Local often equates to trust and familiarity. Not surprisingly, local content generates 2.7x higher engagement (source: Content Marketing Institute), and 67% of consumers trust locally-focused content (source: Consumer Trust Survey). So, let’s get into some specifics on local content strategy for big wins.
Content Planning – Offering useful local content to audiences
Understand the demographics and preferences of your audience. E.g. the local audience of a construction company could be looking for sustainable, green construction projects.
Next, find out what topics interest them and what their search intent is (informational, transactional, commercial, or navigational). Cover those topics with an appropriate CTA.
Putting all these ideas into a content calendar is a must to ensure consistency and effective messaging. Use simple tools such as Microsoft Excel and Google Docs, or more comprehensive tools such as ContentCal, StoryChief, and others.
Lastly, tap into local expertise to do things your team is not skilled in, e.g. a Dallas marketing strategy consultant, a Dallas photographer or videographer, and so on.
Local Content Optimization – Serving local needs
For local digital marketing success, tailor your content to address location-specific needs. This could be done via blogs or tailored emails sent to specific area-wise audiences.
Next, incorporate localized long-chain keywords, such as a construction company working on sustainable projects could use ‘construct green building in Highland Park’.
Don’t forget to connect what you do to what is happening in your community. In the same example, the construction company could put out a press release about inaugurating a green building along with green crusaders of the community. This is excellent brand storytelling too.
Choosing the right Distribution Channels
Where to deliver the message is an important question that Dallas businesses must answer before preparing content. Emails, messages, social media, website, etc are some of the go-to channels.
Social Media – Depending on your industry, platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can be explored. After Google, YouTube is the second most commonly used website, so a content strategy for YouTube is a must.
Email Marketing – Complement social media with email marketing. Send tailored newsletters that feature updates on local events, exclusive offers, or new blog content.
Local partnerships: When you partner with credible businesses or influencers and leverage their experience, it helps establish authority. This could also strengthen your website’s E-E-A-T.
Content Syndication – I’ll recommend you take this up once you have begun with the above measures. Content syndication means you re-publish your content on other websites to reach more audiences and better SEO performance.
Measuring Performance – learning what’s working
My early interaction with many clients often starts with them stating, “I have an excellent content strategy, but it’s not working”. Here’s what to do.
First track engagement metrics like website traffic, social media likes, shares, and comments. If the numbers are not good, clearly your content is not meeting the audience’s needs, or important keywords are missing. A Dallas web marketing consultant would be the best expert to handle this for you.
Next is conversion tracking. Don’t settle for anything below the industry standard conversion rate. Again, use the expertise of a Dallas digital marketing consultant for employing a strong content strategy.
Lastly, measure the ROI and make adjustments. If you aren’t getting enough clicks, you need to optimize content – work on keywords, search intent, meta tags, links, etc. What if your content is spot on, but your website loads slowly, driving away customers? Think about that too.
To sum up, a well-planned content strategy can show results, just be consistent and realistic.
