that can have a huge return on investment (ROI).
Plus, software like ReferralCandy makes your program easy to set up and manage, making word-of-mouth marketing a win-win for you and your fans. Interested in more referral marketing ideas? Find out more about how to get referrals to gain new customers.
3. Increase Retention & Revenue With Loyalty Rewards
Average cost: $45 to $100 per month
Example of a tiered loyalty rewards program (Source: LoyaltyLion on Pinterest)
What We Like
- Brings customers back more frequently
- Increases average revenue per salon
- Incentivizes referrals and reviews
- Reinforces customer loyalty
- Can be gamified for more engagement
- Generates retail sales for service-based businesses like salons
What's Missing
- Some expense to manage in terms of software and value of rewards
Best For
- Retail businesses
- Restaurants
- Service businesses like spas and salons
- Ecommerce businesses
Customer loyalty programs can help small businesses retain current clients and turn new buyers into repeat customers over the long term. Customers who feel valued are far more likely to purchase more frequently, and as with rewards programs, the software makes it easy to manage. Check out our list of the best customer loyalty program software you can use to encourage customer retention and drive sales.
4. Get Brand Exposure With Local Press Coverage
Average cost: From free to $250
Write and publish yourself or get press release writing and distribution through a provider like eReleases
What We Like
- Ability to target specific audiences
- Some providers email your release directly to journalists
- Ability to land free local advertising on TV, radio, in newspapers, and online publications
What's Missing
- Can be expensive
- No guarantee of getting additional coverage
Best For
- Increasing brand awareness and finding new customers
- Informing the local public about your news and events
- Announcing changes to your business or new locations
Getting local press coverage can be a huge boon for a small business, whether your story ends up in the newspaper or lands a local TV news spot. If your press release is newsworthy, the media coverage you garner can quickly get the word out about your business to local audiences. An easy way to get your story out to the public is to use one of the best press release distribution services.
Ready to write your first press release? Make sure you know what makes for a good press release, and then use a press release distribution service like eReleases to get guaranteed syndication in thousands of online media outlets.
5. Increase Local Visibility With Billboard Ads
Average cost: From $10 a day for digital or $600 to $3,000 per month for physical billboards
Billboard ads let you reach local customers on the go (Source: Blip Billboards)
What We Like
- Great for brand awareness
- Creates first impressions for new businesses
- Can be affordable, especially for digital billboard ads
What's Missing
- Depending on the local market, can be pricey
Best For
- Any type of small business
- Announcing new locations
- Advertising sales and promotions
It isn’t uncommon to dream of having your small business advertised on a billboard above a busy street or freeway. But if your local business advertising hadn’t included billboards before because you thought they were too expensive, you might want to think again. Find out how much billboards cost in various cities—both physical and digital billboards.
Billboard advertising is surprisingly affordable, especially when you choose digital billboards through a platform like Blip Billboards, which works for any size budget. If you’re ready to get started, get some local advertising ideas for your billboards from our list of must-see billboard designs.
6. Land at the Top of Google Search Results With Local Ads
Average cost: $2 to $6 per click
Local search ads appear above organic results in online search
What We Like
- Drive traffic to your website and to the doors of your business
- Ads appear only in local searches
- Target your audience with specific keywords
- Fits almost any budget
What's Missing
- Can get expensive
- Requires a bit of SEO knowledge
Best For
- Advertising any local business
- Getting brand awareness for a new business
- Advertising special promotions
- Getting above competitors in results
Take control over your small business website’s position in local search results with Google local service ads. Even new businesses can appear at the top of results when they use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on Google.
It’s one of the local advertising ideas that affords a lot of control over your budget as you can turn your ads on or off depending on when you have the budget to run ads. Google ads can be surprisingly affordable, especially for low-competition keywords. Learn more about how to advertise on Google.
7. Set Your Website Up for Local Advertising Success
Average cost: $12 to $40 per month
Easily create landing pages for your local advertising ideas to maximize conversions with a site builder like Squarespace
What We Like
- Dedicated landing pages increase conversions
- Ability to extend offers or generate subscriptions with pop-ups and splash pages
- Can sell online to increase revenue
- Improve customer retention with online loyalty and rewards programs and exclusive content
What's Missing
- Requires investment of time and budget
Best For
- Any small business that wants to build its brand presence online
- Providing store information 24/7
- Enhancing customer support
- Dedicated ad landing pages
- Adding ecommerce to your store
- Accepting reservations or selling memberships
To get the most out of all the other local advertising ideas you’re implementing, you need a well-designed website that provides a positive user experience at the hub. Squarespace is an all-in-one website builder that provides everything you need to get a professional website up quickly. It’s a great choice for local websites with features like embedded Google maps, and it’s one of our top picks for the best website builders for SEO for small businesses.
Make sure your landing pages closely match the ads and keywords used in your social media and email campaigns. Using the same keywords will ensure that your content is relevant and provides a unified experience to your site visitors.
Another website marketing strategy that can bring in more local customers is to add trust badges to your website. This includes things like adding a logo and link to your local chamber of commerce and industry associations, or adding the logo showing that you’re a BBB Accredited business.
8. Rank in Search Organically With Local SEO
Average cost: $29 per month
An example of a BrightLocal dashboard monitoring local SEO efforts
What We Like
- Many local SEO tactics are free
- Drive traffic to your website by getting found in Google
- Turns your website into a marketing tool for your business
What's Missing
- Long-term strategy that can take months
- Involves some SEO know-how (or the time to learn)
- A lot of potential tactics to use, so it can be time-consuming
Best For
- Any local business
- Businesses with a physical location
- Businesses that serve a particular area
Many people skip the ads in local search results and opt to click on organic results instead, which is why it’s important to invest in local SEO. To do this, you’ll need to optimize your website for local search and engage in local content marketing.
Create compelling, relevant content for your website and blog using keywords pertinent to your business, ideally with high search volume and low competition. For example, you can use a tool like Semrush for SEO keyword research and to track your rankings in search engines.
Get access to free resources for tracking and improving your local search rankings with providers in our list of the best local SEO tools for small businesses.
9. Run Local Newspaper Ads
Average cost: $50 to $2,700
An example of small business advertising in newspapers (Source: 99designs)
What We Like
- Affordable, depending on ad size and city
- Ability to get exposure in both print and digital versions
- Great option for coupon marketing
- Gain new customers and boost local brand awareness
What's Missing
- Can be pricey in some locations
- Newspaper circulation is decreasing (24.3 million weekdays)
Best For
- Local brick-and-mortar shops
- Service-based businesses
- Reaching an older demographic
- Print coupon marketing to bring in new customers
Advertising in your local newspaper offers enormous benefits, especially if your target audience reads newspapers every day. Depending on where you live, the cost of newspaper ads can be affordable or expensive. Cost also varies based on the size of the ad you run.
10. Catch the Attention of Commuters With Radio Ads
Average cost: $200 per 30-second spot
Radio ads are an effective way to reach out to local customers and the community
What We Like
- Reach a broad local audience
- Advertise on local stations that match your ideal customers’ demographics
- Choose ad spot length (e.g., 15, 30, 60 seconds) based on your budget
- Affordable, depending on your market, peak or non-peak time slots, and ad size
What's Missing
- Can be pricey in larger metro areas
- Not as targetable as Google Ads or Facebook advertising
Best For
- Growing brand awareness
- Reaching a particular demographic
- Attracting a new audience
- Advertising promotions or specials
Although radio has lost listeners to streaming services, more than 156 million people in the U.S. listen to the radio every day. That’s a convincing reason to consider using radio for local advertising. Also, the cost of radio ads is reasonably affordable, with smaller markets offering 30-second spots for about $50.
Read more about how to advertise on radio for your local audience. When you’re ready, consider hiring a Fiverr radio advertising pro to write your ad or even record it.
11. Create a Geotag for Social Media Tagging
Average cost: Free
Create a geotag for your business’ location on Facebook in your business’ page settings
What We Like
- It’s free to create a geotag
- Boosts your visibility on social media
- Complements local hashtags (use your city or region)
What's Missing
- Some users don’t geotag to preserve privacy
Best For
- Any business with a physical location for customers
- Hotels
- Restaurants
- Entertainment spots (escape rooms, arcades, theaters, bars, and so on)
- Event destinations like wedding venues and concert halls
- Recreational businesses like zoos, camping sites, and vacation rentals
A geotag is a location tag—like a pin on a map—on social media. Creating a geotag for your business’ physical location is a great way to earn new customers. Platforms like Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram make it easy for you to tag your business in posts, and you should do this in conjunction with hashtags that target your location so people searching #newyorkcity, for example, might come across your posts.
Geotagging is a popular hotel marketing strategy—it’s great for restaurants, entertainment businesses, marketing a bar or night club, and real estate businesses too. You can also incentivize customers to give you a shoutout with a geotag while at your business through rewards programs or simply by encouraging them to do so on signs inside your facility.
12. Local Advertising Ideas for Facebook Ads
Average cost: $2 per click
An example of locally targeted Facebook ads
What We Like
- Fairly affordable, providing the ability to control budget
- Advanced targeting to maximize your return on ad spend (ROAS)
- Good way to increase local brand awareness and get visitors to your website or store
What's Missing
- Can get expensive
- Learning curve to master all the possible targeting and ad type options
- Brand awareness won’t necessarily lead to sales
Best For
- Online and brick-and-mortar local businesses
- Service-based businesses
- Generating interest from targeted audiences
- Creating brand awareness for new businesses
- Customer engagement and interaction
To use Facebook ads for local advertising effectively, you need to know precisely what your goal is for your ads. For example, your ad should include a link to a dedicated landing page if you want to drive traffic to your website. If you intend to get social followers or email subscribers, your ad should specify exactly the action you want viewers to take. Also, eye-catching images and videos are essential if you want your ads to get noticed.
There are 2.93 billion Facebook users worldwide as of the first quarter of 2022, so it’s a large audience overall. However, your costs can vary depending on the type of ad, your audience, and your industry. Find out how much Facebook ads cost based on audience, bidding, and competition.
Not sure you have the know-how to get a good return from Facebook ads? Turn to Lyfe Marketing or another of the best Facebook advertising agencies to get expert help.
13. Sponsor Something Important to the Local Community
Average cost: $150 to $500
Build brand awareness and positive perceptions by sponsoring a local event or group (Source: communitybiggive.com)
What We Like
- Builds brand presence in your community
- Can drives sales and traffic
- There are usually affordable options
What's Missing
- Not always a great ROI
- May have to say no the next time
Best For
- Cause-based local business advertising
- Building brand awareness
- Creating connections and fostering loyalty
- Getting local media coverage
- Inspiring trust and likeability
It’s common for cities and civic-based organizations to offer sponsorship opportunities as a local business advertising option. Sometimes it’s to get your brand’s logo onto a park bench (great for long-term brand awareness and advertising) or the uniforms of a local little league team.
You may also find a chance to sponsor a city event, such as food fairs and cultural festivals, or participate in a civic operation like a holiday meals project or as a collection point for a food bank or shelter. All these opportunities are a great way to become known in your local area (for the right reasons)–and it’s usually fairly affordable.
14. Hold a Special Event
Average cost: $500 to $1,000
Grand opening events provide publicity for new businesses wanting to build brand awareness (Source: NewsTimes.com)
What We Like
- Builds excitement and anticipation (e.g., for a product launch or grand opening)
- Generates buzz and publicity
- Chance to build relationships with local VIPs
- Great way to educate prospects
What's Missing
- Risk of dismal show-up rates
- Can be expensive, depending on the venue, activities, food, and beverages, and so on
Best For
- New businesses
- Launching a major product or service innovations
- Small businesses like realtors and mortgage lenders who need to educate clients to get them to take action
- Building brand awareness
- Getting local media coverage
Hosting a launch event is a great way to market a new business or introduce new products and services to the public. A launch event can generate a lot of positive press for a business and help attract new customers and clients. Real estate agents and mortgage lenders often hold educational events as well as open houses to establish connections with residents.
Planning and hosting a successful launch event takes some careful planning and execution. Still, the payoff can be well worth the effort. If you’re thinking about launching a new product or service, consider what types of marketing materials you’ll need to publicize your event or use during the event.
15. Distribute Marketing Collateral
Average cost: $17 (100 business cards)
An example of business cards used for local business advertising
What We Like
- Affordable
- Easy to carry and distribute
- Effective for coupon marketing
- Generates brand awareness
What's Missing
- No guarantee your materials won’t be thrown out
- Potential need to spend money on collateral design and costs can increase based on your choices (e.g., paper stock, finishes, and so on)
Best For
- Any business or professional
- Creating brand awareness
- Sharing news, coupons, discounts, promotions
- Reminding customers about your business later
It takes 3-4 years for most new businesses to see a profit, according to our list of key startup statistics. Using marketing collateral like business cards, flyers, and brochures is a bit like physical display advertising. It’s one of the more basic local advertising ideas. However, it’s highly effective for increasing brand awareness and reminding customers your business exists.
It’s also an affordable way to advertise promotions and discounts while helping with word-of-mouth advertising, such as when your customer gives your business card to a friend or co-worker. Use a top business card printer like VistaPrint to design and order a wide array of low-cost print marketing materials.
16. Reach Out to Locals by Email
Average cost: $0 to $20 per month
Example of using emails to spark local business (Source: Mailchimp)
What We Like
- Highly effective for most industries
- Inexpensive
- Direct contact with locals
- You control the messaging
What's Missing
- Need permission to use email addresses
- Building your list can take time
- Addresses provided may not be valid
- Risk of emails going to spam
Best For
- All business types
- Generating site traffic (and foot traffic)
- Promoting new products, specials, and sales
- Building brand awareness
- Customer retention and loyalty
- Requesting reviews
- Communicating news such as a change to your hours of operation or contact information
Getting special offers by email is one of the top reasons consumers subscribe to mailing lists and follow brands on social media. For this reason, email marketing is one of the top methods of small business advertising, including local advertising. To build your contact list, ask customers to sign up for emails at your store, on your website, or on your social media profiles.
If you’re new to email marketing software, we recommend using SendX. It has a clean interface and easy-to-use tools for building email campaigns, landing pages, triggered campaigns, auto response emails, drip campaigns, and more. Plans start as low as $7.49 per month, including all of the platform’s features.
17. Manage Your Online Reputation
Average cost: $30 to $100 per month
Example of local advertising ideas for reaching out for customer reviews (Source: Podium)
What We Like
- Getting more reviews on Google positively impacts search rankings
- Ensures listings are accurate
- Monitors reviews and mentions to resolve potential issues quickly
- Option to use reviews as testimonials
What's Missing
- Depending on the services you want, can be pricey
Best For
- Any type of business
- Those wanting to monitor or respond more quickly to incoming reviews or online mentions
- Generating more online reviews
- Keeping your listings on directories consistent
What does online reputation management have to do with local advertising? Everything. Any time someone locally searches for a business in your area and industry, there’s a chance they’ll see your business’ Google profile along with your star rating, address, phone number, and hours.
A negative review (with no response from you) can be enough to drive business away. However, there are many ways to quickly get more reviews on Google to boost your brand’s reputation.
To make reputation management easier, platforms like BrightLocal give you the ability to automatically monitor reviews. Find out more about the best local SEO tools to use for managing your brand’s reputation online.
18. Use Direct Mail for Local Business Advertising
Average cost: $50 to $400 per month
Example of local advertising ideas through direct mail (Source: VistaPrint)
What We Like
- Effective for most industries
- Target by demographics or to every door in a ZIP code or city
- Affordable, cost-effective, and scalable
- Great alternative to or use in conjunction with digital ads
- Results are easy to measure
What's Missing
- Costs increase when postage rates go up
- Risk of low response rate
Best For
- All types of local business advertising
- Bringing customers to your business or website
- Promoting new products, specials, and sales
- Building brand awareness
- Customer retention and reviving lapsed patrons
- Communicating business news
Business postcards, in particular, are a highly visual marketing tool that can convey your messages in a short, eye-catching way. Direct mail is one of the local advertising ideas that allows you to target a specific audience with laser precision or reach a broad audience.
Control who receives your mailings by targeting specific demographics, interests, or even past purchasers for a higher return on spend. Alternatively, you can use Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) through platforms like PostcardMania to deliver marketing materials to every mailbox in a defined geographic area. See which are the best direct mail services for small businesses based on overall value, ease of editing, niche features, quality, and cost.
19. Attract Window Shoppers With Digital Signage
Average cost: $59 per month
Examples of local advertising ideas using digital signs (Source: Raydiant)
What We Like
- Easy to set up and affordable
- You control the content
- Attracts passersby
- Ability to change content often
What's Missing
- Technology and equipment can get expensive
- Won’t work if the power goes out
- May require maintenance and upgrades
Best For
- Retail shops
- Salons and spas
- Medical practices and clinics
- Restaurants, coffee shops, and bars
- Event centers
- Gyms and fitness centers
Your storefront and interior can be a giant billboard for “free” local business advertising using digital signs. Digital signs are eye-catching (especially when they include animated elements) and memorable. Plus, it’s easy to display information with a digital sign since you can change the content anytime. For example, digital restaurant menus can be used to display items and prices or daily specials, upcoming events, and other important information.
Get more inspiration for business sign ideas, including low-cost digital signs.
20. Collaborate With Fellow Local Businesses
Average cost: Free
Use co-marketing partnerships to promote multiple local businesses
What We Like
- Little to no cost to collaborate
- Benefits both businesses
- Introduces your business to an expanded audience
What's Missing
- Can be challenging to find businesses that want to collaborate
- Requires time and resources to plan and execute campaigns effectively
Best For
- Retailers
- Restaurants and cafes
- Bakeries
- Service-based industries or professionals (e.g., real estate and mortgage lending agents)
Among the essentially free local marketing ideas on this list is to collaborate with other businesses on marketing and ad campaigns. For example, if you own a bakery, you could work with a local coffee shop. You could brew and sell the cafe’s coffee, and they can sell your pastries.
Photographers and florists can hook up with event centers, real estate agents and mortgage lenders can collaborate, a graphic designer could work well with a local print shop, and so on. Collaboration can also be as simple as referral marketing—check out our list of the best referral lead generation sources by industry.
21. Give Back to Your Local Community
Average cost: Free
Community give-backs are an effective tool for generating brand awareness and positive brand perceptions (Source: Sparrow Hospital)
What We Like
- Demonstrates your commitment to the local community
- Creates a positive brand image
- Potential to get local news coverage
- Tax write-offs for time and products
What's Missing
- Zero profits during your time
Best For
- Any local business
- Giving back to your community
- Building brand awareness
- Creating loyalty and a positive reputation
Community members tend to remember the businesses that get involved and donate time or services to help improve the local area. For example, a barbershop or salon might offer free haircuts for veterans one day each quarter or treat a local hero to a makeover.
Local businesses that give back to their community often get a big return on the investment in customer loyalty—not to mention knowing they’re positively impacting the local community. If you’ve wanted to do this but weren’t sure where to start, find local nonprofit organizations that are relevant to your business to give back to your local community.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are some examples of local advertising for small businesses?
Local advertising is the promotion of a business within a specific location, such as a city or county. Local business advertising often includes TV, radio, and newspaper ads, but also extends to word-of-mouth marketing, social media, paid search ads, and distribution of marketing materials like business cards.
How do you attract local customers?
Several different types of local advertising ideas will work to attract local customers, direct mail, email marketing, social media ads, Google ads, and local SEO. Coupon marketing is an especially popular method of attracting new customers through time-limited discounts or gift-with-purchase deals.
What is the best free advertising for small businesses?
There are several free local advertising options for small businesses on a budget. For example, email marketing software like Mailchimp and Sendinblue can be used for free. Posting on social media, setting up Google and Bing business listings, and creating search-friendly content for your website doesn’t cost anything but time.
Bottom Line
No matter whether your budget to execute local advertising ideas is a lot or none at all, you can use many if not all of the ideas above to promote your business locally. For the best results, use a combination of local business advertising strategies, such as email marketing, social media, local business collaborations, and rewards programs, and track your results for each. As a result, generate brand awareness and gain new customers quickly.
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