How to Market to a Local Audience

Companies are often looking for the best marketing strategy. They have to decide how and where to spend their often-limited marketing dollars. The individuals who are in charge of marketing should look more closely at a possible local audience for their marketing. Local audience marketing, if performed correctly, can lead to a sizable new source of revenue for years to come. 

Know Your Demographics

Demographics are incredibly helpful for any local marketing plan. They are the individuals that a company should be targeting. Companies often pick out a set number of groups within a greater audience for their marketing campaigns. The width and breadth of their campaign will be determined by the nature of local demographics and where certain people live. 

For example, an entrepreneur like a plastic surgeon in Tampa may target a particular neighborhood where an older or younger demographic is more prevalent. They may stick with television shows that are popular among a more affluent or more technologically-savvy audience. They can also use specialized SEO to reach a particular group in a local audience. 

Know Your Competition

Competition is also critical to an effective local marketing plan. A strong competition report can be vital to determining a marketing plan and the demographics that a company needs to target. In some local areas, there is a particular company or official who is well-established and has a stranglehold on a market. New competitors simply will not be able to reasonably make money against this established force. 

In other situations, there may be a handful of opportunities still present in a community even with long-established competitors in charge. Therefore, understanding competition can be critical. It can ensure that a company knows how much to spend in one area and exactly how they should tailor their messages. Sometimes, local competition may be so insurmountable that it dictates which local audience a company focuses on. Many companies can still pick and choose which specific areas they move to. 

How to Get Started

The first step for any local marketing plan is to perform detailed research. This research will enlighten a company about the nature of a local audience and the people who live in a particular area. Research can show the full range of competition, the price of different plots of real estate, and how local residents feel about the field a company focuses on. Dr. Farrior, who has been successful at using SEO to closely reach a local audience, argues that the definite next step is for a company to send representatives to visit a particular area where they hope to market to a local audience. 

Such a visit can help a company decide whether or not their research is complete. For example, research may suggest that a clothing store or a plastic surgeon in Tampa would perform well downtown instead of in the suburbs. But a visit may show that there are no pedestrians walking by or cars driving by on a Saturday afternoon. Such information would tell a company to perhaps look at another local audience to focus on. 

Conclusion

Marketing to a local audience can be incredibly difficult. It may force a company to work far outside its comfort zone and embrace marketing approaches that it has no familiarity with. But this marketing could have its benefits as well. It may lead to a company locking down a large profit in a local area for months or even years to come. Dr. Farrior’s success has shown that individuals like plastic surgeons can fill a local niche and optimize SEO to clearly succeed. As a result, it may be the most successful long-term marketing strategy for many different types of companies.