Marketing strategy in a Small town vs. Big city
June 7, 2024
Let’s do a little compare/contrast exercise today, shall we?
How does one advertise a church, Christian school, or nonprofit? Well, if you’ve been reading my newsletter for any amount of time, you know I will say that the answer will look different in every community.
That’s a nice platitude, but what does it actually mean?
Let’s uncover some actionable examples by blatantly stereotyping a “small town” and a “big city.”
Of course, these approaches will vary depending on your specific location and the amount of time you/your staff can devote to marketing. Still, let’s dig in to a few categories and summarize an effective strategy for each setting.
Social Media
| Small town Focus on Facebook. Post 1-2 times per week with a heavy focus on local neighborhood connections, small businesses, and small gatherings of people in your organization. | Big city Focus on Instagram. Post as many times per week as you can with the resources you have, focusing on “behind the scenes” content that feels organic and conversational. |
Print Advertising
| Small town Think about finding high-traffic areas. Place event posters on local bulletin boards in the grocery store or library. Mass mailers may still be effective if well-written and relevant. | Big city Think about creative, memorable options that create an experience (try searching “unique business cards” on Pinterest). Pay a designer and print on high quality materials. |
Website Optimization
| Small town Work with someone who knows the basics of SEO to make sure that your website can rank organically in Google Search. With low competition, this should not be a difficult task. | Big city SEO optimization is a must. You may need to publish original, long-form content on your website to establish authority. Aesthetics will play a big role in visitors’ first impressions. |
Google Search Advertisements
| Small town If you did the one above, you probably don’t have to worry about paying for Google Search ads. | Big city Get plugged in with Google Ad Grants. Pay for ad placements for very specific, long-tail keywords. |
Facebook Advertisements
| Small town The Facebook robots need a sizable audience to work their magic and small towns may only hold a few thousand people. To combat this, avoid targeting by age, gender, or too tight of a location. | Big city Niche down your age/gender/location targeting until you land on an audience of about 50,000 people. This is the sweet spot that gives Facebook enough test subjects to figure out what works. |
These are just examples and certainly not hard-and-fast rules. Hopefully, though, they helped quantify what I mean when I say different audiences may need to be marketed to differently.
