5 Ways to Stretch Your Local Advertising Budget

Making the most of your advertising budget is challenging for many marketers, no matter how big or small it is. When it comes to local advertising, there are specific strategies you can use to stretch your dollars and maximize your budget. Here are five strategies to try:

1. Narrow down your target audience

Creating a narrowly-defined profile of your target audience will maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your local advertising plan. In fact, it helps you spend time targeting people who will make the most impact. You can narrow your target audience by conducting market research, understanding your key demographics, identifying online behaviors and other tactics.

2. Use an integrated approach

Your target audience interacts with a variety of offline and online media. Combining different media can expand your reach and frequency, which are key in attracting and engaging local customers. Frequency refers to the number of times an individual will hear your ad, and reach is the number of different people exposed to your ad. The right balance of each is key to effectively maximize your ad spend. Research shows that advertising is more effective when repeated, which in turn helps to maximize your budget.

A good example of an integrated approach is pairing two high-reach mediums such as radio and social media to maximize both reach and frequency. This combination works well because it provides hyper targeting, timeliness, cross-promotion and other benefits to reach your audience and enhance your local advertising budget. Together, these two work to build brand awareness and improve recall while increasing your ROI.

3. Leverage local influencers

Local influencers have built trust with the community, which can be extended to your brand. Leveraging both radio and social influencers to reach local customers helps to maximize your advertising budget. There are a number of ways social influencers can support your local advertising efforts:

• Hosting community events
• Delivering authentic endorsements
• Connecting with listeners on social media
• Having real conversations with listeners
• Offering membership programs
• Hosting podcasts

Working with influencers is effective because it feels more authentic and personal, the ROI is trackable, and there are plenty of options they can use to connect with your audience.

4. Focus on local SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is very important, especially when it comes to attracting the right customers online. Nearly half of all searches on Google (46%) are seeking local information, and 72% of consumers who search for local businesses end up visiting stores within five miles. Optimizing your website for local search helps attract local customers, driving foot traffic to your store.

There are a few simple strategies you can use to optimize your local search traffic, like including the name of the city your business is in and/or the area your business serves in both your title and meta description tags. For example, you may consider adding “Joplin” to your home page title to help local customers find you online. You can also claim your business on Google My Business and focus on generating positive online reviews to boost your local SEO efforts and foster trust in your business.

5. Consult a media partner

A media partner can help you build a local advertising strategy that incorporates all the strategies listed above, while maximizing your ad budget. They are skilled at targeting the right listeners, choosing the best channels, and using tactics that will help you achieve optimal results. A media partner like Hubbard Chicago works on your behalf, keeping their promises, using top talent and offering a comprehensive approach to make the most impact.

By utilizing these strategies, you will be able to effectively stretch your local advertising budget and get the results you need. Learn more about Hubbard Chicago and see how our team of experts can help you make the most of your advertising dollars and achieve your marketing goals.