Although 95% of sales do still happen in stores, did you know that today around 97% of people research a business online before visiting an outlet? In an ever-changing world, the way we shop has also changed drastically in the last few years. People now opt for brands that offer good deals and the ones they can find easily. Therefore, to entice, attract and engage your target audience, it is important to have an effective marketing strategy in place.

Localize Your Multi-Location Business’s Marketing Strategy

While it might seem impossible to localize your business’s marketing strategy without losing sight of the bigger picture and diluting your brand’s original campaign, it is possible to develop a central brand marketing guide while keeping all the locations brand-compliant.

Want to localize your brand? Here are the six best practices for multi-location marketing to set your campaigns up for success:

1.   Create a Regional Buyer’s Persona and Market Your Brand Accordingly

The first step to developing a multi-location marketing strategy is by creating location-specific marketing guidelines. When creating a regional buyer’s persona, ask yourself the following questions:

• Who are your local customers, and what are their preferences?
• What problems do your local customers face?
• How can your brand help them in solving those problems?
• What regional items, teams, events, or landmarks can you use to personalize your local marketing strategy?

Another thing that you can do to give your customers an idea of what to expect from your multi-location store is; to create local landing webpages to tell them about the inventory and location-specific special deals. To ensure that your marketing strategy resonates with your target audience, personalize the messages according to the customers’ needs and tell them the benefits of using your products or services.

2.   Develop Clear-Cut Guidelines to Follow and Hold Each Location Store Accountable

Regardless of whether one person is responsible for managing the multi-location marketing of your brand or there is a different person responsible for each location- having brand assets and straightforward branding guidelines which comply with the needs of each location is essential. Therefore, to protect yourself from violation of any rule, ensure that you have a consistent brand image across all your multi-location platforms.

As a local store or franchise owner:

• Enquire if there is already a local marketing strategy in place and create your brand’s guidelines accordingly.
• Make sure you have permission to market your store.
• Ask for all the branding resources that you’ll need.

3.   Consider a Local Social Media Strategy

Many businesses allow their location-based offices to manage their social media webpages. So, if you don’t want to post the general content on your multi-location Facebook page, here are some steps to localize your social media strategy:

• Give shout-outs to employees or locations.
• Add locations to your Facebook page to show on the map of your profile.
• Remind your target audience of your multi-location stores by linking them to your website.

4.   Work on Your Local Search Marketing Tactics

Create, claim and optimize your brand’s local business pages on Yelp, Bling, Yahoo, and Google My Business. In order to do this, ensure that each location NAP is consistent across all business pages, social media platforms, and directories, as inaccurate or incorrect information will only cause confusion resulting in lowering your SEO ranking.

5.   Interact with the Local Community

If you want to be well-known in your local community, you should interact, engage and get involved! An easy way is to do a quick Google search for local events and see if you can help out. For example, Starbucks sets ups booths at charity events and allows its stores to donate products to local raffles.

6.   Create Multi-Location Webpages for Each Location on Your Brand’s Website

To make your brand’s stores more accessible and easy to find, you should add directional links to your multi-locationstores on your website. Consider using a microsite for every location; this will allow your store to appear on the top of a customer’s search list. You can also optimize your local search marketing by adding your phone number, address, and business name.

Wrapping It Up!

Whether you own a local store, a franchise, or a well-established business, there are several ways to put your brand’s multi-location stores on the map and bring in more local customers. Multi-location marketing can be challenging, but with the aforementioned tips, your business should be able to make the most of your resources while reaching the most customers!