Why your firm should consider local PR campaigns in 2012

Businesses and communities that serve local needs seem to be popping up everywhere. From the recent IPO of Yelp to Google pursuing local search marketing—not to mention the explosion of restaurants and grocery stores promoting local food—the trend is making a comeback.

We’re also seeing an increased interest in local public relations campaigns, not necessarily moving away from the national focus, but complementing and supporting it.

When done right, local PR is a beautiful thing. It takes advantage of all the great work a firm is doing on a national level and applies it to the local offices without reinventing the wheel. Like Yelp or Google local search marketing, it uses the same framework and building blocks, but inserts customized messages for each market.

The overall messages are nationally approved so the firm presents a unified voice across the country, while still promoting local spokespeople in key offices and gaining local media attention (for example, business journals, Crain’s publications, local daily papers, radio, and TV stations). We’ve found that this unified voice helps with both internal and external communication.