Hyperlocal E-Design: One of the Best Marketing Strategies
Hyperlocal e-design. Could it be one of your best opportunities to bring in new clients and grow your business right now? You might think that "local" and "e-design" don't go together, but they definitely can, and I'll tell you why!
Working with clients online doesn't mean it's anti-local.
If you've been around for awhile or taken my How To Launch An E-Design Business course, you've heard me say this before: just because you're a business that operates online doesn't mean you can't have a local network of clients! The advantage of the e-design setup is that you're not limited to only working with local clients - you can offer your services to clients in every corner of the country...and right in your hometown.
In fact, people LOVE local.
In case you haven't heard it enough recently, supporting local businesses is a big deal right now. It's always been important, but this crisis has added a laser focus to this concept and it's a great time for us as small business owners to take advantage of the spotlight.
So talk about your business - tell your friends, neighbors, and other business owners who are in adjacent niches about what you do. Educate, educate, educate. Be personable. Help folks get to know YOU, so that they remember you as not just another designer, but that you have something special and different to offer by working with folks online.
I've seen this work extremely well in my own business.
When we lived in Philadelphia, I worked hard to build my local network and it paid off. By the time we left, I'd say that about 50% of my projects were local (which also made it easy to shoot them for my portfolio and social media - double win) and I loved that.
Hyperlocal took on a new meaning there too: focusing on finding clients within a few miles of my home meant I could offer in-person consults as an add on to my e-design services, and I often WALKED to their homes. The fact that I lived close by and ran into them regularly increased the trust factor, and I think that helped generate more referrals as well. I had "cred" in my city and that snowballed on itself. Those relationships were solid, and I'm still reaping the benefits of those even after moving to a different city.
Now that I'm in Richmond, I'm working to build that local network again and get the referral machine going here. It definitely takes effort and patience to wait for it to develop, but since I've seen what a difference it can make, I'm all in on making it happen.
