Welcome back to our series for franchise owners on growing your local business! So far, we’ve looked at local SEO and explored how to create compelling local content for blogs, emails, and social media. Now, let’s pivot to another area that can enhance your local presence – local online advertising.
In this article, we’ll uncover smart and effective local advertising techniques that franchise business owners can use to stand out when advertising on Google or social media platforms.
Understanding Local Ad Targeting
Location-based ad targeting (known as geotargeting) allows franchise owners to show ads to potential customers within a designated geographic area. This approach can be used to target cities, specific zip codes, or even a radius around your business location. The idea is to direct your advertising efforts toward the area where your actual and potential customers reside or work.
Local targeting is available on most advertising platforms, including giants like Google Ads and Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram). This article is focused on the strategy for your local online advertising, so we won’t get into the nuts and bolts of how to do it on each platform. However, you can check out this Hubspot article for the basics of location ad targeting on common social media platforms.
Geotargeting empowers businesses to focus their local online advertising efforts (and budget!) on areas most likely to yield results. Other benefits of geotargeting include:
- Precision Marketing: By targeting specific areas, you can tailor your messaging to address local preferences and cultural nuances, making your ads more relevant and appealing to the audience.
- Cost Efficiency: Focusing on a specific geographic area helps optimize the advertising budget, as it reduces the waste of resources on markets less likely to convert.
- Exclusion Capabilities: Alongside targeting specific locations, you can also exclude areas where your target audience is unlikely to be. This exclusion ensures that your ad spend isn’t wasted on non-relevant areas.
- Competitor Targeting: Local targeting allows businesses to focus on areas near their competitors, potentially attracting customers seeking alternatives.
- Platform Flexibility: Most online advertising platforms support local targeting, allowing you to use this strategy across various channels and reach your audience where they are most active.
The effectiveness of local ad targeting lies in its ability to deliver your advertising message to the right people in the right place. This precision enhances the likelihood of attracting customers to your franchise and builds a strong local presence for your brand. As we further discuss local online advertising techniques below, remember that geotargeting forms the foundation upon which other tactics build and flourish.
9 Local Online Advertising Techniques
Now it’s time to explore specific local online advertising techniques you can use with geotargeting to create ads that truly resonate with your local audience.
1. Location-Based Keywords and Ad Copy
Incorporating location-based keywords into your ad copy is a smart way to capture the attention of local searchers because seeing the name of their city or area can often get their attention and “stop the scroll.” Tailor your ad copy to reflect the specifics of your local area. Mention your city, neighborhood, landmarks, or local events to make your ads resonate with your local audience.
2. Local Reviews
Leverage local reviews in your ads to enhance trust and credibility. Highlight testimonials that specifically mention your local area or experiences at your franchise location. Reviews are powerful tools for persuasion, especially when the audience knows the reviewer is from the local area. The review can be part of the ad copy or incorporated into an attention-grabbing image.
3. Personalized Local Promotions
Create promotions or offers exclusive to your local area to make your ads more appealing. You might state that the promotion is specifically for people in the geographic area or that the discount can only be used at a specific store location. These tailored offers demonstrate your presence in the local community and can drive significant engagement.
4. Local Storefront Images
Use images of your local storefront or interior in your ads. This visual connection confirms your presence in the area and helps potential customers recognize your franchise when they visit. The result is a seamless online-to-offline experience.
5. Custom Landing Pages
Develop a dedicated landing page for each local ad campaign that reflects the specific messaging and offers in the ad. Even if you have just one franchise location, this will help you carry the language, look, and feel of the local ad over to the landing page, including location information (address, hours, etc.), store pictures, local reviews, the specific promotion being advertised, etc. Or, if you operate more than one franchise unit, you can create custom landing pages for each location to use in the corresponding geotargeted ads. This personalized approach ensures consistency in your advertising narrative, enhances the user experience, and leads to better conversion rates.
6. Retargeting Local Customers
Retargeting is a powerful tool to re-engage individuals who have previously interacted with your franchise. Through retargeting, you can show advertisements to people on your email list, past customers, recent website visitors, etc. Ad retargeting to local customers keeps your brand in the minds of those who have previously shown an interest, increasing the likelihood of repeat business.
7. Time-Specific Advertising
Aligning your ads with your business hours or the peak times of your local market can dramatically increase their impact. When ads appear at times when potential customers are most active and your business is open, the likelihood of engagement and immediate action rises. Strategically timed ads can capture attention at just the right moment for maximum effect.
8. Separate Ads for Different Areas
Dividing your larger target geographic area into smaller segments lets you get even more granular with your ads, tweaking ad copy and images to each segment. But even if you use the same exact ad, segmenting your geographic area can provide valuable data. You can compare performance metrics across different segments, gaining insights into which areas are most receptive to your messaging and where to focus your future marketing efforts.
9. Excluding Certain Locations
Smart ad targeting includes knowing where not to advertise. Excluding locations where your target audience is scarce, or your franchise doesn’t operate can optimize your advertising budget. The findings from #8 above can also help you identify which parts of your geographic area you may exclude. Strategic exclusions help you focus your ad spend on the most promising areas to maximize your return on investment.
Developing Your Local Online Advertising Strategy
The journey through local online advertising techniques underscores one critical insight: success hinges on using geotargeting effectively. When paired with other dynamic strategies like localized ad copy, landing pages, promotions, and timing, location-based ad targeting ensures your message resonates with the local audience and delivers tangible results.
In the next chapter of this series, we shift our focus to offline marketing tactics, starting with the art of local print advertising. Stay tuned to learn how to leverage print media to further cement your franchise’s presence in the local community.
