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- Local area marketing
Local awareness, engineered.
The top-performing franchisees in any network do consistent local area marketing. They borrow the power of the parent brand and make sure their own community knows they exist.
Hypothesis
What is local area marketing?
Local area marketing (LAM) is marketing aimed at the customers in one franchisee’s territory: sponsorships, letterbox drops, local media, Google Ads, reviews and social, planned around the brand’s national campaigns.
Every network approaches LAM a little differently, but the challenges repeat. So we built a framework that moves franchisees from planning to doing, with purpose.
Our 3-step LAM pathway
- 01
Local Opportunity Plan
A blueprint of every marketing option in the territory, with indicative pricing, so franchisees choose the activities with the greatest impact.
- 02
90-day plan
Exactly which campaigns run on which channels, with start and end dates and budget. Consistency and accountability, on one page.
- 03
Implementation
As much or as little as needed: design, booking and execution, reusing the network’s existing assets to keep costs down.
We've built so many 90-day plans that we made our own tool: the LAMP Tool captures the core of a solid local plan and outputs an actionable Gantt-style calendar, so we can plan at scale for the biggest networks.
LabOS, for local area marketing
Local plans that get smarter each quarter
Every activity in a Local Opportunity Plan is measured, not just ticked off.
At the end of each quarter we review what worked, so the next plan starts from evidence, not habit.
How LabOS works →- WorkedSpeed-led ads1+61% click-through over 4 weeks
- Didn’t workShowroom tour videoNo lift, so we stopped it
- Too earlyDownsizer audience2Two more weeks of data needed
Kept for next time Lead with speed in every format.3
- We only call it when the numbers can carry the verdict.
- “Too early” is an honest answer.
- The lesson goes into next month’s plan.
The LAM periodic table
Traditional LAM
- Sp
Sponsorships
Schools · Sports clubs · Community groups
- Di
Direct mail
Mapping · Print · Distribution
- Ou
Outdoor
Billboards · Bus tops · Out of home
- Ne
Networking
Business groups · Chambers · Cross promotion
- Ac
Activations
Competitions · Lead generation · Pop-ups
- Me
Media
Radio · TV · Cinema · Press
Digital LAM
- Se
Search ads
Google Ads · Lead generation
- Re
Reputation
Google Business Profile · Reviews · Monitoring
- Lo
Local SEO
Lead generation · Brand awareness · Engagement
- So
Social
Content · Posting · Monitoring · Social ads
- We
Web
Content · SEO
- Em
Email
Loyalty programs · Nurture campaigns
Proof
“Poolwerx engaged The Marketing Lab in 2021 to roll out an end-to-end local area marketing solution across our franchise network. This involved a bespoke LAM plan for over 300 territories which they delivered in full in a 3-month period. The response from Franchise Partners has been overwhelmingly positive and LAM spend across the network increased in line with the appointment of TML. They were quickly on a first name basis with our franchisees and they genuinely care about achieving results on their behalf.”
Questions
Q1 What is local area marketing?
Local area marketing (LAM) is marketing planned around one territory: the sponsorships, events, partnerships, letterbox drops and local ads that make a location the obvious choice nearby.
Q2 What is a Local Opportunity Plan?
The first step in our LAM pathway: a map of the opportunities in a territory, from clubs and schools to businesses and events, ranked by how much they are worth to the location.
Q3 Can you plan local area marketing for a whole network?
Yes. For Poolwerx we delivered a bespoke LAM plan for over 300 territories in three months.
Get started
Tell us what’s not working.
We’ll tell you what we’d do.
Want a Local Opportunity Plan for your territory, or your whole network? Start here.
Get started →