Do you get your customers locally? Unless you’re a local small business, honestly, most people don't do it at all. But it's the fastest way to really grow and test out your business. And that’s why we’re talking all about how to get clients in your own backyard today.

So before we dive into some strategies to think about when diving into the local pool, I want to give you a few reasons why I love local marketing and growing your business locally so much. Going local allows you to test the waters and see #1 if your offers are getting any bites #2 - if your messaging is attracting your true ideal clients. 

 

I love to invite the clients that I work with to try this because it forces you to jump into your business with both feet and forces you to take action a whole lot faster than you would if you're like, “Well, let me build this funnel first, and create this opt in and then write the sequence and then do the job. That's about great and well. But if you don't even know IF works and if ONE person is interested, and you might be wasting a whole bunch of time and/or money.

#3 - It speeds up the know, like, trust factor. Being face to face and meeting someone is a huge differentiator you have someone right in front of you looking for your skill set versus searching online and googling and a million results come up and sorting through it for the next six months. When you are in person or in proximity to each other, you AND the potential customer decide in the first conversation if they like you, could they potentially hire you, and should they find out more. 

 

How to get started with finding clients in your own backyard:

Okay, so first one is to collaborate with local businesses that have the same audiences but do different things.

 

This is exact same thing you would say to someone with an online business, right? Ask yourself questions like: - Who would you collaborate with? 

- Who could you do something like a summit with, but locally? 

- Who could you either connect with or who can connect you to more ideal clients? 

 

So think about local businesses that come to mind where you both serve the same type of audience or there's some kind of crossover, that's a great place to start. 

 

Start connecting in places where can you find your ideal clients. 

 

Ask yourself: Where can I find influencers in my city? Where can I find ideal clients? Those are the two places that I hang out: where influencers are or where my ideal peeps are. So I either 1) create my own group or 2) go to networking groups where my ideal clients are. A quote that keeps coming up lately for me that rings true for this episode is: “Your net worth is your network… which is 100% accurate for local marketing.”

 

We all know we have friends and acquaintances locally who know everyone. You want to know these people. Become friends of them.  Cheer them on. Get on their radar! *Also, here’s permission for you that it doesn’t and won’t happen overnight, and that’s OK. Making these key connections and relationships takes time -- so know you’re doing it right if you’re building a real relationship.

One thing I know will come up in your heads if you’re introverted and/or hate mingling is: That sounds really really hard. I don’t know where or how to show up at an event with strangers. First, pick an event you actually want to go to and talk to someone you would like to meet in person, like real life and then just be yourself and talk to people you would want to be friends with. 

 

I think about it like this: I see that woman over there... Would I invite her over to my messy house so we could drink wine out of plastic cups? That's a good filter for me, because if I feel comfortable doing that, then I know she's likely not going to judge me and we both probably have some similar interests -- which are two...