So you’ve decided to go local with your business. Great! The world is your oyster. You now have the chance to connect with a local audience that might be interested in your products or services. But where do you start? How can you effectively market your business online?

The answer lies in looking at the demographics and psychographics of your ideal buyer.

Who is your ideal buyer?

Do you have a specific buyer persona in mind? Someone who represents the type of customer you’re looking to attract?

What is your buyer persona’s socio-economic status? How is his/her/their digital behaviour? What are their interests and hobbies?

To answer these questions, you need to understand the marketing principles and frameworks that can guide your decisions on where to focus your energies online. This way, you’ll be able to target the right audience and effectively engage with them. To start, here are four digital marketing tactics you should consider.

1. Website design

Yes, you need a website. However, it’s not sufficient just to have any old site. You need to have a clean, modern, user-friendly one. Remember: your website’s design might not appeal to everyone. But it will certainly appeal to your target audience.

If you’re a local business owner, you’ll need to consider the layout, fonts, colours, pictures, and videos on your site. These aspects will help you establish your credibility as a local business. In addition, make sure that the content on your site is relevant and useful. For instance, do you provide clear, valuable information about local events? About new services and products? About hiring?

2. SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, is all about optimizing your website so that it appears high on search results when potential customers type in keywords or phrases that are relevant to your product or service. There are several free tools that can help you with SEO, such as Google Analytics and SEMrush.

SEMrush is a tool that can help you analyse the organic traffic to your site. Look at the traffic from search engines (such as Google) and social media (such as Facebook and Twitter) to determine the type of content that your audience is interested in.

3. Social media

You may already be active on social media, but did you know that you can use this platform to promote your website? The advantage of using social media to promote your brand is that it allows you to connect with millions of people globally. As a result, you can grow your audience and gain credibility quickly.

If you’re not active on social media, now might be a good time to start. It’s simple to use, and allows you to target the right audience. With the right tools and a bit of practice, you’ll be able to connect with potential customers quickly and effectively.

4. Email marketing

Did you know that email marketing is one of the most effective forms of digital marketing? Thanks to the invention of the computer and the internet, we now have the ability to send massive amounts of emails quickly and efficiently. As a result, email marketing has grown considerably over the years.

If you have an email list of subscribers, you can keep them up-to-date with your latest news and offers by sending them regular emails. The great thing about email marketing is that you can segment your audience and target the right individuals based on what they’ve done or said in the past.

If you’re wondering how to market your business online, it might be a good idea to first consider the demographics and psychographics of your target audience. The next step is to create buyer personas and develop an overall marketing strategy. With these two steps, you’ll be able to identify the specific tools and platforms that can best engage with your ideal buyer.