Local Startup Celebrity: Why National Exposure is Important for Local Businesses

We’re living in an age where every startup wants to become the next Facebook or Instagram.  Dozens of new companies launch to stake their claim as the most innovative, important, and coolest product or service you’ve seen all year. The truth is that many of them won’t make it past their first year.

Nonetheless, you’ll hear about these startups all over the web. They’re featured in Tech Crunch. These startup media darlings have social media followings that make many others look dismal in comparison. And ultimately, people view them as industry thought leaders. All of this before they ever make a dime!

They label themselves as “industry experts” and given the depth of their online presence, who could argue. But don’t forget — these aren’t the only types of experts.

Amidst the media frenzy, online hype and social celebrity of many startups it’s easy to forget about local entrepreneurs. The small business owners and “experts” that live down the street from you in your town. They may sell cupcakes at a local bakery or insurance via their franchise, or they could even sell you a house.

The Local Startup Dilemma

Local startups are important to the startup ecosystem.

The problem is that many of local experts and small businesses don’t think they need to be known as experts online because they only want local customers. This is simply not the case. Local experts should invest in their personal brands just as much, if not more than, national experts. Here’s an example:

At Digital Talent Agents, we worked with a client who was a real estate agent for first-time homebuyers in St. Louis.  While her customer base is localized in St. Louis, we took the approach of garnering national media exposure within the real estate industry to build her credibility.

Given the results she is now a firm believer in building a national brand for her local business.

Build a Local Business Using National Exposure

Here are 3 reasons why our client decided to leverage national exposure to benefit her local business:

1. Promoting Your Local Community Helps with Local Distribution

Our client, Hayley Tomazic wrote about different areas of St. Louis and featured interesting restaurants and shops from each section of the city. She then linked to the places in her article and shared the articles with these business owners once the piece went live.