“Best marketing firms near me.” “Local branding agencies.” These types of searches are all too common, even in the B2B sphere. Despite the rise of digitalization, many businesses still like to work with experts and partners who are physically close to them.

For example, if you onboard a Fractional CMO (chief marketing officer), wouldn’t it be great if you worked with someone who could quite easily drop into the office as needed? That’s why as many as 46% of online searches include a location.

Service providers take advantage of this by engaging in local SEO practices: Techniques that specifically increase your online visibility for location-based searches. However, only 40% of businesses are outsourcing to marketing specialists who can optimize their local SEO strategy.

That’s potentially 60% of businesses that aren’t getting the most out of their marketing efforts. Let’s take a look at why local SEO is so critical and the reasons for getting an expert involved.

Local SEO: What’s the Big Deal?

Applying local SEO techniques gives you a higher chance of appearing in online searches that contain area-based keywords. If you don’t optimize your content for local searches, you could miss out on a huge chunk of leads. As well as nearly half of searches including local intent, stats suggest that 76% of people who search for something local visit a provider on the same day.

In other words, people who are searching locally are ready to buy right now. Appearing in those queries increases your brand visibility, even if the searcher ultimately chooses another provider.

Outsourcing Local SEO: Join the 40%

Now we come back to the biggest local SEO mistake: Trying to do everything yourself. SEO and content marketing in general aren’t static sciences. They can be more like an art at times — subjective and largely dependent on conditions. Keeping on top of shifting SEO trends is challenging, which is why so many businesses outsource their marketing to specialists.

Beyond SEO: Holistic Marketing Support

When you choose to outsource marketing, you’re investing in:

·        Specialists who understand how SEO works across multiple content streams and platforms.

·        Marketers who can oversee an entire strategy beyond just SEO.

·        Digital experts who can suggest new ways to access swathes of your target audience.

Is outsourcing always better? It depends on your company’s situation. If you have a dedicated team of full-time marketers, outsourcing may seem like an unnecessary expense. However, it’s worth assessing the impact your marketing team is having. Are they covering aspects like local SEO, and can they demonstrate genuine, consistent improvements in demand generation? If not, it could be time for an overhaul of your marketing strategy.

Final Word

Another reason to embrace local SEO is that as a tech startup, you can become a vital member of your community. Consider highlighting work you do in your local area and employee stories, or even your company history. It’s a fun and engaging way to boost your local SEO strategy organically.

If you want to learn more about getting your products or services in front of people locally and further afield, book a 15-minute introductory call and discover how Arch Collective supports tech startups like yours every day.

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