Paid advertising is a complex and multifaceted marketing tactic that accounts for the majority of brand promotion since forever. No, but seriously, here’s an example of a commercial advertisement dating back to the Song Dynasty era of 960-1279 in China.

Sure, it might be the earliest recorded example of an ad in the history of the human race, but I wonder what the conversion rate and brand recall statistics were?

I digress.

Modern Day of Local Paid Advertising

In terms of modern-day advertising, most businesses and agencies quickly learnt of the potential within localised paid campaigns. With the advent of digital marketing, these localised strategies have grown even more powerful, and in some cases take up the majority of a business's ad budget.

In some ways, they are similar to national generic advertising; however, the key differences are that localised ads are more specific, community-focused, measurable, and affordable.

And from the perspective of the consumers and the business, who wouldn't want that, right? However, there are some reasons why businesses do not follow this localised approach; It’s detailed and takes time.

As all locations, suburbs, and cities are completely unique, a one-size-fits-all approach would defeat the purpose of local advertising. It’s specific and requires time and effort to execute. But as the ancient proverbial saying goes, to reap the benefits of localised paid advertising, you must put in the hard work.

Key Benefits of Localised Paid Advertising

In this article, we’ll take you through and discuss the key benefits of this strategy, and perhaps learn some things along the way. Local paid advertising can:

1. Get results fast.

I’m talking fast, fast. National campaigns, in comparison, can take time, grow brand awareness, and gradually turn prospects into customers. With local ads, you’re reaching out to prospects within your community, driving them to sign up or purchase a service that’s within their area.

You can see the lightning responses of those prospects, reacting quickly to a hot offer or sale that you presented in an ad.

2. Be easily measurable and affordable.

With highly specific campaign targeting, there is less data to trawl through and analyse. You know exactly how many leads came from a certain demographic, and the number of clicks from a particular postcode. This quick data allows you to make effective optimisations to your campaign, such as bidding more on age groups or suburbs you know convert the most.

Additionally, as you’re casting a much smaller net with localised paid advertising, you can expect a better return on investment and a lower cost per conversion. Putting in that extra time and effort to create local area-specific campaigns allows you to get more out of your ad spend.

3. Help broadcast your message across various platforms.

With a local area marketing strategy, most businesses have found that social and paid platforms harmonise together, increasing their effectiveness. Platforms such as Geofencing, for example, which allows you to display ads within a set perimeter or digitally drawn ‘fence’, are effective when working off the brand awareness from channels like Instagram and Facebook. If you want to learn more about geo-fencing, check out our article on Flyer Drops vs. Geo-fencing.

I’m sure you can imagine the effectiveness of utilising all channels, from the prospect's perspective. You scroll past an ad on Facebook, only to be tagged in an offer post by your friend on Instagram. You’re then finally shown the same ad on an app you use, which was triggered by you walking past a virtual ‘fence’. It adds up.

4. Let you be community-focused.

When engaging with your local community on a daily basis through your social media accounts, you can build personal and meaningful connections with this community. With a larger, national campaign, this connection is lost, which removes the friendliness and relatability associated with your business, and consequently, it becomes a driving force behind sales and customer acquisition. People want to relate, form connections, and feel supported by their community.

There you have the very best benefits of localised paid advertising! As mentioned before, this strategy requires time and effort, but if you’re willing to put in the hours, then the spoils go to the winner.