3 Ways to Build Local Brand Recognition That Attracts Customers
It’s rare for a customer to see a business for the first time and decide to walk in and buy. Customers need time to get to know a brand before they decide to do business with them. They require a certain level of brand recognition that makes them feel interested, engaged, and trusting enough to buy.
This is why you see major brands invest heavily in ads across a variety of platforms. They consistently put their brand in front of audiences in an attempt to make them so familiar with the brand that they want to buy from them.
This tactic works. Unfortunately, this type of massive marketing push isn’t always possible for local brands that don’t have the large budget of mega brands.
But you don’t necessarily need a huge budget to build the local brand recognition needed to attract local customers.
You just need the right tactics to repeatedly put your business in front of the nearby customers most likely to buy from you.
How Many Times Do People Need to See Your Brand?
A potential customer needs to see your brand multiple times to have the recognition and trust needed to make a purchase.
There is an old marketing rule that says it takes seven interactions with a brand before a customer will buy.
While the number of interactions isn’t completely scientific, the psychology behind the principle is. Our brains are wired to remember and recognize things we see repeatedly. When we are regularly exposed to a brand, we are more likely to buy from them.
In the past, getting your brand repeatedly in front of customers was expensive. Your only options were ads on TV, billboards, and print publications. But now, there are dozens of digital platforms that make it possible for smaller, local brands to affordably get in front of audiences over and over.
3 of the Best Ways To Build Local Brand Recognition
Local brands don’t need massive platforms for building brand recognition.
Local brands can get in front of their ideal customers multiple times by leveraging targeted platforms and tactics that reach the audience most likely to buy from them.
With these three strategies, brands won't waste money reaching uninterested audiences. Instead, they will repeatedly get in front of the people most likely to visit their local business.
#1) MyArea Network Local Content
In every major zip code across the United States, MyArea Network has a website focused on local content for that community. Local Area Sites showcase business profiles, articles, and listings of the best things to eat, see, and do in each specific community. Because of the targeted nature of these sites, they are a great place to get in front of a local audience multiple times.
Local brands can leverage Local Area Sites in a variety of ways to repeatedly present their brand to nearby audiences.
- Create a business profile so customers discover your brand while searching for local businesses like you.
- Add your event to listing pages so customers find your brand while searching for things to do in their area.
- Showcase your brand in featured articles and “best of” round-ups that introduce your brand to engaged local customers.
MyArea business profiles are free. If you want to maximize your exposure to the thousands of readers who use Local Area Sites, you can upgrade to a premier profile that includes featured placement across the site -- which can increase views of your business by seven times.
Create your free business profile on mySuite by MyArea Network today.
#2) Geofencing Marketing
Targeting customers based on where they are is how you cut through the noise and reach the nearby audiences most likely to do business with your local brand. An effective way to do that is through geofencing marketing.
Geofencing marketing is a location-based marketing tactic that presents ads to people based on their specific location. It uses GPS boundaries to target customers who enter or exit a virtual boundary so you can deliver ads to them based on their environment or location.
Geofencing presents a powerful way to get in front of nearby audiences. You can build local brand recognition by choosing to show ads to audiences while they are in places where they are primed to buy from you.
- Display ads for your business to customers while they are right around the corner from your business. If they are nearby, they are likely to visit your store in-person after seeing your brand online.
- Put your brand in front of audiences when they visit one of your competitors. Customers of your competitors are likely to be interested in your local business.
- Promote your business to customers who are on their way to doing business with you. Consider the places a customer might visit before doing business with a brand like you, and target those areas. For example, a sub shop near the mall might target audiences as they walk the halls of the mall.
Learn More: Using Geofencing Advertising to Target Customers at Exactly The Right Place
#3) Retargeted Ads
You need to get your business in front of the same audience multiple times to build brand recognition and drive customers to your location. Retargeting is an effective way to do this.
Retargeting is a type of remarketing tactic. It allows you to focus on reaching people who have already seen your brand. By strategically targeting people who are already aware of your brand, you can more quickly build the local brand recognition needed to turn interested prospects into customers.
When you use retargeted ads, you identify people who have seen or engaged with your brand (they have visited your website, engaged with one of your social posts, etc.) and you create targeted ads to reach them again. Retargeting works because it helps your brand get in front of an audience the multiple times needed to turn them into a customer.
Related: How To Use Digital Retargeting to Bring Customers Back Again and Again
Start Building More Local Brand Recognition Today
To motivate customers to do business with you, you need to get in front of them not once or twice, but multiple times. Use the tips listed in this post to position your local brand repeatedly in front of nearby audiences.
Get started today and launch tactics aligned with these strategies by creating your free mySuite account.
Use mySuite to set up a business profile on your Local Area Site, launch a geofencing campaign, and create a retargeting program that builds the local brand recognition needed to drive new customers to your business.
