10 Easy Local Store Marketing Ideas

Local Store Marketing, (also often referred to as Neighborhood marketing or LSM) is any marketing activities designed to help a business be locally relevant to customers in its community. It is an extremely important part of any brick and mortar business. However, because coming up with local store marketing ideas can sometimes seem like a daunting task, many business owners neglect to do it. Local store marketing (LSM) strategies can go a long way in boosting a brand’s growth and nationwide image, says Sandy Lechner, president, and CEO of Boca Raton, Fla.-based Synergy Brand Management, which provides turnkey branding solutions for franchises. “The real focus in marketing has to be on the local level,” he says. “What we talk to our customers about is the ‘war zone’ that one-to-three mile radius around their location. They have to win that battle every day.” Courtesy of Helen Bond’s article on franchising.com. Local store marketing should play a major roll in any store’s marketing strategy. That one-to-three mile radius around a business is vital to the success of a business. Very often, people think the term “marketing” means complicated, large-scale and expensive projects. This is not always true. There are many options a business can do to market their store locally with easy to implement solutions. From old school marketing tactics such as direct mail, t-shirts, and in-store signage to the newest, high-tech digital engagement platform, your local store marketing efforts do not have to be complicated and expensive.

Here are 10 easy local store marketing ideas to boost your business:

1. Run a contest for free products or a gift certificate
2. Collect phone numbers for text marketing, which is better than email! Read Text Marketing Best Practices for more information.
3. Hand out free t-shirts
4. Hold a happy hour with discounts, free samples, etc.
5. High-quality building signage
6. Create a loyalty program, (explore a mobile-based digital version.)
7. Train staff to engage customers with pleasant conversation
8. Train staff to recommend add-ons, loyalty & email sign-ups, etc.
9. Communications for birthdays, anniversaries, polls, etc. with offers
10. Advertise via text to people who live and shop in the one-to-three mile ‘war zone’.