Despite ecommerce’s steady growth, most companies still rely on driving customers into actual stores.

Reaching people on the ground requires a smart approach to local marketing––a task quickly becoming more digitized every day.

A 2013 report by the CMO Council and Balihoo revealed roughly a quarter of all companies saw their investment in digital as the biggest shift in their local marketing strategy throughout that year––a trend that’s only grown since then.

But despite over a third of those surveyed seeing more capability at the local level, just 7% thought they were doing enough. This begs an important question:

What piece of local marketing are companies missing?

In short: Simultaneous execution at both the national and local level.

The number one element of local campaign’s success

In addition to asking companies how they plan and execute local marketing campaigns, the study also measured how fast they brought national campaigns to the local level.

In other words, if someone liked a new ad they saw on TV, could they expect to see the same messaging if they showed up at the store later that day?

The result revealed a gaping hole in local marketing execution across the board. For the majority of marketers surveyed, it takes 20 days to localize corporate messages. Only a quarter could align the two within a week or less. 

Why is this such a key issue?

Of the 3% who were able to roll out local and national campaigns simultaneously, nine out of 10 said it made a competitive difference for the brand. 

With so few brands executing their national and local campaigns in tandem, the opportunity to gain an advantage is clear. So why aren’t more brands doing it?

Simply put: they don’t have the tools to make it happen.

How brand marketing software is changing the game 

Customer confusion caused by conflicting campaign executions was a major struggle for the majority of those surveyed. It’s not hard to imagine how these problems can hurt business in the real world.

Consider the example from before:

Someone likes an ad they see on TV, but when they actually show up to a store that hasn’t switched their offers to reflect the new campaign, it’s only natural for the customer to react with disappointment.

When those feelings persist after repeated missed opportunities, disappointment eventually turns to distrust––the last thing a brand needs.

So what does that 3% of brands have that others don’t?

Tools. More specifically, systems that harmonize all your marketing efforts into a well-oiled machine.

Three out of five companies use CMOs or corporate marketing teams to set local priorities, but lack any kind of tool that can put store owners in charge of executing on them.

Brand marketing software does just that. Using a single software platform both sides can access, corporate teams provide local owners an array of campaign materials they can edit and order from a single online storefront. 

With extremely user-friendly editing tools, owners can quickly drag and drop images, create custom text and configure other parts of the campaign to reflect their local market.

Built-in approval features ensure each local order meets your brand’s standards for quality while letting your corporate team get back to planning great campaigns without being bogged down creating local materials your owners can create on their own.

Here at Suttle-Straus, we’ve taken the concept a step further by baking our in-house commercial printing, direct mail and wide format services directly into our customized marketing portals––to eliminate the delays and risks that can derail campaigns when third parties drop the ball.

Now, it’s possible for brands of all sizes in any industry to synchronize their national campaigns with actions on the ground by ensuring local materials not only reflect a strong national brand, but are delivered in-market exactly when they need to be. 

Want to learn more about customized marketing portals and how they compliment marketing automation platforms and other systems brands already use today?

Grab our free whitepaper: Distributed Marketing Solutions Explained and discover how new kinds of marketing software give campaigns the power they need to be effective locally.