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When you mention the Bronx, the answers you get are full of stereotypes. While it is true that the Bronx has suffered economically over the years, it is also equally true that it has a resiliency that has brought it back repeatedly.
The Bronx is a cultural mosaic from which both Hip Hop and Salsa emerged. Little Italy in Manhattan is but a shadow of the true Little Italy, which is Belmont. There are several hidden Italian gems that line Arthur Avenue.
The Bronx has the largest park in New York City and has the most green space of all the boroughs. It’s also home to some other cultural treasures such as the Zoo and the Botanical Garden.
I do not mean this to gloss over the challenges that Bronx businesses face. The racial and ethnic biases in lending, policing, and other social justice issues have disadvantaged businesses. But, that doesn’t mean that businesses don’t and can’t thrive in the Bronx. It means, despite these challenges, they can and do.
Great web design is important no matter where you are located. However, in densely populated areas like Astoria, where mobile usage is high. These best practices are highly important especially because
In other words, the small business has a clear understanding of their market segment, and they have a clear picture of how they can win. Strategic marketing is how you make this happen.
If there isn't a expected outcome and clear indication of your expected return, then find other help marketing your small business.
If the small business marketing agency you found to help raise your visibility in your market doesn't have a testing and learning plan, find someone else
Any small business digital marketing agency should have digital knowhow. But, you would be surprised that many don't. Before you accept marketing help for your small business, check their technical credentials. Do they offer email marketing? What does their own online marketing look like? How about social media marketing? What do their post look like?
This probably goes without saying, but you'll want to make sure that any marketing help you hire has significant small business experience. Large company solutions won't work.
Marketing is inherently risky. When seeking marketing help, see whether they will share the risk with your small business.
According to Best Designs, original graphics are the most successful.
“Original graphics make up 40% of all successful visual content that accomplishes marketing goals, but 43% of marketers struggle with the consistent production of captivating visuals.”
Since we are communicating one message, the artwork that supports it must work very hard to support the message. This is where local market know-how can really help. Original photos and images of your business in the Bronx interacting with your neighborhood can add value.
It also helps with when your calls to action focus on local events in and around the Bronx or at your business location.
Every email, no matter how trivial, should have a call to action. This is where all the hard work above pays off. If we omit one, we just wasted resources that could have been spent more cost effectively.
We cover email list building in great detail in our post on small business email marketing. Again, we will just hit the highlights here as it pertains to the Bronx. Every neighborhood has summer fairs. While these were severely impacted by COVID, in our post COVID world they should roar back with a vengeance. It would be smart to see if you could piggy-back off one or more of them.
Incentives, deals, free trials, and samples are all great options when developing your calls to action. See if you can partner with your neighbors to create a shared promotion. This way one shopper in the Bronx has two or more places to visit while out in the neighborhood.
When people think about local digital marketing, they think cost first. While cost is definitely a variable to consider, it is more important to measure the return on that investment (ROI). Local digital marketing is custom-made to measure and to deliver a positive ROI.
Marketing always contains some risk. You should be suspect of anyone who tells you otherwise. Yes, there are techniques that can make you much more successful. However, any seasoned marketer knows that even with the best techniques, there is always some uncertainty. If you truly are a team, then your partner should be willing to help you share some of the risk, as long as you are willing to follow best practices. If your partner helped you build the strategy and craft the brand message, then it is reasonable that they share some of the risk. This way you are both aligned to the same goal, which is delivering a positive return on your marketing spending.
First, if you work with a larger firm, the quality of the people and the time they will invest is directly proportional to the amount of money you spend. They may tell you otherwise, but you know that not every client or customer is treated equally. This is why you want to find a firm where you budget matters to them. This way your project gets the attention it deserves instead of being given to a junior team member as part of the 10 other projects he or she is working on.
In addition, local knowledge is important so your message comes across as authentic. If the firm doesn't understand your neighborhood, town, or city, then the language they use or tone of the campaign can be off. Customers are smarter than many give them credit for. They can usually spot fakes easily.
If you need help with marketing your business, please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you're thinking about finding help in the Bronx for your small business, here are some things to keep in mind.
Aside from all the general tips above, here are some specific actions you can take based on the three key elements of local search algorithms:
All of this assumes that you have developed your keyword list. If you have not, this section will be more effective once you do. Please see our previous post on digital marketing in the Bronx and then come back.
Go through your keywords list and select those which are good descriptors of your business. If it were me, I would use something like “digital marketing agency”, “seo services”, for example. Then make a list of the neighborhoods you service, for example “seo services south bronx”.
Now comes the harder part, that is frankly a bit tedious. For each combination, see if you can create a somewhat unique post that’s 500-1000 words for that keyword. For us, it is a post like this. I try to write a post that helps my potential clients learn something or do something they didn’t know they could.
Now, this is the good part. If you do write quality posts for these keywords, you will be raising your prominence. Google knows that all these neighborhoods are in the Bronx. So, for each good post you write, you help raise your prominence on a given topic in a given location.
Prominence is also helped by the basic techniques I mentioned earlier, such as being a part of local business groups, e.g. the Bronx Chamber of Commerce or Burnside.Jerome.Tremont Commercial District. Any local listing helps.
This is why I like the blog technique because it hits all three key areas. If your keyword is a descriptor of what you do and the neighborhood is one you serve, it is highly likely that you will score points on relevance.
These same tools would apply if you want to target local SEO in NYC
If you are more interest in the borough, you can see our Small Business Marketing in the Bronx. If you want the full city, you can see our Small Business Marketing in NYC.