With statistics showing that 46% of all Google searches are local, there is no doubt that establishing local brand awareness and recognition has enormous value for a successful business. Every business aims at gathering more leads and establishing bigger revenues. In the sea of activities that they undertake, local brand strategy is the foundation upon which their businesses, products, or services are built.
This process is a continuum, and it is of great importance to do it well and to know where to start. The mission is to constantly expand the number of people who know who you are, and what you do, and see you as the obvious choice.
To achieve this goal, here are five ideas on how to build your local brand awareness strategy:
Know yourself and your audience
You need to start with yourself, so make sure you truly understand who you are and what you stand for and organize your actions and environment accordingly. A deeper understanding of your own values, mission, and vision will contribute to your authenticity, which is one of the imperatives of business success. Your uniqueness will give you an advantage and a competitive edge.
This will help you choose your target market and narrow it down by specializing in one product or service or aiming at a specific demographic (e.g. young working parents trying to balance life and work). Address this target market on their own turf – write your message in a way they want to see it, using the methods and mediums they like. Once your brand represents your identity, you can get really creative.
Optimize your digital content for local success
As 72% of users who search for a local business end up visiting a store within 5 miles, you’ll ensure the awareness and recognition of your brand by optimizing your digital content for local searches.
To achieve this goal, make sure you follow the next steps:
- Claim Google My Business and enter as many details as you can on your company.
- Ensure your NAP details are accurate and consistent in all directories you list your business in.
- Get local reviews and recommendations for your business.
- Use your geographical details (city, region) along with your keywords.
- Include credible links from your local community.
You can also get great benefits by tailoring your offer to the needs of your geographical subgroups. The perfect example is the way Youi uses its website copy and the power of social proof to establish its local brand recognition and awareness while offering car insurance for New South Wales. Your branding efforts must resonate with the needs of your local audience, and make them tick. By providing relevant, highly-personalised content to customers from a specific geographical area, you’ll easily get their recognition, and become their top choice.
Own the media
Modern media provides fantastic opportunities to build and expand brands – suddenly, everything is bigger, better, and faster. You can just use your phone – you are the source, and you own the brand.
Become the media – share information, tips, ideas, podcasts, interviews, or videos via blogs. As the BrandWorks brand activation strategy proves – it is essential to cut through the media noise and make your name and offer to stand out.
You must live and breathe social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Be proactive – rummage through blogs, visit fairs, and investigate the streetscapes for inspiration. Do all this to push your ideas forward as the ones that are a “one-of-a-kind experience”.
For local success, get actively involved in the local or niche social media groups, and engage with your target audience. Watch out and use every opportunity to offer credible expert advice to your potential customers, and establish your position of a trustworthy source of information in your niche. When in need of services and products you offer, your target audience will more likely turn to you than your competitors.
Create prominent local events
For local awareness and recognition, you need to get out there and make yourself known. Plan local events that involve people interested in your brand, e.g. food and wine festivals, gaming conventions, expos, music festivals, or activist campaigns, where you can also take an active part. This increases your brand visibility and influence and also gives you fantastic resources for your video and writing material.
Be friendly
However, don’t just rely on social media to spread your tentacles and make friends. Share your ideas and knowledge in face-to-face interactions too, help, and give advice whenever you can. Educate and teach so that people can look up to you as a leader and mentor. Kindness and generosity go a long way and appeal to human hearts much faster than anything else. The same goes for the idea of giving before getting – this is something that will create a large base of fans and fans are the ones who build brands. Word-of-mouth recommendation is the best your brand can get.
Marketing and branding are like a battlefield – you always fight to be found, recognized, and eventually chosen. It is a constant and conscious effort and persistence to promote your brand and your values in a way that gives you not just an advantage over others, but also a human face that will stick in people’s minds and be remembered as unique and worthwhile.
