When it comes to who you are as a business, or rather your brand identity, have you considered how incorporating your local culture into your branding could benefit you? Every brand, like every person, is shaped by their environment- the culture they find themselves immersed in. Today we are going to discuss why boasting your local pride is beneficial and how it’s done.

Boasting about your local pride has the power to increase your likeliness of a consumer purchase. Let me break this idea down for you. In the broad scope of things, all of our purchase decisions are both rational and emotional. And while it has been argued that B2B decisions are more rational in nature, they certainly still lend themselves to an emotional aspect where branding is concerned. If B2B decisions were 100% rational, we wouldn’t need branding, would we? Local pride is an emotional capacity many of your customers have and you can elevate their decision to make a purchase from your business by playing to this, even in the B2B sphere.

Reason #1: Recently there has been a trending movement towards “shopping local”. However, you may be surprised to learn that one survey showed 48% of 6,000 polled would pay more to support a local business. Consumers want to invest in their local economy and community that they live in.

Reason #2: While we discussed the change in our customer here, we know that information can be overwhelming for your customer online even in their own industry. As a local provider you can advise them with personal, actionable wisdom.  The same article noted above gathered that 44% of those polled would pay more locally to receive personal service. Personal customer service is still of value and typically in conjunction with the final decision of the customer journey.

Reason #3: Investing in your community is fun and meaningful. On a personal level you surely want your city to thrive, and as a business you have more leverage to make an impact on the wellbeing of where you live. Reports showed in 2010 that 6 out of 10 entrepreneurs felt that giving back to their communities made their businesses more successful in the long run. Whether through word of mouth, social media, or press releases, when you are giving as a business it will be seen and appreciated by current customers and prospects alike.

Reason #4: Be in the know. When you are invested in your community, whether through giving, serving on a community board, or just taking part in local activities as a business, you will better understand your local customer and know how to reach your target audience. Your relationship with your customers will go deeper and so will their loyalty to your business.

So, onto the how…

We already mentioned a few, but Cable One Business’s blog The Wire did a great job listing several ways to promote your city through your business marketing.

Our favorites from their list were:

• Participate in the Adopt-a-Highway program where your business sponsors a section of highway.
• Participate in a community service project as a team building activity for your employees. For example, collect food for the local food bank and be sure to wear your company t-shirts on that day.
• Add the phrase “Proud Supporter of [city name]” as part of your business’s promotional efforts.
  • I was recently in Chicago and was surprised to see how many local businesses were supporting the Cubs in their journey to the World Series this year by hanging “Fly the W” flags in their store windows. A flag is the most straightforward way to show your hometown pride!

Note: we acknowledge that this topic, and branding in general, has been extrapolated and reshaped from the B2C sphere to the B2B realm, a topic we hope to expound upon soon. What works for their market can scale for yours, mainly by utilizing the same avenues of communication, such as social media platforms, to communicate to your customer base how you are actively involved.

Looking to brainstorm even more ways for your company to get involved and promote your brand’s local pride? Contact us at marketing@commercialwebservices.com for more ideas!