When you’re the owner of a business or a brand, which in some cases is the same thing, your goal should be to expand on foreign markets every time you get the chance for it. The goal of a brand is to reach a certain amount of fame and recognition, and you as an owner need to use every opportunity to make that happen.
One of the toughest things to do is to expand on markets where you have no presence. This is difficult because you have to face a lot of competition, and due to the number of budget and resources you have to spend to realize the goal. But, if you are a newer brand, you have a lot of work to be done locally before you start scaling and expanding on foreign markets.
As they say, you have to be successful on your terrain first if you want to move your game on others. In today’s article, we’ll help you achieve just that. Local branding strategies are not easy to pull off, but with the right steps, everything is possible. Let’s take a look at what you should know.
Contents
1. Observe and explore the local market
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First and foremost, you need to start by observing your current market and taking notes about it. What products are currently selling the most, and which ones have the most demand by the customers but nobody provides them still? Then, analyze the prices, take notes of the marketing campaigns that other competitors in that particular area do.
Gather as much information as possible then call a meeting with your employees, or if it’s a solo-business create a campaign based on what you’ve gathered. You must work with what you have because not every area is equal in terms of sales, traffic, demand, supply, and several customers.
2. Design a catchy slogan, specific for your area
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The moto of your branding strategy needs to be something catchy, preferably something meant for the people living in your area, if you are specifically aiming to improve your local marketing game. Customers feel special when a marketing campaign or a slogan is directed towards them. So, for example, if you are building fireplaces, “We’re keeping Stockholm warm” is better than just “We’re keeping your home warm” because the first version of that slogan targets a specific audience. It’s a very basic example but hopefully more than enough for you to understand my point.
If you feel like you’re not familiar with marketing, and you think that someone else can do this better than you, hiring someone to design the slogan and the message of your advertising campaign is not a bad idea at all. A lot of people do that. Never save up when it comes to the quality of your marketing campaign and advertising game in general. It’s the most worthy investment that you can make for your business.
3. Pay a lot of attention to local SEO
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There are a lot of sites on the internet that offer SEO service for your business. This is a great opportunity for those who are not very familiar with this concept and are unsure how to improve their ranking on the Google search engine by themselves. One of those websites that we find very useful is about.me. A business owner has to focus on a lot of things at once, so wasting time learning about SEO will mess with your schedule. Nothing wrong with asking help from a professional who dedicated many years on learning how to do this properly.
4. Focus on building partnerships
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Nothing will take you farther than stable relationships with partners who operate in the same area like you. Building and maintaining your connections should be a primary goal. When you have partnerships, you have a lot more freedom to reap benefits from all sides. Make sure that the offers you’re making are fair and allow for mutual benefits.
Also, the more partnerships you have, the higher your recognition becomes, people will start noticing you even if they are not interested or familiar with the products or services you offer in your particular operating field. Someone can know you as “the partner of Microsoft”, but that’s still a lot better than not knowing you at all. When a business has strong and reputable partners, it automatically becomes a lot more credible and trustworthy in the eyes of others.
Source: Marketing Donut
Last but not least, a lot of business owners from the older generations tend to neglect the importance of social media presence, probably because they grew up without so much technology use. But, what they don’t understand is that the younger generations are responsible for the survival and prosperity of their business. It’s important to keep a constant social media presence throughout your entire campaign.
Ensuring that you post frequently and inform your customers about every move you make on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram is crucial for the survival of a business in 2024. Eventually, your entire customer base will consist of millennials, and as cruel as it sounds, you have to follow the trends that they believe in, or you’ll be left without buyers and supporters.
Conclusion
Although it sounds like an easy task, targeting and conquering your local market is not simple. You have to understand exactly what your customers want and how they perceive your business so that you can grab their attention much easier. Also, unless you are the largest player in your local area, chances are that you’ll face some serious competition.
Without a proper branding strategy, most businesses nowadays will become overwhelmed by their competitors. You cannot sell the best product unless you make your product seem like the best one on the market. 2024 is a year in the era of information, and there’s rarely someone who doesn’t have a smartphone and internet connection. People are just a few clicks away from a purchase, make sure that the purchase they make is a product or service of yours.
