Your Customer's Journey
Effective advertising requires collaboration across traditional media, social media, and digital marketing. Before deciding where to spend your marketing budget, it is important to consider the consumer’s journey. From the first time a consumer learns about your brand to the day they employ your services, there are many steps and each requires a different marketing tactic.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is the first step in the consumer journey. When trying to create brand awareness, remember the Marketing Rule of 7’s. It can take the consumer seeing your message up to 7 times before they are provoked to take action. Through traditional media like billboards, broadcast tv, radio, and direct mail brands can create consumer trust with brand recognition. Your name and messaging will be at the forefront of the customer’s mind when they consider who to retain for services.
Consideration
Once a potential customer has identified a need, they’ll begin looking for services through social media and google. While they narrow their options they’ll check out your company’s Facebook, Instagram, google reviews, and website. A study found that 97% of consumers are influenced by websites in their decision to purchase. Additionally, 92% won’t purchase the first time they land on your site. As customers gather information about where to shop and find services, programmatic marketing can track and retarget them later when they’re ready to identify their preferences. But don’t forget the importance of direct mail in the consideration phase. Studies have found that consumers find physical advertisements more credible than their digital counterparts.
Preference
Customers will develop their preferences based on google reviews, reading advertorials, looking closely at your website, and scrolling through your social media accounts. Now is the moment to hook potential customers with your “why.” Why should they choose you? Savvy companies know the power of an emotional connection. Your online presence allows you to share your unique story, show your expertise, and create an emotional connection. Have a clear-cut message that stems across all forms of media about who you are, and why you’re the brand to choose.
Conversion
Congratulations, you’ve made the sale! But there’s still more work to be done! Creating a positive customer experience is key. From beginning to end, their experience with purchasing through your company should be professional and smooth. Excellent service yields happy customers, positive reviews, and data future customers will use during the consideration and preference phases.
Loyalty
Dealing with unhappy customers can be a tricky, but necessary step for reputation management. A study showed that 70% of customers reported having their perception of the company influenced by how a business responds to reviews. That includes the management of negative reviews. Address any complaints head-on, take ownership of mistakes, and offer solutions. Your customers should consider you their best option for future services. Their reviews, word of mouth, and continued patronage are important marketing tools. Create loyalty programs, offer free videos and blogs with useful information, and thank them for choosing you. A happy customer is the best advertising money can’t buy.
Let Local Fare Marketing Group help you hone your message, identify your audience, create compelling content, share your advertisements, fine-tune your website and social media presence, and much more!
Get the Newest Tool in Hyper-Local Marketing: The Luxe List
Digital marketing in the wrong hands is a bit like throwing ads against the wall to see what sticks. With Programmatic Display, Local Fare Marketing Group uses a variety of tactics to identify the ideal customer and serve ads with the right message, to the right person at the right time.
With the addition of the Luxe List tactic, customers can be specifically targeted with another hyper-local marketing tool. The Luxe List allows you to add additional contextual targeting by reaching people who are actively seeking out content related to your industry. The Luxe List is curated based on engagement with related ads and website content. The ads are then displayed on niche websites and blogs where customers actively search for related information.
Let’s say that you want to reach a set of customers to sell high-end outdoor furniture and BBQ equipment. The ideal customer might be affluent, married, new home buyers, whose house is worth more than $500,000. Recommended Tactics:
- Geo-Fencing– competitors, Big-box home & garden centers in affluent neighborhoods, golf-course
- Geo-Targeting– zip codes within the city limits
- Keyword Retargeting- including home & garden optimized audience
- Site Retargeting
- Audience Curation- targeting people in their homes based on demographics, interest, and buying behavior
- Luxe List, Contextual Targeting– home & garden, furniture, outdoors
By hyper-targeting consumers actively searching for your category information, the Luxe list puts your advertisement in front of the ideal customer. To learn more about how to add the Luxe List to your Programmatic Display, contact us today!
What's Your Plan?
You may be thinking, “it’s September, why should I start planning now rather than waiting for the new year?” Let Local Fare Marketing Group help you finish 2022 strong and get a jump on your 2023 marketing plan.
Did you know that 4th quarter spending has more than doubled over the last decade? With an audience primed to spend and 9 months' worth of data to mine, it’s the perfect time to create a targeted marketing push.
The 4th Quarter is a time to examine what’s been working throughout the year and retool your marketing plan accordingly. Are you sure you’re getting the most out of the customers generating the most revenue? Are your most popular products at the forefront? Is your advertising effective?
Let Local Fare Marketing Group’s expert team help you make the most of the 4th quarter!
At Local Fare Marketing Group, we believe a strong marketing strategy includes a healthy balance of social, digital, and traditional media.
Traditional Media: Local Fare Magazine reaches 70,000 homes a month, covering the most coveted markets in Chattanooga. The magazine uses a mix of advertorials, local interest articles, and professionally designed advertisements, setting itself apart from “junk” coupon mailers.
The magazine is mailed with the Wrap, an oversized cover with specialized themes and listings in an eye-grabbing layout. Through the end of the year, the Wrap will feature the theme “Where locals Eat, Shop and Play,” changing in January to “Where Health Matters.”
Along with the Wrap, Local Fare Magazine also includes postcards for businesses looking for a more individualized marketing approach. Clients are able to select specific neighborhoods to target, allowing them to focus on the most desirable customers, making our postcards an easy and affordable direct-mail option. To do it on your own, postcard postage is currently $0.44 per postcard, not including the cost to print. Our program includes design and ranges from $0.27 - $0.32 total!
Digital & Social Media: Local Fare Marketing Group has everything you need to create an effective digital campaign, including Google ads, programmatic display ads, social media marketing, website development, professional photography, and graphic design. We specialize in creating beautiful, eye-catching ads and putting them in front of the ideal customer.
Our marketing team uses a combination of geo-fencing, keyword retargeting, ad design, and more to create an ideal programmatic ad campaign. Through this combination of tactics, the client can see real-time results and adjust their campaign to maximize its reach.
If you are interested in getting a plan of action to finish the year strong for 2022 and to look into your future - schedule a consultation today!
Custom vs. Stock Photography: The Impact of Authenticity
Photography is an important tool for small businesses. Using custom photos communicates professionalism, while creating a personal connection to the customer. Here are a few ways custom photography uses real people and real products to make a real impact.
Real People: The Battle of Stock vs Custom
When comparing the use of stock photos vs using real people, a study found potential customers were 35% more likely to respond to advertisements using custom photography. While the stock photos might feel more cost-effective, they can come across as cheap and fake. You also run the risk of using the same images as other companies. Custom photography uses real people to create a sense of authenticity, building a connection with potential customers. Making your face and personal story part of your branding gives them another reason to choose you over the competition.
Real Products Create Real Demand
For retailers, professional photography is essential. Nearly 75% of shoppers surveyed said they make decisions on what to purchase based on product photos. Providing beautiful product advertising serves the dual purpose of showing off your stock, and sparking a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out). Highlight the best of your inventory, give customers ideas of how to style, and tap into that insatiable “oooh, I need that” feeling.
The Real Impact of Custom Photography
In selecting which product to purchase 67% of consumers rated the quality of a product image as very important. Consumers are significantly more likely to engage with advertisements featuring high-quality custom photography than those with just text. Custom photography is an opportunity to share what sets you apart from your competitors, to demonstrate your professionalism, and share your vision.
Let Local Fare help you create custom photography that makes an impact through advertising campaigns and giving new life to your website.
Marketing to Your 3 Client Bases
Some business owners make the mistake of focusing their attention only on prospecting for new customers. While prospecting for new clients is important, it’s not the only way for your company to get business. In fact, some argue it might not even be the best way for you to get and maintain business.
Read on to learn about your three client bases and how to make them work for you:
1. Nurture Past Clients
Let’s start by taking the words “past client” out of your vocabulary! If you treat previous clients like they’re never coming back for your services, that’s exactly what will happen. But if you shift this thinking and begin nurturing those contacts as if they’re your current clients again? Revolutionary. Regardless of whether a past client will ever need your service or product again, the odds are very good they know someone else who will. If you did your job right and provided them with quality product/services, they can be an incredible referral source to give you business in the future. Some effective ways to market to this client base is to reach out with personalized touches through email campaigns, birthday/anniversary cards or client appreciation events.
2. Retain Current Clients
Your current client base can also be an invaluable source of business for you! Much like your past clients, satisfied current clients are a quality link to new people. And often the leads you receive through a referral from a past or current client are stronger than new leads because there’s already an established trust. So, what’s the best way to market to your current clients to encourage customer attention, loyalty and those amazing referrals? One way to do this is to maintain a solid social media presence where you interact with clients regularly! Social media is a great way to meet clients where they are and give them those personalized, low-pressure interactions you need to keep them engaged. Post consistent content that shows your business is an expert in your field, and hit the reply button on comments from clients — it’s that simple. Another great customer marketing tactic is to share customer success stories and quality reviews. Don’t be afraid to ask happy customers to share their stories. More than likely, they’ll be happy to share, and these stories are a powerhouse for your marketing strategy!
3. Acquire New Clients
There are several different options for marketing to client prospects, but here are a few that we’ve found to be the most effective:
Programmatic Display Ads - These targeted digital ads are displayed to a specific type of customer in a specific context or location. You can decide on your ideal client, and these ads will be delivered to them through apps and websites, such as when they’re checking the weather or scrolling through a news article.
Traditional Media Ads - Traditional media continues to be the giant of the marketing world — sending more potential clients to your website and digital/social presence than any other method! It’s essential for a business to have a direct mail presence to compete in today’s market and reach new customers.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - If a new client searches for your products or services on Google or another search engine, where are you showing up in the rankings? If you’re too low on the list, your business is likely to be missed. SEO improves online visibility to attract new customers to your website.
How are you marketing to your three client groups? Is there room for improvement? We hope this gives you some food for thought as you continue building and adjusting your marketing strategies for 2022!
Postcards, Simplified!
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again — traditional media is the dominating force in the marketing world. And one rock star of the traditional media world is postcards! Sending a postcard inside or alongside Local Fare Magazine is an incredible (and affordable!) way to reach your ideal client and create brand awareness.
Here’s how it works:
1. Choose your ideal mailing area
Decide which area you’d like to target most: Zone A, Zone B or both!
Zone A includes 35,000 households in:
- North Chattanooga
- Signal Mountain
- Lookout Mountain TN/GA
- Elder Mountain
- Black Creek
- St. Elmo
- Southside
- Hixson
- Soddy Daisy
- Missionary Ridge
Zone B includes 35,000 households in:
- Ooltewah
- Collegedale
- Harrison
- HWY 58
- McDonald
- Apison
- Council Fire
- Windstone Neighborhood in Georgia
- East Brainerd
2. Choose Postcard Size and Placement
We offer two postcard mailing options that are delivered with Local Fare Magazine and the wrap.
1. DAL Card — DAL stands for Detached Address Label postcard. This allows for the postcard to be mailed outside of the wrap. This full color glossy card stock option is the stand out choice.
Cost: 10,000 minimum mailing, 9'X6," $0.29 cents each
20,000 mailing, 9"X6," $0.25 cents each
2. Insert Postcard — This type of postcard mails inside Local Fare Magazine.
Cost: 10,000 minimum mailing, 9'X6," $0.23 cents each
20,000 mailing, 9"X6,” $0.18 cents each
With this co-op mailing opportunity with Local Fare, the postage and printing costs to send a postcard are significantly lower than what you would spend to send it yourself alone!
3. We Design and Mail
Work with our talented team of marketing professionals to create your dream postcard! You can have as little or as much involvement in the process as you want, but either way we’ll be there to help from concept to copywriting to design. Once it’s finished, we’ll mail for you — all you have to do is sit back and enjoy as brand awareness for your business grows!
The Marketing Triangle: Small Business Advertising That WORKS
When we talk to local businesses about their advertising strategies, more often than not we hear the same answer — Facebook boosted posts.
What many people don’t know is that with the new restrictions on Facebook and collecting user data, it is almost impossible for a small business owner to target their ideal customer through boosted posts. In addition, almost every business now is on Facebook, so that marketing strategy alone isn’t enough to make your business stand out from the crowd!
In order to be a real competitor in today’s market, your business needs to reach your ideal audience through more than one medium. And if you want to not only be competitive but to dominate the competition, we recommend utilizing our three-pronged approach through The Marketing Triangle.
1. Social Media
Using carefully curated demographic data and working through the backend of Facebook/Instagram to serve social media ads (not ineffective boosted posts!) that pinpointed your target customer
2. Traditional Media
Creating and presenting your print ads in Local Fare Magazine to our deeply loyal direct mail audience of 70,000+ homes to create an awareness for your brand that can only come from this traditional source.
Did you know one of the best drivers for social media search is traditional media? Traditional media is the dominating force in the marketing world — sending more potential clients to your website and digital/social presence than any other method!
3. Digital Media
Leaving your digital footprint through targeted programmatic ads that are sent to a specific type of customer in a specific context or location. This type of marketing leverages the power of the right message, to the right person, at the right time.
Is your marketing plan ready for 2022? We can help!
Help Your Business Finish Strong In 2021
We all know how it happens. Spring so quickly turns into summer and then summer into fall — then pretty soon it’s Christmas, and you’re wondering where the year went!
The work you’re doing NOW is going to determine whether or not your business meets your end of year goals or even exceeds them. This is the perfect time to partner with our caring team of experts here at Local Fare to freshen up your marketing strategy with programmatic display.
We have a proven track record of success, and we would love to help you get started!
So, what is programmatic display?
Programmatic marketing is automated bidding on advertising inventory to display a targeted ad to a specific type of customer in a specific context or location. This type of marketing leverages the power of the right message, to the right person, at the right time.
How does it work?
Programmatic marketing retargets likely buyers who have visited your website, searched relevant keywords, read certain articles or content, or went to a specific location.
Our programmatic marketing here at Local Fare uses specific customized tactics to make sure we’re targeting your ideal customer every. single. time.
What are the unique tactics used in programmatic advertising?
Geo-Fencing – Precisely retarget customers at a specific location. This can include businesses near yours, businesses with a similar clientele as yours or even your competition!
Geo-Targeting – Retarget them based on location and demographic data. We have access to data that can help us specifically target your ideal client.
Keyword Retargeting – Retarget them based on keywords they searched. We can create a list of keywords that are relevant to your business, track when people are searching those and retarget them to your website.
Site Retargeting – Retarget them once they have visited your website. Once a potential client has clicked through to your website, we can use their device ID and show your ads to them to remind them to go back to your website and finish their purchase, set their appointment, etc.!
Event Targeting – Geo-Fence at a specific location and time of event. If there is an event where your ideal customer will be, we can draw a circle around that event and show your ads directly to those potential customers there.
Conversion Zone – Track those who saw your ad and walked through your door. We can actually track who saw your ads and where, and also if they came to your location!
Audience Curation - Curate the perfect audience for your campaigns. We can send your ads to users and devices at the household level and push those ads three times a day to make sure your ideal client receives your messaging.
Why is it better than other digital advertising methods?
Unlike the small business owner’s average boosted Facebook post, the technological capabilities behind programmatic marketing are unmatched.
We can target your ideal consumer by showing them your ads on various apps and websites depending on their interests. For example, we can serve ads while they are checking the weather, keeping up with the latest news or reading about their favorite teams.
Not only that, but as your full-service marketing team, Local Fare can help create a series of eye-catching ads for you that are built and optimized specifically for each platform (web, phone, iPad, etc.).
