Mastering Local Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Small Business Growth
134 episodes listed below
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Mastering Local Marketing is a small business podcast focused on local marketing strategies, sales efforts, marketing tactics, and digital marketing that drive real customer acquisition and business growth. Built for entrepreneurs and marketers, this show breaks down marketing strategies for business owners who want results, not fluff. Each episode explores practical marketing strategies including local advertising strategies, social marketing, sales strategies, and digital marketing tactics designed to help you market a local business more effectively. Whether you run a retail store, restaurant, or service business, you'll learn how to turn visibility into leads and leads into paying custom…
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
It translates customer acquisition, sales psychology, and practical AI use into decisions small businesses can apply.
Mastering Local Marketing turns sales and promotion into working sessions built around recognizable business decisions. Matt Hanson brings a digital marketing professor's framework to conversations about customer pain points, sales messaging, AI prompts, and content production,…
One conversation yields 150 possible posts; you only need to keep 30.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A blunt look at why growth can feel harder than staying put.
Episode 122 treats growth as a pressure test, not just a marketing problem. It keeps circling one awkward question: if the tactics are there, why do so many businesses still hesitate to use them?
A practical look at how local real estate shapes small business expansion.
The episode treats the local real estate market as a plainspoken guide for small business growth. It starts loose, then settles into Northwest Indiana as the main example, using walkability, density, new grocery stores, and the split between urban and rural areas to show how…
Three buyer questions make sales conversations clearer and more effective.
The episode treats customer acquisition as a listening problem before it becomes a pitch problem. It keeps circling back to the three questions buyers already ask, then anchors the point with an everyday vacuum purchase so the sales lesson stays tied to how people actually…
A plainspoken look at why better listening can close faster than better pitching.
The episode makes a straightforward sales case: deals often stall before price enters the picture because sellers miss what the customer is actually trying to solve, then make the buying process harder than it needs to be.
A practical way to turn one conversation into a month of usable posts.
The episode treats AI as a way to make a blank content calendar feel less daunting. Matt Hanson, Jim Diedlo, and Adriana Alvarez stay on practical small-business questions: how often to post, what to do with a pile of generated ideas, and how Riverside can turn one short video…
A plainspoken guide to better prompts, small steps, and more useful AI marketing help.
The strongest stretch comes when the conversation turns to prompting. That is where the advice gets concrete: the real skill is asking better questions, not treating AI like magic.
Simon Owens interviews founders about the revenue mechanics behind their media businesses.
Colin and Samir break down creator-economy news, from OpenAI's TBPN deal to AI podcasts.
AI-era marketing tactics from operators testing what works next.
Mark DeGrasse interviews agency and marketing operators on the frameworks behind their case studies.
Cory Cotten-Potter interviews B2B sales and marketing founders on AI's reshaping of pipeline generation.
Kristina Halvorson interviews content strategists about how the work actually gets done.
Matt Hanson and his son Ryan Hanson cover five positioning strategies for small businesses in episode 128 of Mastering Local Marketing: value-based, quality-based, benefits, problem-solution, and competitor-based.
Episode 116 starts sideways.
Matt Hanson and the hosts focus on the three questions buyers are already asking before they ever agree to a pitch.
Matt Hanson, Jim Diedlo, and Adriana Alvarez spend the episode on a very specific problem: how to create 30 days of social media content with AI in 30 minutes.
Episode 122 is a blunt conversation about what keeps businesses stuck.
This episode explores how small businesses can shift from feature-based selling to focusing on customer pain points to drive sales.
Jim Deedlow and Matt Hanson spend the episode making a simple case: AI is not the magic; the prompt is.
Mastering Local Marketing Episode 119 has digital marketing professor Matt Hansen and host Jim Diedlow arguing that hosting events fills slow sales periods, as in his mentor's rule: "whenever times are slow, throw a party." Hansen says one event yields roughly 90 days of social content: 30 days of promotion, the event itself, and follow-up user-generated content.
Matt Hanson says he bought nearly every digital billboard in Chicago's downtown Loop through one website and one phone call, so people told him "I'm seeing this everywhere." He contrasts this with printed billboards, which run for 28 days and cannot be fixed after a typo, while digital placements can be changed daily at a fraction of the price.
Episode 118 of Mastering Local Marketing argues that giving first, such as a $1 glass ornament that raised average tickets by $23, drives customer acquisition.
Episode 117 of Mastering Local Marketing relays an unrecorded circle discussion from the host's podcast class, where students named Instagram, TikTok and YouTube as their main platforms.
Matt Hanson uses a home renovation, with wood floors from a neighbor and stonework from a bricklayer, to argue that businesses should hire specialists instead of one catch-all marketing "handyman." He cites a company whose creative agency's website and Google paid search work got flagged by Google, leading the company to call him to fix it.
This episode features AI expert Kajal Jain discussing beginner-friendly AI marketing tactics for small businesses, covering practical applications in content creation, customer communication, and productivity.
This episode features an interview with Allison Straka, founder of The Frozen Garden, discussing her journey from software to e-commerce, her first VC pitch, and the marketing strategies driving her business growth.
This episode discusses social media video hooks, with a focus on personal storytelling to build credibility and engagement.
This episode breaks down 10 social media video hooks to help small businesses stop the scroll and increase sales.
This episode identifies common marketing habits that hinder small business growth and offers better alternatives to build awareness, trust, and sales.
This episode debates whether social media is a marketing tool or entertainment for small businesses, offering strategies for effective use.
This episode discusses sustainable business growth through effective marketing strategies, focusing on reach, sales funnels, and customer experience for small businesses.
This episode discusses how small business owners can achieve sustainable growth by building a solid marketing plan, focusing on strategy, hiring, systems, sales funnels, customer experience, and expanding reach without overextending.
This episode explains how small businesses can grow their Facebook following organically without paid ads.
The episode introduces a 2026 Marketing Challenge, urging listeners to commit to one marketing idea for consistency and long-term growth.
This episode teaches how to pitch a local influencer for free collaboration to boost small business marketing.
The episode begins with the host discussing organizational habits and a humorous anecdote about missing seat cushions, setting a casual tone before diving into marketing advice.