How to Market Your Small Business in Moray: A Practical Guide

Moray is a brilliant place to run a small business. It's a tight-knit community where word of mouth still carries real weight, but it's also a region where more and more customers are starting their search online. Whether you're based in Elgin, Buckie, Forres, Keith or anywhere in between, getting your marketing right can be the difference between ticking over and genuinely thriving. Here's a practical, no-nonsense guide to marketing your business locally — written by someone who's been doing it here for over 20 years.

1. Claim and Optimise Your Google Business Profile

If you only do one thing on this list, make it this. Your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the single most important free marketing tool available to a local business. When someone in Elgin searches for "plumber near me" or "florist in Forres", the results that appear in that map section at the top of Google? That's the Google Business Profile in action.

Here's what to do:

• Claim your listing at business.google.com if you haven't already.
• Fill in every single field. Business name, address, phone number, website, opening hours, services, description — leave nothing blank.
• Add photos. Real photos of your premises, your team, your work. Google says businesses with photos get 42% more direction requests.
• Post regularly. Google lets you publish updates, offers and news directly to your profile. Use it — it signals to Google that your business is active.
• Collect reviews. More on this below, but reviews are one of the biggest ranking factors for local search.

I've seen local businesses go from invisible to first page simply by properly setting up their Google Business Profile. It's free and it works. There's no excuse not to do it.

2. Get Listed in Local Directories

Consistency is key here. Every time your business name, address and phone number (known as NAP in SEO circles) appears correctly on a trusted website, it builds your credibility with Google. Inconsistent information — different phone numbers, old addresses, misspelled business names — actively hurts your local rankings.

Moray-specific directories and listings worth getting on:

• Moray Chamber of Commerce — their member directory at moraychamber.co.uk is well-regarded locally and membership gives you networking benefits too.
• Business Gateway Moray — free business support from bgateway.com, and they often promote local businesses through their events and workshops.
• Visit Moray Speyside — essential if you're in tourism, hospitality or food and drink. Their site morayspeyside.com represents nearly 400 local tourism businesses.
• insideMoray — the community news site at insidemoray.com with a strong local readership.

Beyond the Moray-specific ones, also make sure you're on the national directories — Yell, Thomson Local, Yelp, and any industry-specific directories relevant to your trade.

3. Use Local Press and Media

Moray is well served by local media, and they're always looking for good stories. A well-placed feature or news piece can reach thousands of people in your target area for free.

Know your local outlets:

• The Northern Scot — Moray's main weekly newspaper, published every Friday and based in Elgin. Winner of Newspaper of the Year at the Highlands and Islands Press Awards. Strong print and online readership.
• The Press and Journal — Scotland's oldest daily newspaper, with a dedicated Moray edition. Bigger reach than the weeklies and published by DC Thomson.
• Banffshire Journal and Banffshire Advertiser — weekly papers covering Banff and Buckie respectively, both part of the Grampian Online network.
• Forres Gazette — weekly paper covering Forres and surrounds, published since 1837.
• insideMoray — community news site with over 50,000 monthly readers. They cover stories the mainstream press might not.
• Moray Firth Radio (MFR) — still broadcasting across the region on FM and digital. Local advertising slots and news bulletins are available.

The key to getting press coverage is having a genuine story. Launching a new product? Celebrating an anniversary? Doing something for the local community? Supporting a local cause? That's the kind of thing editors want to hear about. Write a short, clear press release and send it to the newsdesk. You'd be surprised how often it gets picked up.

4. Network Locally

In a community the size of Moray, people buy from people they know and trust. Getting out there and meeting other business owners is one of the most effective marketing activities you can do — and it often leads to referrals that no amount of advertising can replicate.

Networking options in Moray:

• Moray Chamber of Commerce — runs regular events including the annual Business Showcase, the Business Awards, and networking dinners. Their Annual Business Address Dinner attracts around 400 people.
• BNI Moray (Elgin) — a structured weekly referral group where members actively pass business leads to each other. Part of BNI Scotland North.
• Moray Business Women — founded in 2006, with around 150 members. They run monthly networking suppers with guest speakers, a mentoring scheme, and an annual awards ball. Open to all working women in Moray. Find them at mbwc.org.uk.
• Business Gateway Moray workshops — free workshops on everything from social media to sales strategy. Great for learning and meeting other local business owners at the same time.
• SmartWorking Moray — monthly mastermind groups run by Hashtag Events with no joining fees, including free training sessions on marketing and social media.

"Some of my best client relationships have started with a handshake at a local event. In Moray, your reputation is everything — and there's no shortcut to building it."

5. Make Your Website Work for You

Your website is the hub of everything. Social media posts disappear in hours. Adverts stop working the moment you stop paying. But your website is there 24/7, working for your business even when you're not.

For a Moray business, your website needs to do a few things well:

• Make it obvious where you are and what you do. If someone lands on your site, they should know within seconds that you serve Elgin, Forres, Buckie or wherever your area is.
• Include your full contact details on every page. Phone number, email, address. Don't make people hunt for it.
• Optimise for local search terms. Pages targeting "your service + your location" (e.g. "plumber Elgin" or "wedding photographer Moray") help Google understand where you operate.
• Make it fast. Over half of mobile visitors will leave if your site takes more than 3 seconds to load. In a market the size of Moray, every lost visitor is a potential customer going to your competitor.
• Make it mobile-friendly. Over 60% of searches happen on phones. If your site doesn't work brilliantly on mobile, you're losing business.

A template website might tick some of these boxes on the surface, but for a local business competing in a defined market like Moray, a custom-built site tailored to your brand and your area will always outperform a generic one.

6. Collect and Showcase Reviews

Reviews are the digital equivalent of word of mouth, and in a place like Moray where personal recommendations carry a lot of weight, they matter enormously. Google reviews in particular are one of the strongest ranking signals for local search.

How to build your reviews:

• Ask. Most happy customers are willing to leave a review — they just don't think to do it unless you ask. A simple follow-up message after completing a job works wonders.
• Make it easy. Send a direct link to your Google review page. The fewer clicks, the more likely they are to do it.
• Respond to every review. Good or bad. Thank people for positive reviews and address negative ones professionally. It shows you care, and other potential customers will see it.
• Feature reviews on your website. Testimonials from real, named local customers build instant credibility.

Don't be tempted by fake reviews or review swapping schemes. Google is getting better at detecting them, and if you're caught, you could lose your listing entirely. In a small community like Moray, authenticity always wins.

7. Use Social Media Strategically

Social media can be incredibly effective for a Moray business, but only if you use it with a bit of strategy rather than posting randomly and hoping for the best.

What works locally:

• Facebook is still king in Moray. Love it or hate it, Facebook is where the local community is. Local buy-and-sell groups, community pages, and event listings all drive real engagement. If you're a B2C business in Moray, you need to be active on Facebook.
• Share your work, not just your promotions. Behind-the-scenes content, project photos, team stories — people connect with people, not sales pitches.
• Engage with the community. Comment on other local businesses' posts. Share local news. Congratulate other businesses on their wins. Being a visible, positive part of the local online community builds goodwill that translates into business.
• Use local hashtags and location tags. Tag your posts with your location and use hashtags like #Moray, #Elgin, #SupportLocal, #MorayBusiness. It helps local people find you.
• Consider paid advertising. Facebook and Instagram ads let you target people by location with remarkable precision. You can target a 10-mile radius around Elgin for as little as a few pounds a day.

For B2B businesses, LinkedIn is worth your time too. But don't try to be everywhere. Pick one or two platforms, do them well, and be consistent.

8. Get Involved in the Community

This is something that's harder to quantify than a Google ranking, but in Moray it might be the most powerful marketing of all. Sponsoring a local sports team, supporting a community event, donating to a local charity, or volunteering your time — these things build genuine goodwill that no advertising budget can buy.

People remember the businesses that give back. And in a region the size of Moray, where you'll bump into your customers in Tesco or at the school gates, that reputation sticks.

A few ideas:

• Sponsor a local team or event. Even small sponsorships get your name seen regularly by a local audience.
• Offer your expertise. Run a free workshop, give a talk at a local networking event, or contribute a guest column to one of the local papers.
• Partner with other local businesses. Cross-promotions, joint offers, or simply recommending each other's services. There's plenty of room for everyone.

9. Don't Forget Email

Email marketing is one of the most underused tools by small businesses, and it's one of the most effective. Unlike social media, where you're at the mercy of algorithms deciding who sees your content, an email lands directly in someone's inbox.

You don't need to send emails every week. A monthly update with useful content, special offers, or company news is enough to keep you front of mind. Tools like Mailchimp and MailerLite both have free tiers that are more than enough for a small business.

The key is to provide value, not just sell. Share tips related to your industry, local news relevant to your customers, or behind-the-scenes updates about your business. If people find your emails useful, they'll keep opening them.

10. Track What's Working

There's no point putting time and effort into marketing if you don't know what's actually bringing in customers. You don't need to become a data scientist — just keep an eye on a few key metrics.

• Google Analytics — free and tells you where your website visitors are coming from, which pages they're looking at, and how they're finding you.
• Google Business Profile Insights — shows how many people are finding your listing, what searches they're using, and how many are clicking through to your website or calling you.
• Ask your customers. It sounds old-fashioned, but simply asking "how did you hear about us?" when someone gets in touch gives you invaluable information that no analytics tool can provide.

When you know what's working, you can do more of it. When something isn't working, you can stop wasting time on it. Simple.

Pulling It All Together

Marketing a small business in Moray isn't about doing everything on this list at once. It's about picking the things that make sense for your business and doing them consistently. Start with the foundations — a solid website, a properly set up Google Business Profile, and a presence in the local directories. Then build from there with networking, social media, reviews and community involvement.

The businesses I see doing best in Moray are the ones that show up consistently — online and in person. They've got a website that works, they're visible in local search, they're active in the community, and they make it easy for customers to find them and get in touch.

That's not complicated. It just takes a bit of focus and effort.

Written by Chris

Web designer and founder of Colourjam. Helping Moray businesses grow their online presence since 2004. Based in Buckie, Scotland.