“Think globally, act locally.” This catchy quote has been widely attributed to environmentalist David Brower for decades, and you’ve probably seen it on bumper stickers and canvas farmer’s market totes. Its premise is simple: To make positive change, citizens of the world need to consider the well-being of the planet and those around the world while taking tangible steps to care for their local communities.
Marketers should take a similar approach to reach the right audiences at the right time: They need to market globally, target locally. This means understanding and considering all of their customers around the world while creating regional campaigns and strategies. Their best efforts will stem from knowledge about audiences’ local differences and take a location-based approach to send the kind of messages that will connect.
Keep reading for a refresher on why localized marketing needs to be core to your targeting and how to start implementing it now.
How localization wins the day (and revenue)
Think about the email campaigns that pique your attention most. Are they the general, catch-all messages that clearly went to everyone in the brand’s database? Or do they tie into the kinds of products you repeatedly buy, a fandom you belong to, or an event near you? The latter category wins every time, doesn’t it? That’s because consumers crave tailored, thoughtfully crafted experiences. The more we can tell a brand’s marketing team has thought carefully about who to target and what we want as individuals, the more receptive and responsive we are.
Location is a natural dimension of personalization, and today’s tools enable marketers to adjust their approach to match local needs. The language someone speaks, the events their city is known for, the colors of a favorite team, or the local weather patterns that inform their purchases are all levers that marketers can pull for a friendlier and perfectly timed campaign across channels:
- Localized messaging in a target audience’s language (including regional references) can bring an email subject line or ad copy into familiar, accessible territory.
- Brand experiences feel more personal with easy-to-access support options in multiple languages, nearby in-person options, or marketing channels a certain country prefers.
- Unique or limited-time versions of your product that are targeted for a certain region make customers feel seen and endear them to your brand.
The best marketing makes the person encountering it say, “Oh yeah, I’ve been needing one of those!” or “I have to have that.” Geographic marketing ensures more people say that because it speaks to them thoughtfully and intentionally. What’s more, localization strategies like geotargeting links drive higher conversions because they show more directly relevant information to those who engage. For instance, a UK shopper who immediately sees a .uk link rather than .com/us gets an online experience with less friction. While these details may seem minor, local-focused tweaks actually make a world of difference for your business.
3 geotargeting pitfalls to avoid
Marketing strategies like localization should be default settings for marketers. But they’re not without challenges that can hold your team back internally or turn off your audience after distribution. Consider these three areas to stay local without overwhelm.
1. Operational complexity
Just because localization is possible doesn’t mean it’s easy—that’s why far from every marketing team has mastered it. Collecting geographic customer data, culling through regional insights, and implementing them for effective and personalized campaigns can quickly become complex, even for large and well-resourced teams.
How do you decide how many regions to localize your marketing for, and which ones? How often should you send localized versus general messaging? How do you keep track of your digital tools, landing pages, and localized promotions? These questions don’t have to keep you up at night—but they do require thoughtful processes and strong collaboration to stay on top of everything.
The right tools make all the difference here. Look for seamless integrations that help you create localized landing pages, build targeted short links, and collect regional data. Start by reviewing data that reveals where your audience is when they engage with your content. For instance, Bitly Analytics offers country and city-level data on short link clicks and QR Code scans for detailed profiles of which regions already love your brand and where you should spend more time strategizing to reach them.
2. Over-segmentation of campaigns
How local is too local? Marketers could spend their entire work week (or fiscal quarter) wrestling with this question. While localized efforts are far better than non-geotargeted campaigns, brands also need to strike a balance. Not only would it take significant time and resources to keep zeroing in on local “microsegments,” but this approach can also take you too far into the weeds. When you collect too much or too specific customer data, you can limit statistical significance and limit your ability to test and learn what’s working (or not).
Aim to build a localization strategy that falls somewhere between country- and city-level data. Look for engagement from a large enough audience to gain signal about what’s performing well, without staying so general that campaigns aren’t well-targeted.
3. User privacy concerns
The marketing world has been abuzz about personalization for many years, and it continues to be an evergreen trend. Consumers want to see campaigns that are relevant to them and match their interests. But when done without discretion, personalization can make audiences think, “They know too much about me.” Potential customers might wonder how a company knew they were interested in something or were located in a particular area, especially if they haven’t knowingly given that brand their information. In those cases, they might be turned off from purchasing and unsubscribe (literally or figuratively).
Handle user privacy concerns delicately by building localized campaigns with user perception in mind. Put yourself in their shoes—if they see a specific ad or message, will they feel known and endeared to your product, or will they wonder how you gather a certain piece of information? You can also manage privacy concerns with clarity around how you collect and use data, and by geotargeting based on the data users have knowingly provided.
Localization examples and ideas
When you see a truly well-targeted local campaign, you know it on a gut level—you can sense that the brand put in the time, creativity, and legwork to address your city or area specifically. Some of the biggest brand names in the world have made waves with campaigns and initiatives that get to the heart of localization:
- Snickers’ iconic “You’re not you when you’re hungry” campaign didn’t settle for one worldwide ad. Instead, the candy bar created regional versions for the US, Australia, and the UK, all built around the unique humor of those regions.
- With over 16,000 locations in the US alone, Starbucks connects with and spotlights communities with offerings from regional blends and localized menus to country- and state-based mugs that tap into local pride.
- Global fashion brand H&M connected with the Amsterdam community, using in-depth research to understand the priorities of the city. They launched a campaign featuring locals and promoting eco-friendly offerings like resale, tailoring, and rentals based on what mattered most to locals.
Examples like these are memorable and impressive. But you don’t have to be an internationally-renowned Fortune 500 company (or have the same budget as these brands) to make localization foundational to your marketing strategy.
Start with the data you already have, and test localization in the campaigns you’re already running:
- Promote events using city-level routing, and highlight the event location nearest to specific segments of your audience. You could even plan an event around where a large segment of your customers is, and share QR Codes onsite for easy, user-friendly engagement (and marketing data collection).
- Segment your audience by region and preferred language. Send communications in their language of choice, and share short links that automatically load your website in their ideal experience.
- Note local trends like weather patterns, holidays, and moments of celebration (like a local team’s big win). Read the room with special offers by location that match what your customers are already experiencing.
Great marketing starts with paying attention to what your audience interacts with, when and why they respond to your campaigns, and where they’re located. Implement thoughtful campaigns based on the details you’ve gathered, and your audience will respond with their attention and loyalty.
3 phases of rolling out localization
No matter where your brand is on its localization journey, your marketing can only benefit from spending more energy on creating campaigns that connect at a local level. Steal this straightforward path to implementation.
1. Know where your audience is
Start with a deep-dive regional audience analysis based on order and delivery details, click and scan data (like from Bitly Analytics), and other insights from your analytics tools. Capture the countries and cities where most of your engaged audience and customers are located, and use that information to identify regions where your product or service is a good fit to focus on further expansion. Decide as a team where you’ll focus your localization efforts and where it makes most sense to prioritize deepening loyalty versus breaking new ground.
2. Learn more about local segments
Once you’ve identified the areas to focus on, your next step is targeted research into those areas. Confirm and clarify their preferred language, gather intel on local and community values, and learn about cultural nuances like favorite teams, pastimes, and landmarks. You can do some of this research at a distance, but conduct as much firsthand research as possible—share surveys via QR Code or host focus groups to gauge their connection to your brand.
3. Uncover overlap with your brand and offering
Once you’ve built out profiles of the regions you want to target (from mid-sized and major cities to entire countries), consider how the information you’ve gathered could align with your brand:
- Do you have a customizable product that could support localized regional collections (like Starbucks)?
- Can you develop messaging that’s ideally timed for a certain season in that area?
- Could you feature locals in campaigns or highlight customers from their area?
Once you match your product or service to fresh angles for your localized campaigns, you’re ready to test out your ideas and turn data-driven ideas into deeper connections.
Localized marketing starts with data
Your brand may reach millions across the globe. But your marketing should make your individual customers feel like you understand where they come from, with a message, channels, and offers that hit close to home—literally. Localized marketing doesn’t happen by accident. It takes careful consideration of your existing audience, data collection to understand behavior, in-depth research into regional nuances, and a well-executed and consistent strategy.
Bitly helps you take the first steps toward localization with real-time regional click and scan data. Use these insights to learn enough to execute localized efforts and segment any campaign and digital touchpoint. Fold Bitly Analytics and tools into your geotargeting marketing stack for in-the-moment engagement and genuine connections that last. Get started today.
