Latest news with #localmarketing
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
What Brands Get Wrong About Local Marketing
Rebecca Colwell is Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Yext. Multi-location brands should have a built-in advantage in local markets. Their scale brings name recognition, buying power and operational precision. Centralized oversight helps ensure brand consistency and enables enterprise-wide efficiency. But when that centralization overrides local nuance, it becomes a liability. What was meant to drive uniformity often results in customer experiences that feel impersonal, disconnected and out of step with community expectations. Consumers expect more from national brands: more accuracy, more convenience, more relevance. When a brand with national resources fails to deliver a seamless and personalized experience, the disappointment is magnified. Striking the right balance between centralized brand control and local judgment is no longer optional. It's fundamental. Here's where enterprise brands often fall short and what they can do to earn relevance and trust at the local level. False Tradeoff: Brand Control Vs. Local Relevance The paradox of local marketing is this: the more tightly a brand controls its local presence, the less local it feels. But swinging too far in the opposite direction and giving every location full autonomy leads to fragmented messaging, inconsistent execution and eroded brand trust. The solution lies in clarity and knowing what should be controlled centrally and what should be shaped locally. Take business listings, store hours, review responses, and social media posts. These are often managed by headquarters in the name of brand consistency. But in chasing uniformity, national teams can strip out the very context customers care about. When I was 16, I worked closing shifts at a Dairy Queen in a small town in North Dakota. Officially, we closed at 8 p.m. But on game nights when the local high school teams played, we stayed open late and let everyone know with a hand-written sign on the door. That wasn't a corporate directive. It was a decision made by the local manager who understood that the next closest restaurant was a 30-minute drive and that staying open late was good for business and good for the brand. Consistency across locations is important. But when it overrides the flexibility to stay open late for game night, it signals detachment, not discipline. How To Scale Without Becoming Generic A persistent myth in enterprise marketing is that you must choose: enforce brand standards or empower local teams. That binary thinking is outdated. Too much centralization results in sterile messaging that doesn't resonate. A national campaign claiming 'We make the best soda' will sound tone-deaf in Minnesota, where people say 'pop,' and in Georgia, where everything is a 'Coke.' The message wasn't built for them so it doesn't land. But full decentralization introduces risk. When every franchise or regional manager runs their own playbook, it creates compliance issues, off-brand communications and chaos masquerading as creativity. The real unlock lies in a hybrid approach: centralized strategy with distributed execution. Corporate defines the brand voice, sets clear guardrails and delivers tools, templates and structured data. Local teams then bring that strategy to life by adapting the tone, spotlighting community events and responding to real-world context in real time. With the right platform and workflows, this isn't just possible. It's scalable. The Real Competition Isn't Who You Think It Is Another misstep is benchmarking exclusively against other national brands. That's not how customers make local decisions. When someone's choosing where to grab lunch, they're not pitting your national chain against another big-name competitor. They're deciding between you and the family-run deli across the street—the one that posts daily on Instagram, remembers their order and has five stars on Google. While enterprise marketers obsess over brand lift and campaign reach, customers care about something simpler: who's open, who's nearby and who feels human. In that moment of decision, the competition isn't always bigger or better. It's just closer, more present and more trusted. That's why local context isn't sentimental. It's strategic. Ignore it, and you don't just lose share. You lose relevance. The New Discovery Landscape It used to be that local discovery meant ranking high on Google Maps. If you cracked the top three, you were in business. Not anymore. Today's consumers move fluidly across platforms like TikTok, Yelp, ChatGPT, Instagram, voice assistants and more, often without ever visiting your website. Younger audiences, especially, are more likely to find businesses through social media than through traditional search engines. And AI-generated answers don't come with dashboards or paid ad placements. Worse still, these systems rely on a wide constellation of data sources, many of which brands have stopped thinking about like MapQuest or Yellow Pages. Inaccurate or outdated information in any one of these can result in misinformation, misrepresentation, or outright invisibility. This shift from search engine optimization to discovery optimization is seismic. You're no longer trying to rank for keywords. You're trying to be the best answer to a locally relevant question everywhere someone might ask it. Local Isn't A Channel. It's The Brand. The brands that succeed at the local level aren't simply adapting national campaigns. They're operationalizing local relevance—embedding it into their data, decisions and daily execution. They strike the right balance between central governance and local agility. They treat structured content as infrastructure, not an afterthought. And they recognize that every listing, review, photo and neighborhood initiative is a brand touchpoint—one that must be accurate, timely and contextually aware. Because whether it's keeping the lights on after a Friday night game in rural North Dakota or adding a vegan menu item in Chelsea, customers notice. And in an era where trust is earned in moments, how you show up locally isn't just a detail. It's the brand. Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Forbes
7 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Building A Strong Brand On A Small Budget
Petr Marek, founder and CEO of Invoice Home, an invoice-generating platform designed for small businesses, freelancers and entrepreneurs. Marketing is a crucial part of any business, but it's especially important for small businesses looking to build a strong brand and stand out in a competitive market. MailChimp says that "many small businesses aim to spend 2% to 5% of their total revenue on marketing." As the economy fluctuates and consumers pull back on spending, it's critical now for businesses to remain nimble. I think right now, small businesses should focus on local marketing and use it to their advantage. I find that paid Google ads are a powerful tool for local SEO, helping your business appear at the top of search results and reach customers when they're looking for your services. (But before you start paying for ads, ensure you optimize your Google Business profile and include current business information.) Overall, taking a mixed approach and utilizing free tools at your disposal is the first step to a successful marketing strategy that supports your growing business. Customer Loyalty Customer loyalty is arguably the most important aspect for small businesses in today's competitive business landscape. Therefore, providing quality customer support should be your first priority. To continue improving and building loyalty, it's essential to track customer satisfaction metrics. Average resolution time (ART) and first response time (FRT) can be the difference between a one-time purchase and a returning customer. This means replying promptly to emails, social media messages, online reviews, etc. Both of these satisfaction metrics show your business cares about its customers and supports them throughout their journey. Once your response times are optimized, you can leverage that efficiency to cultivate organic feedback. For example, when you receive positive feedback from a customer, following up and inviting them to leave a public review or testimonial is an excellent way to turn that feedback into a powerful marketing asset. Loyal customers are repeat customers, and your goal should be to keep your customers engaged in the long run. To build loyalty, consider offering early access to new products, special discounts or other customer appreciation incentives. Another smart way to engage is to offer loyalty programs or community rewards. By partnering with other community businesses, you can leverage their customer base as well to continue growing yours. Community Involvement Getting involved with your community as a whole allows you to increase visibility for your business and build strong connections with future customers. There are a number of ways to get involved locally. I think one of the easiest and most important ways is to join your city's Chamber of Commerce or other local small business organizations. These provide valuable opportunities to meet and connect with fellow business owners, which can be helpful in building a mini mindshare whenever a business question arises. Many of these local business organizations also offer monthly lunch-and-learn type events with guest speakers and other opportunities to connect. Once you've connected, partnering with like-minded businesses to jointly host an event, such as a workshop, can further your brand awareness even more. You can also host your own event that gives back to the community—think something like a charity golf tournament. Depending on your business, finding ways to support local farmers' markets or non-profits can help you stay top of mind for customers looking for what you offer. Social Media When you effectively leverage social media to connect with your target audience, you, in turn, enhance your brand visibility. I recommend leveraging multiple channels, especially if your business targets multiple age groups. Each social platform has advantages, and finding your audience on the channels they prefer will unlock opportunities at a much lower cost than traditional advertising and marketing. Most local businesses will benefit from short-form videos or Reels on platforms like Instagram; these short videos are perfect for engagement. Adding Pinterest offers another visual platform to engage audiences and share actionable content, such as how-to guides and infographics, that can also be easily shared across other social media channels. Once your social presence is established, partnering with local influencers or bloggers who align with your brand can help amplify your reach and strengthen your business across social channels. User-generated content (UGC) is another invaluable asset for small businesses, and for many, it remains untapped. Leveraging UGC on social media is the modern-day version of word-of-mouth advertising. Customer reviews are also a powerful source for content. The most important thing to remember with reviews (and comments on social posts) is to engage. Customers want to know they are heard, and engaging with your customers whenever they interact with your business will show that you value them and their feedback. What About AI? As businesses look to slash budgets, marketing tends to be one of the first expenses in question. With all the chatter about generative AI, is this a viable option for small businesses when it comes to marketing? Generative AI can help generate ideas for content and optimize current marketing campaigns, from concepts for email campaigns or social media posts to searching for consumer trends that your business can leverage. There are plenty of free generative AI tools available online that small businesses can use to support their marketing efforts. However, when using AI, it's important to consider the sensitivity of the content being shared and to independently verify any claims or insights the AI generates by checking against trusted sources. You can build a strong brand on a small budget by implementing cost-effective marketing strategies to build brand awareness. The most important takeaway is that with anything, you cannot set it and forget it. Marketing needs to evolve as the market evolves and customer needs shift. Make sure to always directly involve the community, and that your strategy, no matter what, is able to shift over time. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
