Local Digital Marketing Trends that Boost Revenue for SMBs

BY Rachel Cagle
Featured image for “Local Digital Marketing Trends that Boost Revenue for SMBs”

Small and medium-​sized businesses (SMBs) know that a healthy mix of traditional and digital ads is key to targeting local audiences. Research from BIA Advisory Services agrees. According to their report, in 2023, local advertisers are expected to dedicate 52% of their budget to traditional media and 48% to digital. Traditional won’t have the lead for much longer, though. Within just two years, digital media will surpass traditional ad spend and keep taking more of it. However, many SMBs have only just started to realize the importance of digital media because of the COVID-​19 pandemic. So, they could use your help as they move forward with digital.

Local Digital Marketing Trends that Boost Revenue for SMBs

Mobile

According to BIA, mobile is the top local ad spending media channel of 2023. It claims 19.6% of overall local spend in the U.S. (roughly $31.7 billion). It also makes up 40.9% of U.S. digital media local advertising revenue (about $31.9 billion). One of mobile’s biggest local digital marketing trends is location targeting. Taking advantage of consumers’ phones’ GPSs, SMBs’ mobile ads can target consumers based on their physical location. This year, location-​targeted mobile ad spend is estimated to include:

  • Search: 50.2%
  • Native/​Social (including video ads that are natively produced and in-​feed videos on social media): 31.5%
  • Traditional Display: 9.5%
  • Traditional Video (including pre-​roll video ads): 8%
  • Messaging: 0.8%

Talk with your local advertising client about how location-​targeted mobile ads can help them provide the most relevant ads to potential customers.

PC/​Laptop

PC/​Laptop advertising is also among the top local digital marketing trends of 2023. It’s the second highest digital media channel for ad spending this year, claiming $28.1 billion in ad spending (17.4% of local ad spend and 36.2% of local digital media ad revenue). Consumers often turn to their PCs and laptops to perform searches during research on potential purchases. Your client can meet them where they search by utilizing search and display ads relevant to their searches. Use keyword research and look up common questions your client’s target customers are often looking for answers for concerning your client’s products or services and they’ll be more likely to get clicks.

CTV and OTT

Connected TV (CTV) and Over-​the-​Top (OTT) TV revenue is expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.2% between now and 2027 says BIA. More consumers are turning to streaming services for most if not all of their TV viewing needs. CTV and OTT viewership increased by 55% between 2022 and 2023. And viewing times average about two hours per day. Are your SMB client’s TV ads going to be where their target audience is viewing?

Now you know which digital ad media types are included in the local digital marketing trends of 2023. But how can you make the most of that knowledge and create the most effective ads for your client? AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel can help.

All you need to know is your SMB client’s target audience(s). Simply search for the target audience in AudienceSCAN then select which ad media type you’d like to explore first. You can choose from Digital Advertising in general, Streaming Video (OTT) and more. Then you’ll be able to see stats like:

  • What percentages of this audience took action after seeing/​hearing different types of ads within the last year
  • What social media platforms they’re the most active on
  • What types of TV content they like watching the most
  • What streaming services they use
  • What they search for online
  • What drives them to make purchases
  • And much more

With that information, you can easily craft the most effective ads for each local digital marketing trend to boost your SMB client’s sales.

Photo by Ali Mkumbwa

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