Images_Digital_Edition_November_2019

www.images-magazine.com NOVEMBER 2019 images 27 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT How and why you should be engaging with your local audience This represents the most low-cost, but effective, form of local advertising. ■ Local searches Focusing on your local area and using directories for your business will help potential customers to find you when they search by location. ■ It’s easier to manage Working on a smaller scale will give your business the confidence to get stuck into meaningful marketing activities. ■ A tailored approach Engaging with local customers over different mediums means you can develop a tailored message for each platform. It also gives you the opportunity to test what works and what doesn’t before launching your idea on a bigger scale. T he ecological footprint of the promotional products industry has, historically, been excessive. Sadly, our sector has a reputation for being a heavy user of packaging and generating vast amounts of waste. There have been efforts made by some companies, especially throughout the last decade, to reduce the impact their business has environmentally. Thankfully, this has now become a huge focus for our entire sector. The tide has turned, and companies across the industry are making changes. From switching plastic bags for compostable alternatives to reducing paper usage, rarely a week goes by without us hearing of new initiatives. The race to reduce waste is hotting up. It’s time for us to all own the situation. The world is waking up to the issues, and CSR demands from end user clients are becoming a key driver. Brands want to ensure they know exactly how their products have been manufactured, and which products are being used in the manufacturing and packaging process. This includes the need to reduce waste. To give an example, it could be as simple as garment embellishers and decorators looking at their supply chains of wholesalers and manufacturers to supply garments bulk packed in one individual, protective, biodegradable bag, as opposed to the all-too-common double-bagging scenarios. If we all took this one simple step it could begin to make a real difference. The world’s demands are helping the T he rise of ecommerce, combined with the steady decline of the high street, means that local advertising has taken a back seat in recent years. However, there is still a place for this type of advertising – especially for SMEs looking to survive in the increasingly competitive print, embroidery and garment branding industry. Local advertising can be both traditional and modern. Traditional advertising focuses on elements such as radio adverts, advertorials for magazines, directories, direct mail and brochures. This may be seen as ‘old-fashioned’ by some but, when it is done right, it represents a highly effective and eye- catching way of attracting new customers to your business. The more modern approach to undertaking local advertising involves focusing on online directories (for example, Yell) plus paid online and social media advertising such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads. These platforms allow you to target users based on their behaviours and, most importantly in this case, their geographic location. Focusing on a local strategy and gradually building up to a larger audience offers great advantages: ■ It’s cost effective Focusing on a specific customer base allows you to focus your efforts and reach relevant customers, thereby increasing your ROI. ■ Increased referrals Engaging with local customers and communities will increase your business’s presence in an area. Local advertising THE BRANDEDCLOTHINGGROUP: IT’SALL INTHE PACKAGING industry to become greener. And I would argue there is now a need to educate on all sides – from the end user to the manufacturer. We need to ensure that the work we are doing today is focused on creating real industry change. There can be no half-hearted efforts or ‘flash in the pan’ initiatives. We have to make sure our actions are well thought through, proper investment is made and the whole industry – from manufacturers, through to suppliers, and those on the shop floor – are fully on-board with reducing packaging and improving sustainability. Andrew Langridge is from ETrader, one of the industry’s leading suppliers of websites to garment decorators across the UK. www.etraderwebsites.co.uk Clive Allcott sits on the BPMA’s Board, and heads up the BPMA Branded Clothing Group. He is also UK and Ireland trade sales director at Screenworks. ww.bpma.co.uk