7 Platforms National Brands Can Use to Run Local Campaigns
National brands are inherently local, but they risk alienating consumers when they don’t use tailored messaging in the individual markets where franchises and distribution partners are located. The biggest challenge for national marketers targeting local markets has traditionally been scale, but new hyperlocal solutions are making it easier for major brands to reach hundreds, or even thousands, of markets with individualized campaigns that can be generated with the click of a button.
Almost half of national-to-local marketers spend more than 30% of their digital budgets locally, and 40% overall expect that mix to increase in the coming year, according to Street Fight’s National-to-Local Marketers 2016 Report. Here are six examples of the types of digital platforms that national firms could be using to run more strategic localized campaigns.
1. Promoboxx: Aligning brands and local retailers
Promoboxx connects national brands and local retailers in an effort to drive more sales. Through co-op advertising, brands can generate targeted campaigns that have been customized for each individual retailer. Retailers receive email invitations to participate in the campaigns, which they can immediately blast to their local customers. Promoboxx’s campaigns — which include things like co-branded website content and landing pages — are designed to run across social, email, websites, and mobile. Promoboxx also offers a Local Ads platform that launches targeted ad campaigns around specific retailer locations. Promoboxx works with brands like Converse, Pepsi, and Osprey.
2. MomentFeed: Bringing together national brands and local shoppers
MomentFeed helps national brands handle mobile SEO and social media at scale. The company syncs location data and content across social networks and provides brands with tools to turn a single national campaign into thousands of localized mobile ads. With dynamic targeting, brands can customize posts with local content that’s relevant to the individual communities where their franchises or distributors are physically based. MomentFeed also offers solutions for local search and discovery for brands with physical locations. MomentFeed has worked with Old Spaghetti Factory, Jamba Juice, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
3. Sparkfly: Connecting local campaigns online
For national brands struggling with scaling their local campaigns, Sparkfly is a real-time data and attribution platform that enables ROI tracking to prove which campaigns are driving the most in-store activity. Sparkfly connects with a merchant’s POS and allows for the redemption of SKU-level promotions at physical stores. The platform works across dozens of POS systems, which is helpful for brands with expanded franchise networks. It gives brands a more strategic way to leverage paid media and brand-led promotions. Sparkfly clients include Hooters, Baja Fresh, and Menchie’s.
4. Ampush: Social advertising for national brands
Ampush gives national brands a streamlined way to utilize in-feed advertising on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Brands that are looking to execute hyperlocal campaigns at scale can work with Ampush to create personalized ads in bulk, tailored to local markets. A brand could generate hundreds of ads with location-specific copy, images, and landing pages all at once through an API connection. Ampush also launches campaigns at a moment’s notice for brands with fully-managed accounts, which allows companies to take advantage of unexpected opportunities at the local level. Ampush works with Uber, StubHub, and Madison Reed.
5. Brandify: Digital marketing for multi-location businesses
As a provider of location-based marketing solutions, Brandify unifies many of the digital elements of the local search ecosystem. This begins with Location CMS, which serves as a centralized hub for all of the location-based information used to power a brand’s digital assets (such as local pages, listings, store locators, and social content). With accurate and consistent location data, businesses are better equipped to capitalize on local SEO and connect with local searchers through localized display, search, and social advertising. Brands can use Brandify to run localized paid search campaigns, geo-fenced around specific locations. Brandify works with more than 550 brands across 500,000 locations.
6. Qiigo: All-in-one local marketing for national firms
While most other platforms on this list target a specific pain point for national brands, Qiigo takes a broader approach as an all-in-one local marketing solution for multi-location firms. Qiigo offers tools for managing mobile, social, and digital marketing for businesses with thousands of locations. National brands that are looking for ways to maintain control in their local markets can work with Qiigo on PPC campaigns and local listing management. Qiigo creates local landing pages, and it ensures that local franchises are following brand advertising guidelines. Qiigo has worked with Rent-A-Wheel, Hoffman Tire, and Any Lab Test Now.
7. ypSearch Marketplace: Increase exposure in local markets
Since 2015, national advertisers have been able to use the ypSearch Marketplace to modify their local campaigns and run them on the YP network. The ypSearch Marketplace uses keyword-based search advertising and CPC bidding to target local customers. Search ads appear on YP.com for web and mobile. YP says its audience is highly-qualified, with a higher purchase intent than general search users. YP also integrates with the performance media solution Acquisio to give national brands a way to view detailed reporting on their campaign performance.
Know of other tools national businesses can use to manage local campaigns? Leave a description in the comments.
Stephanie Miles is a senior editor at Street Fight.
