Written by Derek Wenzell
Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand the appeal, and ultimately necessity, of having national marketing programs. Better rates on media buys, efficiencies in production, a unified look and feel. And I’m not saying you should get rid of any of those benefits, but they can be complemented to great effect with a well-thought out local marketing program.
Here are 4 reasons to get on board:
- Franchisee Relations
Franchisees can sometimes feel like their local needs are being completely ignored for the benefit of the corporate dollar. They know that one size does not fit all and franchises that embrace that same thinking will go a long way to improving franchisee relations, just ask McDonald’s.
Local marketing plans demonstrate, in a more obvious way, that you are making an investment with franchisee money that directly benefits their business. Having your field team acting as a conduit between national, local agencies and franchisees is vital.
- Precision
Larger advertising and marketing plans are great at creating cost efficiencies and brand awareness, but it takes a more tactical approach to drive customers to local franchisees.
Leveraging local knowledge to deploy tactics like geo-fencing, out-of-home and sponsorships will be much more effective at driving sales than a national programmatic digital banner buy. Targeting chain and local competition, large employment centers and points of interest with specific deals, choosing the right OOH boards based on rush-hour traffic and being a visible partner to popular local sports teams and events will be a lot more effective than a 320×50 pixel mobile banner on the CNN app.
- Flexibility
We’re not just talking price points here. Being able to test new products and adjust messaging based on local results and the competition is what it takes to be successful in this fragmented and ever-changing marketing and media landscape we find ourselves in today.
Localizing a national campaign should be more than just throwing the city name on a billboard saying how much San Francisco loves Verizon. It needs to adopt local vernacular and play off of the trends that are going on where people live, not just the ones they read about on Mashable.
- Success
It works. National programs are great at driving awareness and product appeal with low CPMs but you need something that will be able to take customers that last mile. Tracking, measuring and optimizing takes a lot of consideration and certainly can’t be done at a national scale.
Managing conversions, whatever those mean to your business, on a regular basis and making the tweaks and changes needed to ensure you are operating at the highest level of efficiency will put more money in everyone’s pockets.