How to Build Local Brand Engagement Through Marketing

Hyperlocal marketing is more important than ever before.  With travel limited and so much time spent inside our homes, we have become more local—and marketers are taking notice. Searches for “local marketing” have increased by 30% year over year; however, recent interest aside, hyperlocal marketing has long been a strategy used to build brand loyalty with a target audience in key markets.

We sat down (virtually) with marketers from REI and Jack’s Abby Brewing to discuss the importance of a hyperlocal marketing strategy and how to use it to build engagement on a local level. 

Is your organization is a good fit for hyperlocal marketing?

All organizations should consider local marketing, according to Monika Bach, the New England Regional Manager of Local Engagement and Impact for REI. At its core, local marketing is about showing up for your community and building genuine connections. “If you are selling a good or have a space there, you’ll need your community at some point,” Rob Day, Sr. Director of Marketing at Jack’s Abby Brewing went on to say, “Give, don’t just take.”

While there’s many ways to give to your local community and engage with your audience, our panelists boiled down hyperlocal engagement into two key components. 

The key components of local engagement

1. Leveraging Local Shared Experiences: Take local experiences and locally-interesting things and determine how you can best activate them for your business. This could include attending local events, using regional vernacular in your marketing, partnering with local organizations, or even using regionally relevant materials or ingredients in your products. 

2. Localizing Large-Scale Experiences: Consider the experiences that we all share on a national or cultural level. Think about how that relates to your business and your audience. Ask yourself, how do those experiences translate in our local community?

While the key components of local engagement remain the same, the execution looks much different during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, building local engagement safely during the pandemic is possible.

Understand the best practices and get inspiration by listening to our recent webinar.

Watch our full webinar on hyperlocal marketing.