To attract traffic to their local outlets, retail networks are banking on local visibility. And rightly so! A local marketing platform offers a simple way to activate local marketing levers without requiring technical skills. Let’s take a look.
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What exactly is local marketing?
Local marketing refers to any online or offline advertising, promoting or publicising that targets a specific catchment area.
The marketing materials are usually personalised in terms of price and specific message in order to maximise appeal.
One marketing strategy is the drive-to-store approach, where the local branch tries to attract footfall.
Why is there a trend toward local marketing?
Local marketing is often seen as more personal, more human. It can be better segmented and is more relevant to the consumer.
The information provided in the marketing materials is more relevant to the catchment area and tends to lead to a better conversion rate. Plus, it is easier for the consumer to identify with and become loyal to a brand that is physically close to them.
Why is local marketing important for retail networks?
The consumer engages more with proximity marketing. Companies must therefore convey their message on a local scale.
National marketing campaigns must find a local resonance, or tie in with specific marketing campaigns to convert in-store traffic, sales and loyalty.
Local marketing acts as a direct lever to a company’s financial health.
Where is the difficulty in local marketing for a retail network?
Each outlet needs to market itself and gain visibility on its own scale.
Different catchment areas will have different concerns, so companies must find a way of harmonising.
This means that all marketing and promoting of local branches – whether by social or printed media, goodies, business profiles, or email and text campaigns – must be consistent, well-choreographed and professional.
So the balance between access to and the use of marketing assets is tricky. For example, how can a poster from a national campaign be reused by an individual shop?
What’s the value of a local marketing platform?
A local marketing platform is a tool specifically intended for use by a brand and its network of outlets.
It is used by head office to make available all the marketing materials to be employed throughout the company. They can be categorised by marketing campaign or media type, for example, and are often customisable to specific catchment areas.
The local marketing platform also enables all marketing levers to be controlled from one place without the need for specific skills regarding online referencing, social networks or email or text campaigns.
The value of a local marketing platform, then, is the fact that it empowers local points of sale to conduct their own local marketing.
Why source a local marketing platform from another company?
There are two main advantages to trusting us with setting up your local marketing platform:
- Innovation – we will build you a roadmap so that the system can develop and evolve over time with the addition of new local marketing levers and various ways of optimising the user experience.
- Advice and support – our SaaS experts have on-the-ground experience, from set up, to localizing content, or any technical issues that may arise.
Where to start with obtaining a local marketing platform?
It is our job to ascertain what you need.
Objectives
It is useful to set out the objectives for both the head office and the points of sale. For example:
- Primary objective for the point of sale: to be able to launch its own local
marketing campaigns by mobilising and customising the brand’s
creative media. - Primary objective for head office: to be able to monitor and measure the platform’s usage and compare the success of the various campaigns ie downloading of assets, usage statistics, the reach of social media posts…
What exists in terms of local marketing
How is the retail network currently managing its local marketing? Are there any historical service providers to keep using? What are today’s possibilities for local branches?
These questions help to refine the details of your local marketing project: are API connections needed? Are there modules to be deployed? Is a governance system required? User rights and access…
The have-to and the nice-to-have features
Prioritising the network’s local marketing needs highlights what is essential. One solution may be more suitable depending on the preferred key modules, eg if the project’s main focus is social networking.
How can retail chains ensure their local marketing projects are effective?
Setting out clear objectives – what the local marketing platform is expected to achieve – to keep the project on track.
Applying the Customer Success method is also beneficial. An amicable, long-term relationship is important, but so is the process of sharing your thoughts and expressing what you need.
In most cases, it is a good idea for head office to retain strategic control. Our service helps to co-create a space that simplifies local marketing campaigns, without detracting from either party’s role.
Some customer cases of local marketing
Hyperspread is fortunate enough to have some of the largest retail networks in the industry as customers. Take a look at just some of our success stories with Mobalpa, ECF, Acuitis.
Do you have a local marketing project to launch? Would you like to talk to one of our experts?