How to Dominate Local Neighborhoods with Hyperlocal Cluster Marketing
Getting more business doesn’t mean you have to cast a wider net.
If your only tactic for growth is traveling further and further out for jobs - you are spreading your business, your marketing budget, and yourself too thin.
What if, instead of driving from city to city to get small jobs here and there, you could spend less and get more work from the most desirable neighborhoods in your market?
When a service area business has a limited marketing budget, advertising too broadly will dilute its impact.
Instead, we’ve got a tactic that helps you get more work by hyper-focusing your marketing efforts in one target area.
What I’m talking about here is “Hyperlocal Cluster Marketing” - a service area business marketing framework that clusters powerful marketing actions to get more leads from a target audience in a place where you know you can do well.
What Is Hyperlocal Cluster Marketing?
The idea here is that we’ll take a series of progressive steps to build trust and visibility within a target community.
The great thing here is that we can do that using tactics that cost you as little as $0 with options to up your marketing spend to more deeply impact your hyperlocal target market.
The goal is ultimately to create a multi-media marketing campaign - so that the people who live in those neighborhoods can’t help but know who you are, what you do, how you helped their neighbor, and how you can help them, too.
There are multiple possible components to a hyperlocal cluster marketing campaign, so it can be tailored to your business and how much time and/or money you can invest in it.
When done right, you’ll be unmissable in some of the most sought-after neighborhoods in your service area.
What Are The Components Of A Hyperlocal Cluster Marketing Campaign?
You can do a few or all of these components - but know that the more you do, the more effective your efforts will be. These components will help you gain a deeper, multi-touch, and multi-channel influence on your target market.
The springboard for all of this – the thing that starts your hyperlocal cluster marketing is getting one job in a target neighborhood. Whether you get that first job from paid ads, organic performance, or canvassing and door-knocking, the next steps will help you maximize your exposure in that market.
Create An Individual Project Page
It all starts with an individual project page, an IPP for short. If you haven’t done this before, this is a mini-case study that you create on your website - complete with photos, videos, customer reviews, a description of the work you completed, and other relevant information about the physical location where the work was performed.
This is a great way to start positioning yourself as an expert in this neighborhood in your trade, which helps to demonstrate with content that you are a reputable contractor - someone who can be trusted.
This step is important for two big reasons.
- IPPs are great for organic and local search engine optimization - so that your potential customers doing web searches that have to do with your business and location can be attracted to your website.
- It is gathering all of the components that will build the remainder of your hyperlocal cluster marketing campaign.
If you manage your own website, you can do all of that yourself. If you’re using a marketing agency, they should be able to help create additional pages of content - though your costs may vary depending on the vendor. Footbridge Media clients, for example, do not pay any additional fees for posting IPPs - such page additions are included in our contractor marketing program.
Social Media Content And Location Tagging
We’re then going to take that individual project page and reutilize that content in social media posts.
If your customer is okay with it, you can tag them personally in your post.
On Facebook, tagging your customers may help improve your visibility and further encourage engagement from your customer and their Facebook friends.
Tagging location information or HOA community pages also helps make your content visible to users in the area or who interact with those pages.
This is another easy DIY option for contractors who are comfortable managing their own social media. If you’re not socially savvy, that’s okay, too. Many marketing agencies - including Footbridge Media - have programs to assist with social media marketing and content posting.
Running A Narrowly Targeted Facebook Ad
Organic reach on social media can be okay, but running an ad will always get you more exposure.
The goal for this Facebook Ad would be to specifically focus your audience on those relevant users in the physical area of the community that you are targeting.
Your Facebook Ad costs will vary from campaign to campaign. But, hyper-focused ads like that are generally more cost-effective and have a higher impact when compared to broad campaigns.
Using Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM Postcards)
You’ve already shown up in their Google searches and their Facebook feeds. The next step is to show up in their mailbox.
The United States Postal Service has a program called “EDDM” or “Every Door Direct Mail” - a targeted mail marketing service. For postage that costs less than traditional postcard mailing, you can get your marketing message into the mailbox and the hands of every customer in specific physical areas.
That means you can customize your canvassing campaigns and get your postcard into the same area that you’ve reached via social media - all without having to buy a mailing list.
EDDM costs vary depending on the size of the postal routes you select and how you prepare your postcards. Footbridge Marketing, for example, has options for “EDDM postcard printing only” services for people who want to deal with the post office directly and total “EDDM Postcard mailing service” for more “one-and-done” type marketing.
Yard Signs, Doorhangers, & Canvassing - Additional Hyperlocal Cluster Marketing Tactics
Before you complete your IPP, your job, and leave - when you are first onsite for a job, you can and should canvas your neighborhood.
- Yard Signs – Adding a yard sign to your job site or perhaps at the corners of popular intersections or neighborhood entrances makes your company name that much more familiar.
- Door Hangers – The easy way to do it would be to use “Pardon Our Dust” style door hangers so that you could go up and down the block from your new job site.
- Flyers – Using flyers for canvassing a neighborhood would be even cheaper than door hangers.
Why Hyperlocal Cluster Marketing Works
The “familiarity principle” - sometimes called the “mere-exposure effect” - suggests that people tend to like what they are familiar with.
That’s why branding works.
It’s why people tend to be loyal to a coffee brand like Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts - they know the brand, they are familiar, and chances are they will get a similar experience to what they have safely experienced before.
The same can go for contractors.
We’re basically talking about social proof here. We know that this already works with online reviews from total strangers – but it goes a step further with hyperlocal cluster marketing.
“If my neighbor has used them, they can’t be that bad - I’ll give them a try, too.”
People are more likely to choose businesses that they recognize. So, by using hyperlocal cluster marketing to make your brand and your association with a physical location more visible to a small target audience - you’ll make it easier for your potential customers to choose you.
It is effective, cost-efficient, and can greatly impact your lead flow.
Think about your recent jobs and where you could try hyperlocal cluster marketing to maximize your business.
If you need some help focusing and maximizing your marketing efforts, the pros here at Footbridge Media are ready to help. Our contractor marketing services can help you to build your business and give you more time to focus on your expertise.
"Contractor Marketing Tips And Tricks" - The Footbridge Media Podcast
About Chris Lonergan
Chris Lonergan has over 12 years of contractor marketing experience with Footbridge Media. With a background in web design, print design, content creation, and online marketing, Chris is focused on providing quality marketing and business solutions in the construction and service industries - helping small business owners to more efficiently manage their companies and grow their operations.
Chris Lonergan has previously contributed to and/or been featured in PM Magazine (Plumbing & Mechanical | Contractors x Engineers), theNEWS (ACHR - Air Conditioning | Heating | Refrigeration), Service Roundtable's blog, inPAINT Magazine, the SMB Marketing Agency Show, and the Green Industry Podcast. Chris is also a past SGI/CertainPath breakout session presenter.
