5 Benefits to Local Optimization of Market-Wide Campaigns

You've heard it. We've heard it. Franchisees are always asking what levers they can pull to improve performance of the advertising in their trade area. But we all know that when campaigns are deployed across an entire DMA or metro area, those options are few (if any). And we're all familiar with the operators who spend 3-5x more time than their peers living and breathing marketing, only to see marginally-better performance (if any).

Through location-specific budgets and targeting, your brand and franchisees can optimize campaigns on a per-location basis and realize the benefits below.

*For more on location-specific digital advertising, read our Case for Location Based Marketing Budgets: Why DMA Plans Fall Short (4 minutes).

What is Local Optimization?

Digital campaign optimization involves continuously analyzing and adjusting various aspects of an advertising campaign to achieve the best possible outcomes, including the fine-tuning of targeting strategies, ad spend allocation, content variation, and leveraging analytics to improve engagement and conversion rates.

Optimizing advertising campaigns at the local level rather than merely at regional or national levels can dramatically improve the effectiveness of multi-location digital marketing efforts. The process requires location-specifc budgets, and custom target audiences by location - it sounds complex, but a platform like Hyperlocology makes it push-button easy!

The Benefits

1. Flexible Media Channel and Creative Format Options for Each Location

When not forced into market-wide media selections or creative messages, each location can select the best channel and creative options that meet their unique needs, and optimize from a more formidable starting point. If uncertain, A/B testing a few options can help individual locations set an initial media mix that can yield stronger relevance and engagement than a market-wide campaign.

2. Deliver a Locally-Relevant Brand Image and Voice

Being culturally relevant with your brand’s creative message is more important now than ever. This can include the types of products or services featured, the ethnicity of people featured, and even the language the ad is delivered in. These opportunities can get washed out in market-wide optimizations based on channel performance or ad unit type.

3. More Local Options for CTAs (calls-to-action)

An inherent benefit of location-based marketing is choosing the CTAs that are most appropriate for the audience of any given location at any given time. This could be increasing sales of a singular product, promoting a subscription or maintenance plan, or creating urgency via a limited time offer - or a unique combination of these or other action-inducing messages.

With market-wide optimization, a CTA that works well in one location could be de-prioritized because it didn’t work well for the broader region.

4. Campaign Improvements Based on Local Data

Not all budgets & channels perform the same in every location in a market. And some could but at separate times of the year. Improving campaign effectiveness at the local level allows for the most precise targeting and channel & creative adjustments, finding the cost reduction opportunities unique to each location.

5. Organic Traffic Impact on Ad Performance 

One example of how the above scenario plays out frequently within a single metro area is when ad performance for a high-volume, mature Location A is evaluated together with the same ads for a newer, lower-volume Location B.

Businesses with a history of high traffic to their local web page or Google Business Profile listing can yield higher quality scores of paid ads, leading to lower ad costs. Incorporating the cost and performance of ads for Location B can unintentionally reduce the effectiveness of ad performance for Location A.

Bonus Benefit!

Knowledge That Is Transferrable

Showing franchisees how these nuances play out across multiple locations in a market  increases their knowledge of the preferences of their local trade area, without risk of noise or misleading data. When the time comes for them to consider a local community partnership investment, or decide how to support a new systemwide opportunity, they’ll be empowered with reliable intel.

Ready to see the location based marketing experience on Hyperlocology?