What does hyperlocal marketing mean to you?
From my perspective, it’s mass communications to highly defined target area and audience using digital and social media, and generally done as bootstrap marketing with very little spend.
Everyone’s definition will be slightly different. For a Meta Paid specialist it’s likely to be targeting groups within a small geographical radius with a call to action. For an arts centre it’s staying in touch with the regulars and outliers by email to alert them to new films or exhibitions, while for a market stall holder it’s activating their social following to direct them to wherever they have set up their pitch that day of the week. Different as these activities may sound – they are essentially using the same strategy which is to identify an audience at a specific time while bringing place to their attention using a proxy such as social media or digital email. And it all boils down to People, Place and Technology.
Developing your hyperlocal marketing strategy
Now that we’ve established the three essentials of hyperlocal marketing as People, Place and Technology, let’s take a look at all the research you need to do to develop a robust and meaningful strategy.
Where to start. Essentially I think of this exercise as creating a layered map of the three elements which will be the first step in devising the overall communications strategy and then identifying the hotspots and patterns. While most of this will be desktop research, and for free, there are plenty of rich pickings.
1. Research into People
Understanding the makeup of a local population is the first step in developing a robust comms framework. The great thing about doing local market research is you can get this real insight into what makes people tick in a locale.
Data: Developing your own survey and compiling data which is built around a list of your requirements is the Best Practice. If this is not possible here are some other ways to gather insight. Demographics – age or post code or employment status – is very useful and these facts and stats are easy to find from ONS. Most London Borough websites will have a data dashboard which breaks these down using the latest Census data.
Insight: What takes longer is delving into the more nuanced stuff – lifestyle, culture, hobbies and so on – but it is also a very useful exercise because it can help you decide what messages will chime with your audience. There is much more to be found on a local level from looking for local research papers and at local influencers, community networking and interest groups as well as CICs and charities. It’s also worth cross-referencing the local data with national survey data to see there there are any overlaps which can be used. The Mintel British Lifestyles Market Report 2025 will have some useful insights but with a price tag of over £2k it’s out of reach for most but you can view the report for free at the British Library Business and IP Centre. A source of People and Technology insight is Global Web Index, a research company which reports on consumer technology trends on a global and local level. It’s a great way to bring the data to life. There are plenty of free reports if you are bootstrapping.
Mystery shopping
Visiting an area is going to give you some great visual and vibes feedback and this very much overlaps with People and Place. From graffiti and flypostering to independent shops and shopping centres – walk around for an hour and you will find out a lot. A few years ago I did some social media training for Sudbury Town Centre Association and then helped businesses with their marketing. My mystery shop found a Tesco Express bookending the high street and it had siphoned off trade – so businesses needed to acknowledge and pivot in the face of this. So walk around, take photos, gather vox pops, and get a view on what people think of where they are.
2. Discovering Place
When looking at Place the end game is to find marketing hooks, potential marketing partners and platforms which can give your bootstrap marketing some rocket fuel.
Aside from location, population and area, the first question in research should be what makes this place famous or memorable – are there blue plaques, landmarks or iconic venues and events? Think about ways you can tie this all together. For example, I created a food and drink festival which brought together famous drinks brands Sipsmith Gin and Fuller’s with over 40 local independent restaurants in Chiswick and leveraged the Hogarth’s legendary Gin Alley as part of the overall story – this was a high end destination steeped in heritage and everything on the doorstep.
The next question to ask – is there a local Business Improvement District – if so, what is it setting out to deliver. Working with YourBromley BID recently was a great exercise in understanding what businesses are doing to provide their consumers with an engaging, safe and sustainable place to shop and live. The third is how the council prioritises the budget spend – this is a great eye opener. Some London Boroughs spend a lot on culture for example, and others a minimal amount.
Looking at a map of the area will help you see the concentration of public services from education and hospitals to youth centres and of course cultural centres, markets and sports facilities – some of these may be your marketing partners – target those with the biggest social followings.
3. Understanding Technology
Since the pandemic, technology has become more central to our lives which means it is important to get an overview of the footprint of technology in an area. Social media and digital is very important. I cannot emphasise this enough. When doing your research you need to work out what channels you are going to use and how. In a content driven world it’s going to mean lots of visuals, video and copy. If you are driving sales – make sure the channels support simply and easy transactions.
There are many technology tools for marketing which work really well. For this article, we are going to look at Social, PR and Ticketing.
Social networks
The pressure is on when it comes to choosing social networks for hyperlocal marketing – you need to look at them objectively and really think about the time and energy which will be needed to populate and manage them. The main reason you will choose your network is not about your current preference – it must match with your audience. Instagram and TikTok are the networks du jour but Facebook has much more functionality when it comes to marketing and housing content and information. Does the area you are targeting have a preference on any of these? Once you’ve worked this out, it’s best to split your choices into the primary and the rest.
To make doubly sure you’ve made the right call, head to the advertising platforms of all your choices and create a dummy advertising campaign and then you will see where you demographic is and what they are doing. Some networks also let you target other brand accounts which are a great way of tapping into a ready made audience. When I was running a marketing campaign for a dance tour, I targeted the audiences who were following the venues we were visiting which was a great boost to sales.
PR and publicity
Everything is digital now. Over the last ten years, opportunities for local marketing have shifted away from traditional print public relations as regional newspapers and magazines have dwindled drastically and local news publications have moved to online with skeleton staff. In London, the Evening Standard has a much reduced team and MyLondon, which used to have beat reporters, is now very much centralised. UGC has become central to regional news as many publishers have created What’s On or Share Your News functions which means PRs and the public can upload their own stories with copy and photography directly.
Hot tip: if you’ve got a big splash coming up on TV, radio or online – run a tactical campaign to target the media property so they get to see your brand – it should help with any kind of conversion.
Ticketing
If you’ve got your ticketing platform sorted, please feel free to move on to the next paragraph. There are many ticketing platforms available which are set up for marketing and even integrate into Facebook, websites and email marketing platforms. Some of them are now becoming more expensive so definitely worth carrying out an audit of these if you are doing one off events. Make sure you check on commission and also subscriptions which is a new development I’ve noticed – if you are only doing one event, don’t buy a subscription for year! Eventbrite is my favourite because of the advanced functionality – you can email people directly from and use tracking links. They have real people who will also talk with you if you have questions. Alternatives are Dice and Design My Night are well worth a look too.
AI tools
I’m adding this in at the end. Google search is already pushing AI results to the top of the page so no doubt you’ll be clicking on those search returns first. When is comes to using ChatGPT for People and Place research – it’s not there yet. You will still need to do the work. Multiple prompts on ChatGPT have come back with false information and also missed out on the obvious stuff. It’s worth taking a look but don’t rely on it as your bona fide research tool.
And finally…
Hyperlocal marketing is very important to get right. There is a lot at stake and news travels fast in smaller areas if it goes wrong.
Get your message and content right – and you’ll do well but first do your research into People, Place and Technology – it will make a big difference once you know the who, what, where, when and hows when it comes to devising your strategic plan.
The Home of Social ethos is about well crafted human to human communication with organic content at its core, which in the age of AI is not just content created for branded channels but content which has human-made provenance.
If you’d like to meet us to talk about how we can help you make your social media cut through the noise, please do get in touch eva@homeofsocial.com.
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