A Net or a Spear?

Jeremy Cohen has written a well thought article about local marketing. He talks about the benefits of focusing your marketing efforts (a spear) rather than casting a broad "net" with your marketing.

You can read his article here.

I like what he says about focus. Most small businesses would do better to focus rather than spread out their marketing. Focusing gives you more impact with a certain audience because it increases the potential number of times your mesage will be seen by the same people. And, if you use several different media to reach these people, your message increases in both credibility and retention.

With local marketing, you can achieve focus by delivering your message using media that target very small geographic areas (such as a suburb, small town or zip code). For example, a focused local media campaign might include a local newspaper, a couple bus benches, some direct mail pieces, other community publications, a local phone book, church or school based advertising, local sponsorships and more personal marketing such as chamber of commerce, rotary, etc.

By pointing these different media at the same small geographic area, you put your message in front of many of the same people numerous times, from many different angles. They begin to see and hear your message and your brand on a regular basis so they begin to remember it. And, your business becomes known as a part of the community because your name keeps popping up "all over town".

As a local business, catering to local people in your community, this type of brand building is priceless. But it can't be done overnight and it can't be done with one medium. It takes time, repetition, frequency, consistency and variety as you create and deliver your message. It's not easy but done well it can be very effective at building your local business.

(We'll talk more about this in future articles so stay tuned.)