Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a great place to make an impact and grow your business’s brand. Getting a foothold in the City of Brotherly Love takes more than throwing up a few Philadelphia billboards and calling it a day! To make it in the home of cheesesteaks and cheesecakes, you need to have a marketing strategy that reaches your intended audience in unique ways. Here are a few tips to help your advertising make an impact on the great folks of Philly!
Understanding the Culture
Local market research is essential when moving into any new territory, and Philadelphia is no different. If you go in expecting to get the same results as marketing strategies in New York or San Fransisco, there’s bound to be a disconnect between you and your audience. Create a local branding solution based on the people you’re trying to attract and you’re sure to make a great impression.
Learn about your customers and their needs, thinking specifically about how your brand is an asset to Philly’s environment and sense of community. In your marketing, the business should be an answer to a local problem that will draw customers to your location. This may mean buying into the local culture, such as supporting the Philadelphia Eagles, to help solidify your brand as part of the City as a whole.
Traditional Marketing Tactics
After you know what your potential customers are looking for in a brand, it’s time to start with the basics. Creating a traditional marketing campaign means using signage, Philadelphia billboards, and transit advertising to build notoriety around the city. Cities are hubs for commuters, pedestrians, and shoppers and you can leverage all of those eyes to your benefit. These methods will help you construct a brand message that is cohesive across all of your marketing platforms.
The Benefit of Events
Another great way to create a presence in Philly is to become more involved in the local scene. Look to events that will help you share your brand with specific audiences. The City of Philadelphia lists its upcoming happenings regularly, giving you the chance to engage with the community directly. By making these concrete connections with your customers and neighbors, your business becomes more of an institution in the area than just another business selling its wares. Some of the ways you can make headway with the locals include:
- Donating to a charity
- Sponsor a sports team
- Co-Sponsor a community event
- Becoming involved in local politics
- Connect with schools and universities
Giving back to the community not only helps you to build your brand with positive messaging, but it also creates a more stable location for your company to work from in a location where you can trust your shoppers and neighbors.
Partnering With Local Businesses and Celebrities
Few things get more attention than Philadelphia billboards boasting a familiar face. Creating partnerships within the community gives you a big leg up on the competition since you now have the inside track on the pulse of your prospective customers. Using local celebrities and other established businesses in your marketing campaign lets you ride on the coattails of an already well-liked staple of the community.
These partnerships can also help you leverage social media to your benefit as well. Local Tik Tok and YouTube influencers can help get your message out digitally, reaching customers whom you would normally not have access. Facebook and Instagram can also be used to build your branding across a broad spectrum of potential customers, and partnering with established influencers lets you build off of their success.
Local SEO
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a way for businesses to craft online content that gets noticed by customers thanks to working with search algorithms. For local SEO, companies can help their pages rate higher on search engines for web explorers looking for more local results. Since Google wants to provide its customers with the most relevant results, optimizing your metadata to appear in those searches is essential!
Google has specific guidelines for businesses, particularly when it comes to Local Pack and Map Pack rankings. With the right setup, your business can pop up in the top rankings when potential customers look for local results. Create and optimize your Google My Business profile as well so your searches remain up-to-date and relevant for customers looking for local solutions to their problems.
Building Your Brand the Philly Way
One of the best ways to make your brand stand out from the competition is to make it part of the community. If potential customers see your ads on Philadelphia billboards, interact with your staff at a local event, and learn about your contributions to familiar charities, it can build a strong connection with your audience. Creating a community with your brand brings business to your front door while also making your business a stable and welcoming presence in your neighborhood as well.
Veeramachineni Lalitha
I am Finance Content Writer. I write Personal Finance, banking, investment, and insurance related content for top clients including Kotak Mahindra Bank, Edelweiss, ICICI BANK and IDFC FIRST Bank. My experience details : Linkedin