Local marketing success: 23+ ways to win (Pro tips)

The Local Marketing Lab podcast from Evocalize interviews industry experts each week to uncover tips for local marketing success and tactics that drive business growth.

We wanted to recap some of the most insightful themes around successful local marketing that our guests touched on in November. By focusing on just a few key areas, restaurants and multi-location businesses can make huge strides in better engaging their local communities and driving more loyal business.

This article will explore the core themes that emerged across multiple Local Marketing Lab episodes and provide actionable tips for local marketing success you can implement to boost your results.

Meet the guests

The November episodes featured insights from restaurant, real estate, and tech industry experts on tips for local marketing success and ways you can win in your industry.

• Adam Lamb, Career Coach at Chef Life Coaching [7+ ways to step up your restaurant’s local game]
• Geoff Alexander, President and CEO at Wow Bao [Surprise and delight: the key to local marketing]
• Kyle Inserra, National Advisory Director at Zelnik & Company [Be real: Building advocacy through authenticity]
• Carl Orsbourn, Co-Founder & COO of Juicer [Data-driven decisions for boosting your local marketing]
• Eric Knott, COO at PDQ Restaurants [Get involved. Engage locally. Be the Mayor.]

Theme 1: The importance of authenticity

Being genuine and highlighting what makes your people and brand unique was emphasized over and over. Highly scripted, polished content doesn’t perform nearly as well as raw, real moments that build an emotional connection with your audience. Let your passion shine through bright!

Tips:

• Any marketing content you create must be authentic to you, your brand, and your values. (Adam Lamb)
• Authenticity is sharing your enthusiasm for what you’re doing. (Adam Lamb)
• Local marketing success involves helping people feel good about your brand and connect them together. (Geoff Alexander)
• Being authentic and telling a story is always more engaging than just putting out pictures. (Kyle Inserra)
• If it’s too scripted or pitchy, customers are going to scroll away. (Kyle Inserra)
• Respond quickly to customer reviews and feedback authentically with your brand voice. This helps people feel heard and that you care for them. (Carl Orsbourn)
• Brands that take risks and are open about who they are resonates with your brand champions. (Carl Orsbourn)
• Focus on being clear as to who you are, who you’re not, and then develop a social presence and a level of community that captures people’s attention. (Carl Orsbourn)
• Get out of your comfort zone, organize who you want to partner with, and then don’t be salesy. The goal is to build a relationship. Not everything you do is about getting a return on something.  (Eric Knott)

Theme 2: Community engagement builds loyalty

Actively supporting charities, schools, little leagues, churches, and various community groups leads to highly loyal followings. When people feel good about your involvement locally, they eagerly become vocal champions of your brand. Check out these other tips for local marketing success by engaging in your community.

Tips:

• Attend or cater local events supporting causes like cancer research to give back. Help employees and people feel good about your brand and feel connected to who you are.  (Geoff Alexander)
• Introduce your brand to new retail establishments opening nearby by bringing food samples and coupons. (Geoff Alexander)
• Community starts by representing your voice promptly and authentically. (Carl Orsbourn)
• For local marketing success, connect with your community by embracing special days like National Cheeseburger Day with relevant promotions. This helps guests and your brand feel more locally connected. (Carl Orsbourn)
• Optimizing your Google My Business presence helps you get found locally when people search for good food nearby. Having great local content aids this. (Carl Orsbourn)
• Make it a part of your culture to be actively involved in the community. (Eric Knott)
• Get involved with local schools through spirit nights, catering Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings, or providing discounts. (Eric Knott)
• Engage with youth groups, congregations, and various organizations connected to local churches. (Eric Knott)
• Colleges provide opportunities to work with fraternities, sororities, sports teams, and other groups on campus. (Eric Knott)

Theme 3: Know your niche

Carefully defining and targeting a specialized customer niche with tailored offerings leads to passionate fans who feel understood and accounted for. Avoid generic menus trying to be everything for everybody.

Tips:

• Specialize around doing one thing exceptionally well, like the best hot dog or taco. Customers looking for that will become loyal fans. (Adam Lamb)
• Consider streamlining down to a focused menu that aligns around your niche. This also cuts down on operational waste and expenses. (Adam Lamb)
• Be known for the food itself first before all the branding so people connect with your product. Getting it in their hands is key. Local marketing success is touch. (Geoff Alexander)
• Create a concept people want to be part of and join the community around. Make guests fans and fans marketers. (Carl Orsbourn)
• Clearly stand for something with a distinct brand identity and voice vs conforming to standard marketing. This captures customer attention. (Carl Orsbourn)
• Operate within your niche space and community as if you’re the mayor to build highly personalized connections and relationships locally. (Eric Knott)

Theme 4: Start simple with video and social content

Leverage the powerful video camera already in your pocket to create short behind-the-scenes social content showing real restaurant moments. This performs much better than overproduced videos or static images alone.

Tips:

• Create good content first before picking just one or two social platforms to focus on and master. (Adam Lamb)
• Use funny outtakes and bloopers showing teams enjoying themselves and having fun. This builds connections. (Adam Lamb)
• Making short videos is now easy with intuitive editing apps for your phone like CapCut. (Adam Lamb)
• Document local events, fundraisers, and community engagement efforts through video. Not only does this help promote what you’re doing locally at the time, but it creates valuable social content assets. (Geoff Alexander)
• Show behind-the-scenes prep work, menu inspiration sources, suppliers, etc. People love seeing processes unfold. (Kyle Inserra)
• Successful brands on TikTok or Instagram focus more on cooks, guests, and funny stories vs formal marketing pitches. (Carl Orsbourn)

Local marketing success

Local marketing provides unique opportunities compared to mass national marketing efforts. But as the key themes and tips covered here showcase, an authentic approach deeply rooted in your local community drives the most success connecting with nearby audiences.

Whether it’s being genuine, giving back locally, finding your niche focus, or leveraging video to highlight real moments – these strategies set you apart. They build an emotional bond and a loyal following that big brands struggle to create. Leaning into what makes you distinctive fuels true word-of-mouth and viral marketing potential.

For even more practical advice on local marketing success, be sure to check out the November episodes from the Local Marketing Lab podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred platform to stay up-to-date each week. The show brings together perspectives from industry professionals on growing revenue in the local space.