The Future is Local

Marketing guru Seth Godin nailed it on a recent blog. This is great news for local broadcasters. This really resonated with our team. See if it resonates with yours:

Marketers used to have little choice. The only marketing was local. The local neighborhood, the local community.

Mass marketing changed that. Now, the goal was to flip the culture, all at once. Hit records, hit TV shows, products on the end cap at Target and national TV ads to support it all. With few exceptions, that’s being replaced by a return to clusters.

The cluster might be geographic (they eat different potato chips in Tucson than they do in Milwaukee) but they’re much more likely to be psychographic instead. What a group of people believe, who they connect with, what they hope for ...

The minimal viable audience concept requires that you find your cluster and overwhelm them with delight. Choose the right cluster, show up with the right permission and sufficient magic and generosity and the idea will spread.

We're all connected, but the future is local.

Sellers have the relationships with local clients and on-air talent has the relationship with the local audience. Tip: It would make for a great team meeting to gather everyone together (virtually, if needed) and come up with even more ways your company can best serve the local market. Don't forget to discuss the ways you are currently hyperlocal and make certain your market is aware of these efforts. If you're in lockstep with your local market, you will be the trusted resource of information in your community, both for listeners and advertisers.

If you're doing some great local impact work, we'd love it if you would share it with us so that we might be able to help others. Please email me at Jeff.Schmidt@rab.com with details. We'll get the idea exchange started this Wednesday, with our Live presentation: Proven Tactics for Engaging Local Clients. Local sellers will be sharing how they are having a huge impact in their market.