The science and art of making and defeating locks— locksmithing— has been in existence for a long time.
The way a locksmith business used to work in the old days, i.e., before any digital media existed, was simple. There were only a few ways to market the business— in fact, most locksmiths never invested in marketing their business. The board on their truck or shop was all they had.
One of the reasons why they didn’t do marketing was because they didn’t have a budget to buy a space on an already limited (or saturated) medium.
However, times have changed. Today, because of the existence of social media and digital technologies, everyone has a chance to broadcast their message, and within tight budgets. Therefore, locksmiths today have the same opportunity to market their offerings as any other person. And to leverage this opportunity, here are five marketing tips to start with:
Focus on Local SEO
Local SEO refers to the process of ‘optimizing’ your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches.
As a user and not a locksmith, you might have searched for something like “Dentists near me” on your mobile phone. This would have resulted in a list of dental clinics nearby. Well, those clinics have done local SEO, knowingly or unknowingly.
Similarly, when people search for “locksmiths near me”, you must show up, and at as high a rank as possible. Here’s an excellent resource to DIY.
Build on social media
Individuals spend, invest, and waste their time on social media more than anything. Social media has all the attention nowadays.
And if there’s one rule in marketing and not more, it is: “Attention is the currency”. If you can grab one’s attention, then and then only can you share(or rather they can hear) your message. The fact that social media has people’s attention help to build on this principle.
All you need to do is appear in their newsfeed; for that, you need to create content— audio, video, text, image.
Promote
Local SEO and social media demand for time only. However, if you want to scale the reach of your message, you need to pay for promotions.
Each major platform— Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google, etc.— has its ad platform. Familiarize yourself with how it works to do it yourself.
Word of mouth
One of the similar tactics that used to work in the old days and that works excellently in the digital age is word of mouth. Mark Zuckerberg put it the best:
“People influence people. Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message. A trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising.”
In short, get people to share your content and leave positive feedback on your business pages.
Don’t forget the offline:
Indeed, digital marketing is exciting and gives a positive ROI. But this doesn’t dilute the fact that offline also works. Build billboards, go to trade shows, share business cards, and do everything they used to do decades ago.
Final words:
Marketing a locksmith business is similar to promoting any other business. Grab the customer’s attention, share your message, and build your brand. The abovementioned tips are the fundamentals of starting and directing the marketing efforts for a locksmith business.
Interesting related article: “What is SEO?“