How To Revive Your Business With Local Marketing Strategy

There comes a time in every business’s lifespan when everything slows down — the novelty has worn off and your customers are mostly regulars. When you reach this point, you might think, “What would a Chicago marketing strategy consultant do?” The answer is: revive your business with local marketing.

Below are nine strategies to help you reclaim your momentum and continue building your business:

1. Create new products or services.
2. Revisit your business’s branding.
3. Plan limited and exclusive offers.
4. Improve your marketing tactics.
5. Design a good seasonal campaign.
6. Start a referral system for clients.
7. Be more personal and personable.
8. Host a promotional event for PR.
9. Work with other local businesses.

There’s a lot to discuss, so get ready to take notes.

Let’s go!

Watch this video to find out more about how Digital Authority Partners can create a great marketing strategy for you!

9 Local Marketing Strategies To Revive Your Business

Business owners have many valid reasons for wanting a local marketing strategy; reinvigorating their business from its current state is one of them. Building another effective strategy could be difficult, however, because another local firm might have noticed your company’s decline before you did.  In which case, that other company might already be taking your customers.

Thankfully, you can find plenty of amazing or common-sense help on this topic (this guide is one of them). If you think you can recycle and be done with your old strategy, you might first want to look at what is here. Working with a marketing strategy consultant or agency is also a good idea.

     1. Create New Products or Services

If your old or current marketing strategy no longer holds up, the first course of action should be to run a review of your situation. Specifically, audit your products and services to know whether they no longer interest people. Make it your goal to find out where your business is falling short.

For instance, new experiences draw people in, and they inevitably leave when the novelty wears off. On the other hand, maybe what you offer is not inherently bad or boring, but it does not help people as much as they expect. The solution to all of these is to do more research and development.

     2. Revisit Your Business’s Branding

Rebranding is another method of revitalizing your business, especially in the modern age when consumers are becoming more conscious and careful with their spending. It is clear at this point, for example, that Gen Z customers care about a business’s politics and commitments.

Revive your business by aligning your brand with customer interests. Currently, sustainability is a major issue when retaining customer relationships and support. How can you rebrand and incorporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) into your business’s values? 

     3. Plan Limited and Exclusive Offers

Think back to when you started your business or saw another new business open in your area. Chances are good that there was a limited promotion designed to get customers into the store, right? Start another one, but with an added twist to speed up your business’s revival, such as these:

• Test new products by keeping them on limited runs to check your customers’ reactions.
• Set up a point card system to reward customer loyalty with exclusive rewards and gifts.
• Offer discount coupons in exchange for answering a short survey about your business.

     4. Improve Your Marketing Tactics

Making creative local marketing strategies is a matter of perspective since you can turn many mundane things into powerful marketing tools with the right mindset. Some of these are present in this list, such as a referral system. Great ideas for marketing come from close listening.

For example, a referral system works because your business provides the right solutions and delivers quality customer service, which comes from hearing what customers say. It sounds vague, but the point is to keep your mind open to innovative marketing ideas.

     5. Design a Good Seasonal Campaign

Major holidays are a busy time for businesses because people are on the move, traveling, buying gifts, or spending more time outside. This applies to more than just Christmas, although that remains the biggest and busiest time period. An excellent seasonal campaign can be any of these:

• New themed products or services, such as warm winter drinks or cold summer drinks;
• Holiday-themed sales or bundles, such as a meal-prepping bundle for Thanksgiving;
• Exclusive holiday-themed events, such as egg hunting for families around Easter time.

     6. Start a Referral System for Clients

Just because customers love your business does not mean they will immediately go out of their way to recommend it to others. You can gently nudge them in that direction by starting a referral system to reward these efforts and encourage long-time customers to bring in new ones.

If you do decide to take this route, be careful about how you create your system. Ensure that your guidelines are specific and clear to everyone involved. Do not make promises you cannot uphold promptly, or you risk losing customers rather than winning them.

     7. Be More Personal and Personable

All customers love good customer service and personalized service. That does not mean completely overhauling what your business already does, though. Giving personalized, high quality customer service can be as simple as calling customers by name and treating them as friends, not strangers.

You can use what you learn from them to customize your products or services to fit their tastes better. In short, you can leverage a positive interaction to revive and grow your business via an endless number of methods simply by providing a consistently excellent customer experience (CX).

     8. Host a Promotional Event for PR

Hosting an event or holding a contest is great marketing because it gets people talking about you, especially if it gets local press coverage. It does not have to be overly grand or over-the-top; it just has to be interesting and fun for people to enjoy and learn about your business.

For example, a Chicago tour agency could hold an elaborate competition to test people’s knowledge of local historical sites to revive its business. It should have permission from the local government to use those spaces, but it is a good way to get attention.

     9. Work With Other Local Businesses

Working in public spaces is not the only way to innovate your local marketing approach. Other local businesses make great partners, too. They do not have to be the biggest players in the city, either; collaborating with a business that shares your goals and values will ensure the best possible compatibility.

Following the example above, the same Chicago tour agency can also work with another local business, an escape room, to run an excellent PR stunt. Escape rooms are popular for the challenge they bring; why not make a Chicago-inspired storyline for local customers to enjoy?

Summing Up

Businesses in dire situations must innovate to survive and overcome their limitations. Local marketing strategies, such as those by a Chicago consultant, are especially good for businesses that want reliable and measurable results.

An effective marketing strategy has many elements, for example, conducting a full audit to find areas for improvement and improving your business’s customer service standards. Another highly recommended one is implementing a referral system because it builds relationships.

Need help creating a local marketing strategy to revive your business? Contact Digital Authority Partners to learn how we can help.