Top Ten Game-Changing Marketing Tips for Small Cleveland Businesses in 2025

Getting recognized in Cleveland can be a tall task for any Clevelanders, and it is no surprise with such a bustling economy and cultural diversity that you must adapt and improvise your marketing strategies to fit the moment. Local competition, popular trends, and marketing budgets can hold any small business back, so it is important to take stock of our capabilities. This insight will offer practical strategies for small businesses in Cleveland that will help grow their presence in a cost-effective way for the best return on your investment. If your business is struggling to stand out in the market, then these top ten tips will transform how you connect with Cleveland.

Cleveland has a lot of pride in its landmarks, sports teams, food, music, everything. Make sure when you create content for posting or launch ads on Google to include popular landmarks specifically for the people of Cleveland, even a suburb or two. Inquiring with other businesses can lend you some great advertising material as well. Work with a local brewery like Fat Heads or create a punny name based on the Guardians or Cavs for your next product.

Make short videos in the Cleveland Metroparks or sponsor a local charity to get your name in the public zeitgeist. Reaching out to other businesses local to Cleveland is a terrific way to build rapport with common customer demographics. Cleveland LOVES its local businesses and having your brand up with other local businesses, artists, or events will go a long way. Sponsoring school teams or events is another way to get your name in front of parents and teachers. This tip is for creating a strong customer engagement level, and it does not always have to include a price tag.

You know what Google is, you do not need that explained to you, but you may not have set up your business profile with them yet. Google is the king of search engines, and anytime someone is looking for a lawyer, a bakery, a golf range, or anything else… they use Google. Your business will pop up with a blurb called a “schema” and will link directly to your website. Google also has a personalized profile you can create to display hours, pricing, menus, pictures, and so much more. This is not so much a tip as it is a responsible thing to do as a business owner.

Using specific keywords in your descriptions and meta tags will push your name out on Google much more often. If you have a description that mentions Parma, your location is in Parma, and all your pictures have Parma in the description, you will show up for users in Parma, it is as simple as that. Create a list of specific keywords for your business or services and push the locality hard, it will benefit your Google business Profile and get your small business noticed around Cleveland a lot more often.

Chances are you have a cell phone. On that cell phone there are cameras and microphones to take pictures and videos. Start utilizing these options that are always in your pocket. Start taking vertical videos and posting them to things like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts. You can then add all those same keywords you used in your Google Business Profile in the descriptions of those videos. You can also do this with photos, but video is MUCH more popular right now.

You can use amazingly simple, and free, video editing software on your phone to create much more entertaining videos or at least cut out the awkward stuff. Programs like iMovie, CapCut, and InShot are all free programs with plenty of tutorials. It might take an afternoon to learn basic cutting in them. Raw, unedited content is immensely popular right now. Younger people do not want to see bombastic editing that throws a million different things in their face. They want to see a video that looks like their friend took it and is showing it to them.

The local angle you could play in these videos is commonly called “A Day in the Life” (ADL) video, and you could make sure to mention local places you shop at, like Giant Eagle or Menard’s in Parma or North Olmsted. Once you practice plugging in localities, Google will start to register your location through YouTube’s Caption creation and cater your videos to more local consumers. Also, highlighting some “behind the scenes” videos for your business is always entertaining, especially if you have a very niche good or service.

Complementary businesses exist in every corner of Cleveland, no matter what service you offer or good you produce there will always be tangentially related stores or service providers. Invite them over for coffee, talk about ways you can lean into each other’s customer bases. Cross merchandising and cross advertising are great ways to get your name out in front of new people all over Cleveland. Co-host events or presentations with one another or give each other shoutouts and tags in posts on social media. Collaborate on a video together, it does not have to be an immense project, just a quick “Hey, I’m visiting my friend Cindy over at this sporting goods store on west 115^th…” and then post the video and tag them.

A notable example of cross merchandising would be a microbrewery and a bookstore coming together for an event called “Books and Brews” where the bookstore owner could set up a table and sell merchandise at a reduced rate while people had a beer and talked about their favorite genres. Simple little crossovers like that go a long way in the public eye, and it is a good chance to try a new IPA or read a new spicy romance novel. This tip ensures everyone wins, and the public likes that.

With services like Meta Business Suite and Google Ads campaign manager, it is easier than ever to hyper-focus your advertisements towards Cleveland specifically. Google will let you target specific pinpoints on Google Maps and let you decide how far of a radius you want to extend your ads to. You can have ads that mention Berea, for instance, and then run those ads only in Berea so they will be oddly specific when people see them.

Before diving into running ads, make sure to research your demographic in the surrounding areas of Cleveland. You can always research the demographics of suburbs and decide if those demographics fit your customer persona. For example, Shaker Heights has a much higher income level with a lot fewer manual laborers, but Middleburg Heights is everything from poor to rich with plenty of white-collar and blue-collar workers. Explore the ages, genders, education levels, and salaries of the demographics and then start working on catering ads to those areas.

Since we mentioned communicating with other businesses that are related to yours, you could reach out to those businesses and see if any would be interested in joining you to host an event or maybe have them give a PowerPoint presentation on a topic that they are educated on. It is an effective way to get people in your store, and even if too many people do not show up for the first couple of dates you can always record them and take pictures, then post to social media about it. You can then use those pictures and footage to promote upcoming events like it and continually have a content source for your social media pages and website.

A few examples of this:

• A hardware store hosting DIY lessons for common home repair
• A bakery giving baking free lessons (Then they sell the cookies after anyways)
• A computer store having an old school LAN gaming night
• A lawyer giving a presentation at a library on bankruptcy
• A camera store doing a free headshot night for people
• Karaoke nights at a bar or restaurant

There are so many possibilities to explore, and people love a good karaoke night, we here at Acclaim surely do. This builds goodwill in the community. People like having things to do on date nights, or learning a new skill, or having new pictures for their LinkedIn page. Take some time to explore these ideas. This tip is designed to position you as a community leader.

This is the paragraph that will make you tired of the name “Cleveland” because you should have this name plastered on every page, metatag, meta description, and image alt-text possible. The only way Google, or any other search engine, knows you are in Cleveland is by using the name as much as you can. “Cleveland In-Home Services” or “Best Local Restaurant Near Downtown Cleveland” are good examples of things that should be heading your website’s pages.

Some free tools you can use for finding relevant keywords and phrases are Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest. There are many paid services, but these are wonderful places to start. Make sure your blogs and news announcements are also Cleveland oriented and consider going back to your older blogs and updating them with your researched keywords as well. This tip is focused on making sure you come up in search of people trying to find a new small business in Cleveland.

Influencers and content creators are all around here in Cleveland. A new strategy that has gained a lot of traction over the last few years has been to contact and either sponsor a video or photo shoot with one. This may not even cost you any collateral as many content creators are looking for novel places to visit, new services to try, and new products to review. It can be as simple as sending them an email inviting them to come try your restaurant or visit your bookstore.

There are two ways to go about finding a local influencer. There is a paid service called Collabor8, which takes a fee for lining you up with you an influencer, but you also have the old-fashioned method of reaching out on social media. Instagram and Facebook have local creators making reels, and YouTube has creators making videos all the time about local places to shop. Follow them, look for a contact address in their bio, or directly message them on the platform. Instagram is especially known for housing local influencers, so we suggest starting there. A fitting example of this would be a local gym reaching out to someone creating content about diet and fitness. Make sure to align the values of your business with an influencer, as you would not expect a tech reviewer to visit your law firm.

Leveraging a local content creator is a fantastic way to market your small business here in Cleveland, and it also opens a lot of doors as the influencer community often has a large local following.

Do you have regulars at your business? Of course you do. Start leveraging these relationships to bring in friends and family of your most loyal customers. If someone comes in and says their friend told them to check your business out, make sure to have a code or button to take 10% off at checkout. Have free consultations for family members. There are so many gestures of good that will cultivate a great relationship with people in Cleveland.

This tip is focused on word-of-mouth marketing. This is the most powerful form of marketing out there. Whenever a friend or family member starts a conversation with, “Hey, have you ever tried that place on….” And they will tell you about this new coffee shop with great lattes and plants in the window. Well, you are infinitely more likely to trust your mom or cousin over a random Google review you read. This creates a community around the families of Cleveland. Making sure new customers being referred to you has an incentive, and make sure existing customers have an incentive. If you see someone who has referred many people to your business in your store, give them a fifteen-dollar gift card as a thank you. Give them a burger, on the house. This facilitates growth, is a kind gesture, and will foster a community around your small business here in Cleveland.

Tailoring a specific strategy can be overwhelming and intimidating, there are so many moving parts and so many facets to consider. Fortunately for your business, there are multiple local marketing agencies that are experienced in writing strategies and catering to your specific demographics. We here at Acclaim are one of those companies, offering tailored solutions to local Cleveland businesses all year round. Local agencies have a leg up on other firms located outside of Cleveland, Ohio, or even the United States. Cleveland agencies know our addiction to supporting the Browns through a bad season, they know what a gut punch it was when Lebron James left a decade ago, and they know Cleveland’s unhealthy obsession with pierogies for some reason. Local agencies can market a local business better than a firm who is located completely around the world.

If you are looking for advice on marketing your small business here in Cleveland, we recommend calling a local marketing agency and talking with them about your needs. (Our phone number is 844-375-2220, shameless plug) This is not so much a tip, this is more of an actionable item. Call a local agency, pick their brains on trends and strategies, and see what other companies are doing right now through them. Small Cleveland businesses thrive with local marketing agencies in their back pockets.

Just to recap, here are the tips one more time:

• Leverage Your Local Roots in marketing
• Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile
• Experiment with Cost-Effective Video marketing
• Network with Other Local Businesses
• Use Social Media Ads Targeted at Cleveland
• Host Community-Driven Events or Workshops
• Optimize Your Website for Local SEO
• Tap Into Local Influencer Marketing
• Create a Customer Referral Program
• Partner With a Local Marketing Agency

Try a few of these out to start, we guarantee you will start to see results immediately. These are the best ways to get your marketing efforts off the ground in 2025 here in Cleveland.

If you ever have any questions about marketing, you can always reach out to us here at Acclaim. We are always happy to talk about trends and strategies a local business here in Cleveland can use to boost their name.