Small Stories, Big Impact: How Hyperlocal Drives Growth
A Roundtable Recap from The Stagwell Group
Last week, the Stagwell Group and Targeted Victory hosted a networking and best practices conversation focused on hyperlocal marketing and its role in storytelling and brand-building. The discussion, “Small Stories, Big Impact: How Hyperlocal Drives Growth,” was hosted by Ray Day, Vice Chairman of the Stagwell Group, and Connie Partoyan, President of Targeted Victory.
The virtual discussion, which drew upon the extensive experience of participants who represented Fortune 50 companies from across the world, trade organizations, and advocacy groups, began with a review of exclusive data on consumer perceptions of local sources, then drilled down into best practices for brands looking to break through and build trust.
The event started with an overview of Harris Poll data, which showed:
Below are three key takeaways from the event.
Value On-the-Ground Team Knowledge
Oftentimes, when an organization makes the decision to include a hyperlocal strategy to affect policy or to engage a community, a central team leads the effort and directs the actions on the ground. While this may ensure consistency, it can create tension and, worse, lead to less than optimal outcomes if organizations don’t value the insights of the folks carrying out the strategy who are local.
One participant shared such an experience, in which teams on the ground “felt frustrated that everything was prescribed” by a national team and local team members “weren’t allowed to be innovative and weren’t allowed to be local.” The discussion participant shared that her organization worked to improve relations between local and national team members by providing local teams with “their own consistent budgets and encouraged them to be innovative” based on their unique knowledge of their respective communities. What resulted were more engaged, happier teams who embraced their independence and ability to innovate for results.
Nurture Community Relationships Early and Often
All participants, regardless of their organization, stressed the value of building local relationships in the communities where they work — not only to be more effective in communities, but to also build a stable of credible, local proof points for a national narrative.
When discussing these relationships, participants all agreed upon the importance of building hyperlocal relationships as early as possible in a campaign and regularly nurturing those relationships, rather than calling upon them and asking them to help at the last minute. As one participant noted, “build your local champions when you don’t need them.” Another participant emphasized the importance of maintaining an ongoing dialogue with community partners, as “no one likes to only be called upon when needed then dropped.”
Participants also noted the value and effectiveness of established community “gatekeeper” groups in helping to amplify a given message and make an effort feel more authentic and less corporate.
Authenticity is Paramount
Authenticity was a common thread running throughout the discussion, with all participants agreeing that “authenticity must be a priority in order to build and retain a company or brand’s reputation.” In fact, the first two takeaways above — valuing on-the-ground staff members’ insights and nurturing trusted relationships with community members — are key components of building and maintaining an authentic local presence.
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