For the last 20+ years I’ve been involved in Local Advertising, from television to magazines and now online local advertising by way of organic SEO.  Over the years I’ve witnessed the countless thousands of pounds ‘gambled’ by businesses on local advertising, I say gambled because placing an advertisement on local television, local radio, local press or local magazines was gamble then and is still a gamble today. 

Sales executives with a perplexing array of patter, from circulation rates to listener and viewer numbers, cost per thousands etc, the terminology is designed specifically to sell you the dream of getting lots and lots more business.  However with traditional media the old adage always applies 50% works and 50% doesn’t work, it’s understanding what does and doesn’t, that’s the key.

The problem is local business owners are too busy trying to make a living, so the cycle continues, business get some work from some advertisements and little or none from others, the sales representatives sell the dream and the re-book is made, or worse the standing order simply keeps getting paid.

Sound like a familiar story?  If this sounds like your experience of local advertising then here are 6 simple local advertising business hacks that may help.

6 simple local advertising business hacks.

1. Change your habits – Although it seems like a chore, make it a habit to find out how people found out about your business.  This is a really effective and obvious way to understanding if your local advertising is working.  Changing this alone can save thousands.  Remember asking the customer how they found out about you doesn’t always mean they’ll give you the right answer, or that the trigger to contact you was because of any particular advertisement or otherwise.  It could be a combination of factors, a conversation with friend, seen your advertisement a while ago and then found you on Google.  Never prompt the customer with options, this doesn’t help you, if they don’t know they’ll simply pick one from your list of prompts to be helpful.
2. Testing the advertising medium – The next thing to do is to look at all your advertising channels, understand which is costing the most then call your account executive, ask them to change the advertisement to include an offer or a special discount exclusive to that publication.  It can be anything, free delivery, 10% off, a free gift, what you are trying to do is get the customer to quote a code, offer or bring a voucher so you can easily track the success of the campaign.  In this instance, it can be a good idea to prompt the customer when they contact you, ask them if they have a discount code, voucher or otherwise, if they haven’t then you can be assured they didn’t see your advertisement in XYZ Magazine or heard it on the radio.
3. Protect and strengthen your brand – all too often a small business forgets about the power of their brand.  Your brand isn’t just the logo or the strap line (catch phrase), it isn’t the look of the advertisements or the look of the website.  It’s all of these and more, your brand is everything you do and everything you say to the customer.  If your company is about friendliness and you have a grumpy person answering the phone, you are damaging your brand.  Similarly if your logo is different (even slightly) on your vans compared to your company uniform and advertisement – you are damaging your brand.  Your universal brand represents what your company is about, your logo helps customer recall or be interested in your company and what your brand stands for.  Think about the large companies Apple, Nike, Coca Cola, Kellogs … when we think of these companies we have an image of what they stand for and they follow that up with consistent delivery across the business.  Just because you are a local plumber or a local shop keeper doesn’t mean people don’t use the same strategies for your brand, inconsistency in your brand can point to inconsistencies in your business.  So the next time you approve an advertisement for print ask yourself is it “On brand”  … at very least make sure simple stuff like the logo is right (I mean exactly right).
4. Online local advertising can help – online local advertising has some significant benefits over other forms of local advertising, the main benefit of online local advertising is that it provides you with actual data about what impact the advertisement has had.  No matter if you choose pay per click on Google or Facebook or you opt for Organic SEO advertising/promotion all of them provide good data and can offer significant returns on investment.  Remember the web is like the wild west and just like the wild west, there are many ‘snake oil sellers’, con men and thieves – it’s buyer be very aware.
   
5. The ‘goose that laid the golden egg never really existed’  – this simply means that theirs no quick win, if someone promises you the earth and the latest whizz bang technobabble solution backed up by a heap of figures that you don’t understand and then asks you for a lot of money, the chances are it’s probably something to avoid.
6. Keep it simple – it may sound ridiculous in these days of high-tech wizardry to look back at some of the old advertising strategies, but some of them do still work today.  Fliers and good shop posters, open days and free gifts can often provide better returns for some companies than anything else.  They are low-cost and can produce great returns.
7. A bird in the hand – is obviously worth more than two in the bush.  In advertising terms it can often be a better strategy to focus more on customer retention and customer re-marketing than trying to constantly find new customers.  Take a look at your strategy for customer relationship management, is time an old customer upgraded or was due a shiny new version of what you offer.

The golden local advertising hack – keep hold of those who give it 100%

No matter what business you’re in, you’ll come across rogues, cheats and ‘snake oil’ sales people, occasional though you’ll happen upon some industry professionals who genuinely work hard for you, care and have a deep desire to deliver the best results they can.  These people put in the effort to do the work to the best of their abilities, back up their claims with clear rationale and supporting information, more importantly they will try to be crystal clear and provide you with as much information as you need.  No singular advertising medium is the best, no single web guru knows it all, no designer or marketing expert is the crème de la crème, all that said the good ones are the ones that will give their all to achieve solid results time and time again.

Of course once you’ve done all this the rest is down to that strange and interesting group called the customer, as we all know the customer is always right even when they are wrong.

I hope these 6 simple local advertising business hacks have helped a little.  Good luck with it all, if you’re interested in a little local online advertising or if you have any questions at all about local advertising and marketing in general contact me today.

Call me to find out more