Ahhh, I love spring. Here in Canada, the melting of the snow and the appearance of crocuses in the garden is especially welcome. I can always tell when Spring is approaching by the re-appearance of my neighbors. After 4-6 months of us all being locked inside our homes with only infrequent mad dashes to the car through the snow, it’s nice to see neighbors emerging for spring gardening and barbeque season.
Neighbours love to share news. It’s a true story – just the other day I was talking about replacing my old lawnmower and my neighbor Don let me know that the local Canadian Tire was having a sale on such-and-such model. The flyer had been in our semi-weekly newspaper but I hadn’t noticed it. That’s the kind of referral that makes local marketing work.
Earlier this week, we were talking about local area marketing, and the value that it can bring to businesses. With 90% of consumers making purchasing decisions based on local factors, it’s not surprising that more and more marketers are focusing on smaller geographical regions for bigger sales returns.
One of the most overlooked benefits of local marketing is the involvement of the community. Whether it’s your neighbor or your local in-store staff, sending out a message that is tailored to your specific and narrow geographic area serves to create buzz and interaction within a neighborhood, and your company benefits at the bottom line.
Take it my neighbor’s referral one step further. If the local marketing campaign was tailored, I could walk into the Canadian Tire and see a branded flyer that’s specifically for my area, and maybe even mentioning the local community events that this particular store was sponsoring. Instant credibility! The sales rep could commiserate with me on what a dry Spring we’d had so far, and how important lawn fertilizer was going to be this year, and hey, lawn fertilizer was on sale… well, I’d probably make a purchase because a) the sales rep is informed about my unique needs in my neighborhood, b) the rep was enthusiastic to offer me a community-specificsale, and c) the sale rep offered me a lower price on an item that I needed at exactly that moment, in that geographic area.
Local marketing works, not only at the store level, but also at the community level to generate word-of-mouth advertising. The more tailored the message, the more your balance sheet will benefit.
