As a marketing consultant, one of the questions that I get asked most often by small, medium and local business owners is…

How Do I Advertise My Business Locally?

The answer to that question is both simple…and complex…both short…and long…all at the same time.  If you find yourself asking How Do I Advertise My Business Locally, here is the quick rundown of the options that are available…and why some are much better, effective and cost-effective than the others.

First, there are two distinctly ways to advertise your business locally.  You can advertise locally offline, and you can advertise locally online.

Advertising locally offline means that you are using traditional marketing…marketing that has been used for decades (and in some cases, more than a century).  This includes mediums like the TV, radio, advertisements in the local / regional newspaper and ad blocks in the Yellow Pages.  And, in the past, these have all been the most cost-effective ways to advertise your business locally – key phrase “in the past”!

Today, these traditional local advertising outlets are outdated, ineffective and way too costly to provide significant ROI (return on your investment).  Just think about it like this.  When you need something…a product or a service…say, a plumber.  Do you pull out the Yellow Pages and flip around until you find one?  Do you turn on the TV and sit around waiting for a plumber’s commercial to come on?  Do you pull out the newspaper and flip through the local business ads until you find a plumber?

Of course you don’t.  What do you do?  You turn on the computer (or your iPhone or Blackberry), head on over to Google…and search what you need.  And, if that’s what you do…you can consider it a really safe bet that the vast majority of your prospects (recent studies show 90%, or more) do the exact same thing.

Why?  Simple, because when you go to Google and search for what you want, Google gives you a whole bunch of options…a whole bunch of suppliers for the product or service you need right there…all just one click away.  There are local business (map listings), there are Pay-Per-Click ads, and there are organic listings (videos, articles, blogs and websites of the best, most trusted suppliers of the products and services you need) right there in that little screen for you click around find the one that is right for you.

That single page…the maps, the PPC ads and the organic listings…those 10 results on the front page of that search engine…are the most important and profitable real estate within a local market.  When you are advertising locally online, it’s all about “location, location, location…,” and being on that front page (more than once, if possible, is the location you need in order to draw in new customers and make more sales.

That is why, whenever a new (or prospective) client asks me…

How Do I Advertise My Business Locally?

I always respond with a short one word answer.  Online!  And, then, of course, I go into the details of what online marketing really is…and how beneficial it can be.

When advertising your business online locally, there are so many incredible options for you to take advantage of…just think about them all…

You can use videos, articles, press releases, blog posts, websites, online directories, pay-per-click ads, social media sites, and review sites that are essentially word-of-mouth recommendations for your business on steroids…flying across the internet at light-speed.  It’s like having thousands of individuals (past customers) telling every single person they know or meet about what a great job you do.

How can you beat that?  Honestly, I don’t know if you can!

So, if you are asking yourself right now…How Do I Advertise My Business Locally…because you need more customers to pay the bills this month…or you just want to really grow…maybe even hire some additional staff…or just be able to put more of your profits away for you to use…consider looking into the powerful and cost-effective local advertising options that are available for you online.