As a financial services provider, you want to work directly with customers in your local area: not customers located around the world, but those who are conveniently located to your business. That means that you need to focus on advertising directly to the Portland market, rather than expanding your marketing efforts to reach consumers located in different geographic areas. If you're trying to reach Portland consumers, consider these strategies.
1. Localize your services to the Portland market.
When you market your services, let consumers know that you're offering the things needed by individuals in the Portland area. You may want to start by taking a look at others in your industry, especially within the Portland area, who are offering similar goods or services. Consider how they're targeting consumers, find your place in the market, and focus your advertising accordingly.
2. Create specific offers and CTAs that appeal to the Portland community.
Your CTA should target Portland community members, encouraging them to come into your physical location. During a local economic downturn, you might offer services that will help people get back on their feet or maintain their financial status during local recessions. Monitor the Portland real estate market or consider how local businesses are performing at any given time.
3. Target the audience of your other local, and national, competitors.
Your social ads, in particular, can effectively target the audience that usually follows your competitors. Create ads that will let them know what you have to offer that's different from your competitors. If it's a national competitor, for example, you might point out that you know more about local tax laws and financial regulations, or invite consumers to support their local community by supporting you, not your competitors.
4. Customize your digital ads to highlight the Portland community.
Take a look at your digital ads. Do they highlight the Portland community? Can Portland community members see themselves in those ads? Portland has a diverse population, and your ads should likewise include diverse segments of the population.
5. Optimize your website so that your target audience will find you easily when searching for financial services in Portland.
In order to effectively optimize your website, make sure that you claim your Google My Business listing as well as your listing on other popular search platforms. Add your business to local directories. Make sure you highlight the local area in search terms on your website as well as including those locations in your meta tags. You may want to target Vancouver, Beaverton, Gresham, Hillsboro, Milwaukie, Lake Oswego, Oregon City, Fairview, and other local cities in addition to targeting Portland directly. Reference local topics and areas of concern in your blog posts and other content to help enhance the user experience when connecting with your brand.
6. Retarget those who visit your website.
When customers visit your website, they establish their interest in your business. Take advantage of that continuing interest by retargeting customers who have visited your website in the past. You can retarget customers through social media ads or display ads. You can target your website and your services in general, or you can use the specific services that customers checked out on your website.
7. Run banner ads on other websites that have a similar target audience.
Working with a local media partner or getting to know other Portland business owners can make it easier to target people that fit your desired demographic. For example, if your primary focus is on retirement planning, you may want to target a business that has customers in their 40s and 50s. If you offer tax planning services, you may want to run banner ads on a website that caters to local business owners.
8. Position your brand alongside other businesses trusted in the Portland community.
As you try to make a name for yourself, you want to establish your business as an active part of the Portland community. Partner with other businesses that are already well-established and have made a place for themselves. You may, for example, want to position your business alongside well-known businesses through charitable works and contributions.
9. Work with a Portland media partner.
A media partner can help build up your business and expand your marketing reach. Your media partner can help target the Portland audience directly, including expanding your email list to include their customers, since they have a well-established brand themselves.
The Portland market is not entirely like any other. By customizing your advertising efforts specifically to that market, you can expand your media presence, build brand recognition, and increase consumer confidence in your business. Working directly with a media partner is one of the most effective ways to learn more about the Portland community and exactly what its members expect from your ads as well as what types of ads they respond to most readily.
