Demystifying digital media.

For local business the local paper was, for many years, the go-to advertising medium. There was virtually no measurement & ROI was an alien acronym.

It’s hard to believe. But because there was only direct mail or door drop that could really be considered as alternatives, it ruled forever. It wasn’t cheap, either.

Guess what? It hasn’t disappeared. The big urban titles, some well-loved rural ones, and the local ‘lifestyle glossies’, still have thriving readerships & sell plenty of media space both on & offline.

But the digital advertising networks, along with search & social media, now take the vast majority of local spend.

That’s the good news… media choice is huge!

The sins?

The bad news is… the media choice is huge!

No way! How can that be bad news?

It’s bad news when the people at local level making the choices are not qualified or not confident. One of two things usually happen – they make the wrong choice, or they make no choice at all.

As simple as the media giants like Google and Meta (Facebook & Instagram) try to make things, buying targeted media is not for everybody.

Measuring results & adapting tactics… even less so.

For those brands with local networks there is no excuse for leaving their partners bewildered. It would be a mortal sin to:

• Not provide example campaign plans to local managers, with media suggestions & what the likely outcomes will be.
• Not provide the resources to local managers to create advertising in the right channels or offer a ‘managed service’ to do it for them.
• Not educate local managers about the value of marketing through the whole of the Customer Journey & not just during the ‘Buying’ stage!
• Dictate to them & not engage them in your marketing plans.

Redemption comes through marketing training, or managed marketing services.

Educating them will add greatly to their confidence. But dependent on scale or staff turnover, training could be simple or near impossible. And to keep abreast of the market it needs doing regularly.

Alternatively managed marketing services, is for that 'can't you do it for me' scenario. Here elements of their local marketing like digital is carried out for them. An opt-in service for those less confident or it can be set-up nationwide.

Ultimately, & perhaps not surprisingly, a fully functioning Local Marketing Hub supported by an experienced agency team can help all multi-location brands fulfil the vital functions of:

• Providing personalised local marketing materials
• Adding exemplar campaigns and media plans
• Including campaign management and production
• Providing education and training on all marketing channels
• Offering a managed service for those needing the extra support

Each of these brilliant local marketing modules are designed to make media choices and campaign planning through the whole of customer journey, both simple and effective for local marketers. Get in touch to find out how out how We Are Acuity do it.

National to Local experts We Are Acuity have 25 years experience in effective local marketing for national brands. If you are impatient to know more, why not visit this page to download the full range of fascinating FREE ebooks today? Packed with tips, tricks and ideas it will be well worth your time. See you next week!

Or if you'd like to read more about Local Marketing have a look at our blog page "Local Thinking': https://www.weareacuity.com/local-thinking-our-blog

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