With the rise of e-commerce and shopping online mixed with
the steady decline of the high street, traditional local advertising has taken
a back seat with customers focusing more on modern marketing techniques rather than
the traditional ones.
But there is a place for both, especially for SMEs looking
to survive in the competitive print, embroidery and branding industry.
Local advertising can be both traditional and modern.
Traditional advertising focuses on elements such as radio adverts, advertorials
for magazines, directories etc, direct mail, brochures and so on. This is seen
as ‘old-fashioned’ by many but done right this is a highly effective
eye-catching way of gaining new customers for your business.
The modern approach to undertaking local advertising is
focusing on things such as online directories (Yell etc) plus paid advertising
such as Google Ads & Facebook Ads which allows you to target users based on
their behaviours and importantly in this case their location.
Focusing on a local strategy and gradually building up to a
larger audience has its advantages, they include:
- Being cost effective: Focusing on a specific customer
base allows you to focus your efforts and reach the relevant customers
increasing your ROI.
- Increased referrals: Something that you cannot do
online as well as in person is referrals ‘word of mouth’. Engaging with local
customers & communities will increase your businesses presence in an area.
The lowest cost but most effective form of local advertising.
- Get found online for local searches: Focusing locally
and using directories for your business will help you get found online for
searches relating to your location.
- Easier to maintain & manage: Working on a smaller
scale will give your business the confidence to get stuck into Marketing
activities as they are on a smaller scale and easier to manage.
- Allows for more dynamism: Engaging with local
customers over different medians means you can work a tailored message per
platform. It also gives you the opportunity to test what works and what doesn’t
before launching your idea on a bigger stage.
