Business & Marketing

Marketing a Small Local Business

Get more of the right customers walking through your door using simple, low-cost marketing you can run yourself.

This course is for members

$9 unlocks every course in the library, this one included, plus a credit to build a topic of your own and at least 10 new courses every month.

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What you will learn about Marketing a Small Local Business

The 7-day sprint
  1. Know Exactly Who You Serve. Local marketing works when you pick a narrow customer and a narrow area instead of trying to appeal to everyone nearby.
  2. Say Why You And Not The Shop Down The Road. Your positioning is the one true, specific reason a nearby customer should choose you over the obvious alternative.
  3. Own Your Google Business Profile. For most local businesses, the free Google Business Profile is the single highest-return marketing asset, because it is what people see when they search with intent to buy nearby.
  4. Turn Happy Customers Into Reviews And Referrals. Reviews and word of mouth are your cheapest advertising, and they only compound if you ask for them on purpose, at the right moment.
  5. Make One Offer That Gets People To Act Now. An offer is a specific reason to come in this week, with a clear result, a clear price, and a clear deadline or limit.
  6. Pick Two Channels And Show Up Consistently. Choose the two channels where your specific customers already are and run them steadily, instead of dabbling in six.
  7. Measure The Few Numbers That Decide Everything. Track where new customers came from, what they cost you, and what they are worth, so you can spend more on what works and stop what does not.
The 80/20: the 7 concepts that matter most
  • Be findable at the moment of need
  • Specific beats broad
  • Reviews are your sales team
  • Sell to the customers you already have
  • Offers create action, awareness alone does not
  • Consistency beats cleverness
  • Ask how they found you, then follow the money
The core idea, explained like you are 5

Marketing a local business is making the right nearby people know you exist, believe you can solve their specific problem, and trust you enough to choose you first.

Then the quiz and the ladder

10 questions that correct you when you are wrong, and beginner, intermediate, advanced levels, each with a practical exercise.