Many businesses advertise on a national and/or regional level, but for hyperlocal marketing, advertisers hone in on just a few blocks, streets, or specific zip codes. If your business is looking to grow locally, or you want to boost foot traffic, you might benefit from a hyperlocal marketing strategy that connects your target audience where they are locally.
Let’s explore what hyperlocal marketing is, the benefits of the strategy, and techniques you can implement in your marketing strategies.
What is Hyperlocal Marketing?
Hyperlocal marketing is the process of targeting prospective customers in a highly specific, geographically restricted area. It can also be referred to as niche marketing, geotargeting, and location-based marketing. It intends to target people conducting “near me” searches and build a specific community within a geographic area. Hyperlocal marketing delivers your content within a local context.
For businesses, this advertising keeps customers close to home—more often than not within walking distance, to target your local community. This is the essence of a hyperlocal marketing campaign.
Benefits of Hyperlocal Marketing
The primary purpose of a hyperlocal marketing campaign is to engage your potential customers where they are in the locations they live and work, capitalizing on “near me” searches. Near Me searches are commonplace as a way to find local resources and find answers to an immediate need.
- Meet Your Prospective Customer Where They Are: Hyperlocal marketing is all about location and being relevant in that location. According to Think With Google, “near me” searches have increased by 500% in two years. These are searches where people are looking to buy products or services close to where they are. People are looking for stores, restaurants, and service providers that meet their immediate needs. If you do not engage in hyperlocal marketing strategies, you may not be found online as a local resource for prospective clients.
- Personalized and Relevant Messaging that Resonates: Hyperlocal marketing allows you to segment your prospective clients, current clients, and audience with relevant, timely, and personalized communication. We know that personalized messaging gets more open rates, more engagement. Being able to deliver the right message at the right time, in the right location is marketing mix that delivers.
- Build Trust and Authority: According to BrightLocal’s Consumer Review Survey, 88% of customers trust local reviews as much as in-person recommendations. Reviews are also an important factor in local search ranking for your website.
Establishing an effective hyperlocal marketing strategy is a great way to expand your local footprint, drive more traffic, and elevate your business. These strategies will help you find new customers and show your brand in the best light before, during, and after the purchasing process.
6 Hyperlocal Marketing Techniques
Businesses with both an online and offline presence are in a great position to take advantage of hyperlocal marketing. Think outside of the maildrop and the low return on investment. Explore simple techniques you can use to support your marketing growth locally.
1. Radio
Radio broadcasters have been at the forefront of hyperlocal marketing, selling advertising space in a radius of station listeners, securing a target audience of listeners. Radio is also evolving hyperlocal marketing. The idea is to let FM radio stations run on-channel boosters that do not duplicate all the content of the main station. This allows them to provide localized content just for the area around the booster. Targeted advertising spend on a radio can help build brand awareness.
2. Podcasts
Podcasts are an efficient way to connect with a targeted audience in the creation of your content. If you use location specific messaging, relevant and timely topics, run your podcast as a series on local radio, or consider local distribution of your content, your podcast can help establish your business and you as an individual as a local, thought leader, delivering relevant and timely information.
3. Google Listings
Make sure your Google My Business listing as comprehensive as possible. Google My Business provides much of the information Google uses, including many of the details displayed in listings of individual businesses in Maps results, such as addresses and opening hours. If you do not have a Google Listing, please consult your DMI Sales Representative.
4. Content Marketing
Including a local voice in your blog posts, videos, ad and email copy, and social media posts will assist you in increasing trust and building relationships with potential customers. Writing copy or emails campaigns that resonate with a local audience can help you build a community of engaged hyper-local potential customers and clients.
5. Webinar Services
We support advisors to growing their business from their laptop—entirely online via webinar services. We will handle all the technical aspects, while you focus on delivering a presentation that showcases you as a credible, authentic educator. As a DMI partner agent and advisor, you identify the geo-locations of your ideal clients, we do the work to fill seats with participants who match those geo-locations as well as demographics.
6. Email:
Most agents and advisors already use some form of email list segmentation so they send more relevant emails to the right individuals marrying content with context. With hyperlocal targeting you can make your emails even more relevant, by sending different email offers and promotions depending on your email recipients’ location. The more relevant your emails are, the more likely it is that people will open them and act.
DMI Marketing deploys hyperlocal marketing support for our partner agents and advisors and works with leading industry providers to develop podcasts, radio spots, content marketing, and targeted webinar outreach for qualified agents and advisors. Contact us today to get started on your own hyperlocal marketing strategy.
