Local media outlets are more important than ever to the marketing strategies of national brands. Brand marketers need to leverage these channels to connect with customers who are becoming so-lo-mo: social, local and mobile.
Local marketing is increasing as a share of all marketing activity for brands, which are seeing the need for customized material that connects better with customers. The Media Analysis firm BIA/Kelsey has projected U.S. revenues from local media to grow to $139Bn in 2015.
But many brands are still struggling to make the most of this flourishing local media landscape – and brand marketers remain uncertain about how to take advantage of the new local marketing opportunities that are available.
Here are five tips for getting your brand to rule local media:
Unleash Local Creativity to Win Customers
Brand Marketers should look to collaborate with their local marketing partners. Giving these partners the ability to customize brand messages for local customers takes advantage of local knowledge and creates brand rapport with consumers that has no substitute.
Optimize your Brand’s Local Content
As partners in local markets create custom marketing materials for local media, brand marketers should keep an eye on how they present the brand. Keeping oversight through advertising approvals ensures the brand always looks its best, and sharing best practices with the entire local partner network means the brand’s local knowledge is always optimized.
Power your Messages with Responsive Content
Flexibility is a huge need for local marketers who always want to market quickly and efficiently. Provide your local operators with content that is always up to date and that they can easily use wherever they need to market. Even better, help them do all of their marketing in one place – all at once. This will improve turnaround times and make your go-to-market strategy more agile.
Diversify Across the Media-scape (Digital and Traditional)
In the local marketplace, digital marketing channels are increasingly important. Social and mobile alone will grow more than 13% this year, and digital will be more than 25% of all media spending by 2019 (BIA/Kelsey). Brand marketers must give their local partners the tools to market effectively in order to maximize the brand’s local presence on these growing channels.
Make Your Marketing Fluent in Local
Finally, brand marketers must provide local partners with the ability to customize brand marketing for all of the languages and regions they serve. Not only will this enable the brand to tap into emerging markets internationally, it will empower local marketing partners to leverage language-specific channels – like Univision or Telemundo in the U.S. – broadening the brand’s appeal within existing markets.
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With the growing need to make the brand relevant and responsive to customers who think and buy locally, branding professionals are turning their attention to local media and local partners.
Develop these partnerships and leverage the immense knowledge of local customers your dealers, franchisees and resellers have. Focus on the five areas outlined above to transform these partnerships into growth opportunities for your brand.
To learn more about how your brand can tap into the local media landscape, take a Hands-On Trial of CampaignDrive from Pica9 – the local marketing toolkit for multi-location brands.
