Demystifying Hyperlocal

The benefits of a good hyperlocal marketing strategy

The consumer is changing, the consumer today is an entirely changed personality and unrecognizable from their peers from the good old days for whom offline and online were two different mediums. Now, they have less time and the preference is, interacting with local experiences and having seamless journeys across multiple channels / devices.

With the recent global pandemic, this behavior has been gaining popularity in the marketplace, which has prompted brands to notice the importance of the phygital world and hence having a strong Hyperlocal strategy. Through a hyperlocal focus, brands can cater to online consumers who prefer to interact with brands near their location, thereby enabling the online-to-offline journey.

The number of "near me" searches has increased by more than 200% in recent years, according to Google, and has been the most popular feature being put to use since a few years, by various brands to increase their visibility. Reports also show that *78% local mobile searches result in offline purchases. So while several companies experienced a decline in organic foot traffic due to pandemic, a well thought through hyperlocal journey would improve the footfall at stores by acquiring new customers digitally.

Unlike other forms of traditional marketing, hyperlocal marketing is extremely targeted. Customers who perform “near -me “ searches have a high purchase intent. As per a recent Google study 7 out of 10 discovered their dealers online, then contacted or walked into a showroom. 86% Tier 2 & Tier 3 buyers relied heavily on online resources before buying or visiting a retail outlet.

Customer journeys start with a simple search, and if your business locations do not have a presence on search you are missing out on a huge customer acquisition opportunity. Most of the advertisements end up with the users searching about the brand to interact on search engines. The power of hyperlocal is to turn each location into its own unit of success. There are multiple components which can help you in the process to tap into high intent customers who are in the buying mode by providing relevant information to them at a local level.

Having a robust hyperlocal approach ensures that no matter how many business locations you have, your physical locations are easily discoverable by your customers when they perform a near me search and can easily engage and transact.

Potential of a good hyperlocal strategy

• Reach users in time of need with the right information: The moment a user goes to a search engine and does a high localsearch it is evident that it’s probability to interact with a brand is high. A brand can tap on to this opportunity by featuring in organic results of search engines and delivering relevant communication and accurate information. A good hyperlocal strategy would ensure that your each and every location have the same look and feel, correct information, and contact details for making the consumer journey seamless.
• Be in Real time: Ensuring each and every location in digital space has real time updated information , updated offers and a seamless commerce journey
• Targeted Customer Journey: This goes as personal as possible with vernacular language, local offers and local products of dedicated location level pages on search engines. This enables a brand to showcase products and services as per the local preferences. Create unique journeys as per local preferences from the intent based discovery online to a physical point of sale. Increases the foot traffic to your physical locations, by creating a strong digital presence for them provides users with relevant information at a local level. This not only facilitates better customer engagement but also increases conversions for the business.
• Deliver frictionless customer experience: Radius, relevance, rating and reviews- Local SEO and mobile optimization ensures search listings are ranked according to relevance which helps targeted local businesses in becoming discoverable and delivering favorable customer experience to users.