What Is hyperlocal marketing and how does it differ from traditional digital marketing? It’s a question we’re asked all the time and there’s a fine distinction between the two. Think about it this way. Traditional digital marketing is like a new house. And hyperlocal marketing is like interior decorating. You can’t have any decor without the physical house. And while this may sound like an over-simplified explanation, it helps paint the picture: you can’t execute hyperlocal marketing without first having a digital marketing strategy for your optometry practice.
Hyperlocal marketing allows you to launch campaigns targeted at a specific audience within a local area. This type of marketing makes it easier to capture the attention of potential new patients who enter ‘near me’ queries in search engines. By leveraging this approach, you focus on a target audience with specific intent. For instance, people searching for optometrists near me or optometrists [city or area name].
In turn, you’ll find it easier to increase brand awareness and bring in more patients as more people discover your optometry practice via online ads, business listings, search results, and other marketing channels. Hyperlocal marketing shares many similarities with traditional digital marketing. However, hyperlocal focuses on activities capable of attracting local prospects. On the other hand, traditional digital marketing casts the net wider.
Widespread smartphone usage bolsters the viability of hyperlocal marketing for businesses of varying sizes. As an optometrist, you don’t need to spend time and money on state, national, or global campaigns. You maximize returns on your marketing budget by concentrating on nearby neighborhoods or one block. This approach allows you to build strong relationships with local people interested in optometry services. Hyperlocal is a necessary layer to add to your traditional digital marketing campaigns to drive more results from your efforts.
Traditional Digital Marketing
This type of marketing encompasses wide-ranging techniques and channels. You can rely on traditional digital marketing to reach potential patients via online platforms and other digital communication channels. It employs various tools to enhance your ability to target, communicate, and convert a specific target audience. In addition, digital marketing takes advantage of advanced analytics solutions to draw useful insights about the target audience.
In general, traditional digital marketing doesn’t overly focus on local prospects. Instead, it can reach a diverse audience, irrespective of location and other factors. You can embark on various types of campaigns, including inbound marketing. This version provides a holistic view by first focusing on the campaign’s goal and matching the objective with relevant tools.
With the right marketing tools, your inbound campaigns become more effective. In turn, you can use the tools to define sales funnel processes. Marketers employ inbound techniques to provide structure and purpose to the campaigns.
Types of traditional digital marketing include:
- Search engine optimization
- Content marketing
- Social media marketing
- Pay-per-click advertising
- Affiliate marketing
- Email marketing
- Native marketing
Hyperlocal Marketing Tips and Strategies for Optometrists
Adopting effective hyperlocal marketing strategies is a surefire way to maximize online visibility and conversion rates. The best part is that there’s a wide selection of tips and strategies to boost your campaigns’ viability. Examples of these strategies include:
- Claim and optimize business listings
- Create a comprehensive service page area
- Add structured data markup
- Clearly display contact information
- Build a proper URL structure
- Improve your website page load speed
- Target patients with hyperlocal advertisements
- Use hyperlocal keywords
Here are the top hyperlocal marketing tips for optometrists.
1. Claim and Optimize Business Listings
Business listings on Google My Business (GMB), Angie, and Yelp play an essential role in boosting your optometry practice’s online visibility. Hence, it’s vital to claim and optimize your practice’s listings. If your business appears on several listings, local people can easily find information about your optometry services. In turn, you’re sure to keep the phones ringing and fill appointment slots more effectively.
Key platforms like Google My Business and Yelp can drive significant web and foot traffic to your website and offices. Ensure that information on these platforms is always accurate and up to date. Most people check for phone numbers and opening hours before deciding to call or visit your practice. Also, include the business name, physical address, relevant photos, and a brief description of your optometry services.
2. Optimize For Local Search
Effective hyperlocal marketing also involves optimizing keywords and your optometry website’s URL structure to ensure they convey the locality of your practice. The ideal URL structure provides useful information about your business or services. Search engines gain an understanding of your website’s content by analyzing information contained in the URL.
For this reason, ensure that the URL conveys information relevant to your target audience’s search queries. Consider integrating words related to specific optometry services and location. Once you’ve optimized the URL structure, check the keywords on your site. It’s vital to use hyperlocal keywords that reference nearby street names. Doing so helps local people discover your practice.
3. Add Structured Data Markup
It’s important to categorize your optometry practice as local. As such, consider incorporating structured data markup to ensure that search engines understand your business services. Key items to list include links to your practice’s social media pages, business name, operating hours, physical address, logo, and phone number.
When implemented correctly, the markup ensures that your optometry practice appears in the right hyperlocal search results. If your business operates multiple branches, add a structured data markup for each location. A structured data testing tool is useful when looking to enhance the search results with schema markup. The tool plays an integral role in local business SEO.
4. Maximize the Visibility of Contact Information
Ensure that your practice’s contact details stand out on your website. Doing so encourages site visitors to call and visit your offices. This approach also helps your optometry practice become more open and accessible to local patients. Consider adding a contact us button and phone numbers in the header. Additional contact and location information should appear in the footer section of all pages.
It’s important to link to the contact us page in all call to action (CTA) instances. Another key consideration is maximizing the visibility of location-based keywords. In doing so, you help visitors link your practice to a specific location. Take advantage of the click-to-call feature to provide a more convenient way for site visitors to call your offices. Also, consider embedding a live Google Map on your website.
5. Target Audiences With Hyperlocal Ads
Hyperlocal advertisements can help you boost conversion rates and return on investment by focusing your ad spend on local audiences. These ads allow you to leverage hyperlocal features, such as geo-fencing and location tracking. Geo-fencing makes it easier to show ads to local people based on their current location as determined by GPS. The best part about these ads is that they provide a highly effective way to generate qualified leads.
You can maximize results by targeting potential patients based on their proximity to your offices. It’s vital to specify the distance between your office and the targeted prospects. Experts recommend tapping into existing patient data to target the ads.
6. Create Hyperlocal Content
Publishing hyperlocal content is one of the key hyperlocal marketing tips for optometrists. You need to generate content ideas that put a local spin on optometry topics. One way is to focus on local medical events and news that you can discuss. In doing so, you attract the attention of local people interested in optometry services. Research your keywords carefully and incorporate relevant location-based terms.
Streamline Hyperlocal Marketing with a Leading Marketing Intelligence Platform
An all-in-one marketing intelligence platform makes it easier to manage hyperlocal marketing campaigns. By partnering with a platform like Surefire Local, you can simplify the way you manage online reviews, business listings, online ad campaigns, and various other marketing aspects. One of the most important benefits of a marketing intelligence platform is access to useful insights.
Here are several reasons to opt for an intelligence platform.
- Access to an overview of marketing campaigns via a single dashboard
- Connect specific campaign outcomes to KPIs and hyperlocal marketing goals
- Glean in-depth insights into competitor activities
- Leverage hyperlocal marketing automation capabilities
- Maximize ROI on your marketing budget
How Intelligence Platforms Address Hyperlocal Marketing Concerns
Many businesses face challenges when looking to boost conversion rates via hyperlocal marketing. Business owners also grapple with the lack of expertise and time constraints. Thankfully, platforms like Surefire Local eliminate the need to worry about time and expertise.
As an optometrist, you don’t want to spend time trying to handle hyperlocal marketing campaigns. You can take advantage of Surefire Local’s all-in-one marketing intelligence platform. In doing so, you focus on providing a superior optometry service to local patients. It’s no surprise that a recent case study revealed that one optometry practice boosted online visibility by 265 percent within 12 months, thanks to Surefire Local’s all-in-one marketing intelligence platform.
Supercharge Hyperlocal Marketing Campaigns with Surefire Local
Surefire Local enables you to grow your optometry practice with a custom-built marketing intelligence platform. The all-in-one solution bolsters your campaigns’ effectiveness by providing tools to handle business listings optimization, hyperlocal advertising, access competitive insights, and other marketing activities.
You can access a comprehensive overview of your marketing activities via the platform’s dashboard. Surefire Local’s solution employs artificial intelligence and advanced automation capabilities to enhance the effectiveness of targeted marketing campaigns.
If you want to boost online visibility, improve your conversion rates, and drive more local patients to your optometry offices, get in touch with Surefire Local today.