Local marketing is an enormously important part of a marketing strategy for every business, big or small. But it is also not without its troubles, and mistakes can be right around the corner. In this blog, we introduce you to some of the most common mistakes in local marketing, and show you how to prevent them!
What is local marketing?
With local marketing, you focus your marketing efforts specifically on a local or regional target group. You do this by matching various components in the marketing mix to local conditions such as competition, customers, and specific characteristics of your store or branch. By setting up a local marketing strategy, you can increase your visibility and build trust within your target group.
Are you looking to improve your local marketing? We have listed five common mistakes for you to make sure you can spot them, solve them, and be successful.
1. No sincere involvement
Local visibility goes beyond a flyer or discount coupons. Show your participation by sponsoring and attendance at local events that are relevant and authentic to your business. Even better: talk to your potential customers: "If you want a friend, be a friend"! Not to actively promote your company, but to be part of the community. Remember, the people in your target audience aren't just consumers, they're people. You may also collect valuable customer insights this way that ensure that you stay one step ahead of your competitors.
2. Lack of creativity
Marvia CEO Joep already wrote about the lack of creativity in local marketing campaigns in his blog for the National Franchise Guide. Often the local expressions are almost identical to the national campaigns with just a mention of the place name or local store. It's a shame because in this way you do not use the proven effectiveness of local marketing.
Local entrepreneurs know best how to approach their local audiences and what is going on in the community. Use this knowledge by letting them think about the content of the local campaigns, or even better make them set up and carry out their local campaigns themselves!
Click here for 15 examples of brands with great local marketing campaigns.
3. No automation
We all know the expression "time is money". This also applies to local marketing; failing to automate your local marketing efforts where necessary will lead to wasted time and money. Brands with fewer locations may be able to localize their marketing by hand, but even they can benefit from using local marketing automation software. Streamlining repetitive and administrative work will open up time for strategic work and gives you more time to think about how to effectively target your local audiences.
4. No knowledge sharing
Local marketing successes are not shared enough internally. Which is a shame since these successes are also interesting to others in the business. Sharing what works can provide inspiration to other locations, is a great motivator, and altogether strengthens the entire business.
It's important to have solid strategies to share internal successes and give feedback where needed. Bring your local managers together and share experiences. Reflect on local campaigns and implement what worked in future ones.
5. Disconnected from your brand
A lack of creativity is disastrous for local marketing, but too much creativity can also lead to problems. It can be really harmful to your brand if local campaigns don't comply with brand guidelines and look and feel disconnected from the brand.
Providing content frameworks and working with dynamic templates can really help here. They allow your local partners freedom to build their own marketing materials, without them (or you) worrying about whether that material follows brand guidelines.
Getting started with Local Marketing
Now that you're aware of some of the pitfalls of local marketing, you've got a head start to build a strong local marketing strategy. Of course, we don't want to focus only on what can go wrong when talking about local marketing. Ideally, we wouldn't encounter these things at all!
As mentioned, automating your local marketing efforts can be really beneficial. And it's just the case that Marvia can help you with that. Contact us, and we'll gladly tell you more about how we can help you streamline your local marketing and reach your business's full potential.