Ditch the Small Town Direct Marketing Efforts
So many local brands love local advertising. While this can work for some companies, it can leave a lot to be desired for many. What do I mean by “local advertising”?
Small town billboards
Direct mailers
Diner placements
Local newspapers/magazines
Why should you stop local advertising like this?
It’s not easily measurable. The publication/advertiser will give you a rough estimate on how many people see your ad, but you don’t actually know who engaged with your brand through those channels. Who talked about it? Who liked it? Who acted on it? You don’t know.
Wasted Money. So if you can’t measure the ads specifically, then how do you know what the return is on your money? You don’t and you may not be spending your advertising budget in the right places.
Limits the people who view it. If you are putting an ad on a diner placement or a small town billboard, your exposure is limited. You don’t have a chance to optimize and spend the money more smartly on the same platform. There’s no room to wiggle and grow with the flat ad fee on a static ad.
What local advertising should you do instead?
Evaluate various digital marketing channels and make your move for what make sense for your brand. It doesn’t all have to be paid advertising either. Here are some channels you should consider:
Google My Business
Facebook/Instagram Ads
Digital Ads on the local websites
Email marketing
These channels allow you to measure engagement and know how each effort is affecting your sales. You can invest the same amount (or in many cases less!!) that you’d be paying for the local direct advertising and know the return on your investment.