Though the internet has changed commerce forever, people still interact and organize their lives largely based on location specific considerations
Business owners should not neglect location specific operations, but instead they should harmonize local and web efforts in order to create a synergistic effect. There is an old adage in the real estate business that says “the three most important factors that determine the value of a piece of property are location, location, location”.
This obviously points to the fact that location is in fact the most important factor in determining the value of a piece of property and that the other factors involved either matter very little or don’t matter at all.
Location is critical in real estate, but it is also an important factor in establishing brand loyalty for just about any business in any industry. Business owners in the 21st century can easily make the mistake of assuming that the digital age has made location obsolete since business is so intricately tied to the internet.After all, how can geographical location possibly have an effect on brand awareness and loyalty if the entire world has potential access to a particular brand?
Location is Still Key
The answer is that location plays an integral role in what brands consumers gravitate towards, even in this age of cloud-based capitalism. People may do the majority of their shopping online, get most of their entertainment online, do the bulk of their communicating online, and conduct a large percentage of their business transactions online, but no one literally lives online.
People still take up residence in physical locations, which means that they have an affinity for those locations and tend to be very loyal to them. The psychology behind this phenomenon is much the same as it is with sports fans.
NFL fans who live in Baltimore have a strong loyalty to the Baltimore Ravens, whereas fans who live in Wisconsin have an equally strong loyalty to the Green Bay Packers. This diehard loyalty can be largely, if not entirely, attributed to geographic location. The same can be said for the brand loyalty that consumers have to particular products or services.
Location Breeds Loyalty
Starbucks, for example, obviously has a legion of loyal customers around the world. But coffee drinkers who live in or hail from Seattle have a significantly stronger preference for and loyalty to Starbucks coffee than those living in other markets. However, there is a certain psychology involved that shows that consumers will often unconsciously gravitate toward the predominant brand of a particular region.
In the case of Starbucks, for example, if a coffee drinker from Seattle moves to Massachusetts where Dunkin' Donuts has its headquarters, that consumer may initially get his morning java at Starbucks, but it is very likely that eventually he will begin to get it at Dunkin' Donuts because that is the predominant coffee brand for that location.
Many consumers believe that their long-standing personal brand preferences can overcome any branding tactics that marketers may use. But while NFL fans may in fact be loyal to their teams no matter where they live, general consumers tend to allow themselves to be swayed by brand marketing, particularly when that marketing is location specific.
So how can the importance of location be leveraged into greater brand awareness and loyalty? Additionally, how can location and the internet combine to create a single marketing strategy that utilizes the branding power of both to maximum effect?
The answer actually has to do with a specific need that is becoming more and more apparent to business owners whose presence is strictly web-based. Brands need to have a storefront. The golden age of business before the internet had all business conducted from a storefront or over the phone. Once the internet came along, people believed that maintaining their business exclusively online would be sufficient.
That worked for a while, but gradually entrepreneurs began to notice that something was missing. There was an element of brand loyalty that didn’t seem to be there anymore-- which made it harder to maintain certain customers.
Opening a Retail Location Still Has its Merits
With that in mind, it is important for e-retailers to strongly consider opening a physical location where they think their product or service would perform best. In all likelihood, it would be their hometown. A brick-and-mortar location works best when customers are receptive to the brand and that reception is best established in the location from which the owner does most of his business online.For example, if an entrepreneur runs a business out of his home in Shreveport, Louisiana, then establishing a storefront in that city and making the location a focal point of the brand’s marketing strategy can have a dramatic impact on local sales.
Much of that impact is word-of-mouth, and word-of-mouth in the 21st century typically includes social media sharing which brings everything full circle back to the internet. Establish a physical storefront location and generate word-of-mouth, both online and offline, and strong brand awareness is sure to follow.