We are all about being local. We go along to local events in all of the places which we work (Lindfield, Haywards Heath, Cuckfield, Hassocks & Hurstpierpoint), we support local charities and we pride ourselves on knowing what’s going on in each of our local, geographic places so that our magazines are super-helpful to our readership.
But, I am sometimes surprised by how many advertisers aren’t bothered about making their ads feel ‘local’.
Think about it – the people picking up and reading any of our magazines are doing so because they either live in, or are interested by that specific community.
Why wouldn’t you tailor your advert to appeal to that potential customer?
With a few small tweaks, adverts can often be transformed from generic publicity to seeing a business which recognises the local community.
Here’s my five tips:
1) Always use a phone number which is a local dialling code (not a mobile, or 0800)
2) If you are physically based in the town/village – do mention it!
3) If you aren’t, but you work in that place all the time, and have oodles of happy clients there – say that in your ad (eg; Fixing leaks in Cuckfield since 2009)
4) You could include a box in your call-to-action ‘Mention Lindfield Life when you call’ – as this statement alone aligns your ad with the locality by name association.
5) Consider supporting a local charity, or sponsoring an event. It gets your name out there, in the right place.
When you’re trying to reach new local customers, it’s important for them to believe that you know what being local actually means. Why not try implenting any of the above tips in your next piece of marketing or advertisement design?
