Local Marketing – Media

Once you’ve determined your goals, messaging and audience, you’ll want to consider how to deliver your Local Marketing to consumers. I use the term Media to broadly describe message delivery tools.

I like to divide media into two groups: (1) Off-premise and (2) On-premise. Off-premise media includes any form of message delivery that is not at the store or restaurant, such as: TV and radio ads; billboards; off-premise signage, such as bus stops; direct mail and email; text messaging; free-standing inserts (FSIs); and door hangers. On-premise media includes: window clings, menu boards, pole signs, roof banners, marquis signs, register toppers, counter mats, table-tents, flyers, brochures, bag stuffers, and any other means of displaying a message in-store.

Any of these media options can be used for national promotions (i.e. the same message everywhere), but not all are effective or practical for Local Marketing. Consider first and foremost your desired level of segmentation. For example, TV and radio ad campaigns developed for a specific market might be feasible for very large cities, but unlikely to be considered for a single store. Any of the on-premise media and some of the off-premise options like direct mail are effective for highly targeted messaging, but be sure you have the right building blocks in place to execute them:

• Location profile data
• A means to manage and leverage the data
• Messaging and graphic strategy designed for Local Marketing
• Print and fulfillment process that is capable of delivering individualized messages in the desired media form quickly and efficiently

If you don’t have all of these in place, you might want to investigate your options.

Matching the right media to the targeted audience and message can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the campaign. For example, a table-tent might be an effective way of promoting return visits to a QSR, but is unlikely to have much effect on the size of the order of customers walking into a store. The more media options you have that are “local marketing enabled” the more likely you can deploy successful Local Marketing campaigns. Finding partners with the widest range of capabilities in an integrated delivery system can go a long way towards meeting this need.