Why and how to do local marketing?

Within the broad scope of marketing is local marketing which, you guessed it, focuses on reaching local customers. Its goal ? Bring consumers from the relevant catchment area into the store to encourage them to consume on site. So yes, if you are a point of sale manager or a brand organized in a network, implementing local marketing actions will boost your activity! But how to build an effective local marketing strategy? A little light on this subject…

The benefits of local marketing for retailers

For a point of sale or a brand, local marketing has serious advantages: gain in visibility vis-à-vis the competition, boost in attendance, or even loyalty thanks to a local link.

Make your point of sale known and improve your visibility

To attract customers to your point of sale, no secret, you must make yourself known locally and succeed in standing out from the competition. So, when you are looking to bring in your first customers, good local online SEO is a must! But a geolocalized advertising campaign can also prove useful to stay in the race when a competing brand sets up nearby, or to make you known to passing customers.

Encourage consumers to take action

When your store has its customer base, the objective evolves. We must then succeed in increasing visits to the store and getting customers who have come to consume more. How ? By encouraging them to buy other products than those they initially came for. Why not a teapot on sale for a kettle purchased?

By placing stores at the heart of brand communication, drive-to-store responds precisely to this need. In a context of phygital commerce , it aims, as its name suggests, to bring consumers to the store to establish a privileged relationship with them. This is particularly the case during click & collect delivery, for example.

Create a connection with your customers

But that’s not all ! Local marketing also serves to retain consumers in a catchment area by establishing a close relationship with them , which is often more complex to establish online. And yes, for them to remain loyal to your brand, you must stay in their minds by offering them a real in-store customer experience .

You can therefore implement several local marketing actions to meet your commercial objectives and stimulate your sales. It’s up to you to choose from the different tools available to use the ones best suited to your needs!

How to implement a local marketing strategy?

But before choosing which tools to use, it is essential to start by studying your immediate environment. Depending on the components of your local market, you will then have the choice between different techniques to carry out your local marketing actions.

Knowing your playing field: an essential prerequisite

To be effective, your local marketing actions must be adapted to their environment. Indeed, it is essential to know the characteristics of your catchment area to precisely target your audience and charm them with the right message: you have to convince them to come and shop in your store.

To do this, nothing better than a geomarketing study ! By combining geographic data from your catchment area with behavioral indicators, it will allow you to establish an effective communication strategy : geolocation of your customers, definition of typical profiles, identification of potential customers, etc.

The different local marketing tools

Several print or digital communication techniques can be used as part of a local marketing strategy: printed advertising, natural or paid referencing on search engines and directories, use of direct marketing channels, etc.

1) Advertising print to encourage action

With the distribution of prospectuses, flyers and paper catalogs in letterboxes you reach your consumers as close as possible to their homes  : 63% of French people today go to a store to which they are accustomed following receipt of printed advertising 1 .

2) SEO on directories and platforms to gain visibility

Do not hesitate to combine your print communication actions with digital solutions to increase your visibility and strengthen your local marketing. Digital technology is in fact widely used today to search for local practical information: 93% of French people use the Internet to identify and locate local professionals 2 . This is why it is necessary to be present and clearly visible on the Internet to avoid missing out on this connected clientele!

3) Direct marketing channels (mail, SMS, or e-mail) to create links

When you have the contact details of your customers, you can then enter into direct contact with them. The personalization of this means of communication presents a considerable advantage for your communication actions. It is in fact perceived as a mark of attention which is particularly appreciated by customers. You can thus establish a close relationship and a privileged link with your customers.

As you can see, local marketing has many advantages for points of sale seeking to develop or retain a localized customer base. To be effective, however, your local marketing campaigns must be precisely targeted and adapted to the habits of consumers located in your catchment area.

For this, do not hesitate to call MEDIAPOST which has 25 years of experience in traffic creation and prospect recruitment. Our teams will be able to support you in understanding your catchment area and building campaigns adapted to the target audience.