CHICAGO, Jan. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BrandMuscle, the leader in integrated local and channel marketing, announced today the release of The State of Local Marketing Report 2020-2021, the most comprehensive study on local marketing. With more than 8,000 channel partners participating in the last six years, the report reveals year-over-year insights and timely trends for channel marketing leaders to maximize the impact of marketing investments and revenue growth at the local level.
Throughout 2020, BrandMuscle worked with large national brands and independent researchers from Xpedition to obtain and analyze millions of data points on local marketing from channel partners across a variety of industries. The research reveals invaluable trends, insights into the effectiveness of channel marketing programs and tactics, and corresponding recommendations for improvement. The data was also used to update the BrandMuscle Local Marketing Maturity Matrix, a framework designed to help marketers assess and optimize their channel marketing programs.
A key finding from the study is that 49% of channel partners spent less than 1% of their revenue on marketing, and those partners reported 3.5% revenue growth. The other 51% of partners spent 1% or more of their revenue on marketing and reported 4.6% revenue growth, or 30% higher revenue than their counterparts. This year’s local marketing research also indicated significant benefits from shifting to digital marketing tactics, identified common pain points for channel partners, and demonstrated the impact COVID-19 has had on local marketing tactics:
- The pandemic caused event marketing to see a 27% decrease in priority. Digital marketing tactics were prioritized instead, with social media advertising experiencing an 8% increase, and paid search experiencing a 6% increase.
- There is an opportunity to better support digital marketing tactics, which are a top priority for channel partners. Only 11% of programs support both organic and paid social media as a local marketing tactic.
- 51% of channel partners lack confidence in their marketing decision-making.
- 78% of channel partners do not feel the corporate brand is fully committed to the marketing program they provide.
“This year’s State of Local Marketing report demonstrates yet again that marketing a brand through local channels is just as important as national marketing efforts, and has a significant impact on revenue growth,” said Richard Mendis, Chief Strategy Officer at BrandMuscle. “The goal of our research is to empower marketers with empirical insights, pragmatic recommendations, and a comprehensive maturity framework to maximize ROI on local marketing, acquire customers more effectively, and ultimately grow revenue faster than competitors.”
Taken together, the statistics in The State of Local Marketing Report pinpoint knowledge and investment as key drivers of success, which highlights an opportunity for corporate marketers to provide educational resources for partners and make sure both parties are contributing funds toward marketing efforts.
To Learn More:
- Download The State of Local Marketing Report 2020-2021
- View the The State of Local Marketing 2020-2021 Webcast on-demand
- Participate in The State of Local Marketing Research to Receive a Personalized Diagnostic Report
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About BrandMuscle
BrandMuscle is the leader in integrated local and channel marketing, serving over 300 of the world’s top brands, with 700 professionals in seven offices globally. The BrandMuscle Integrated Local Marketing Platform enables brands and their local channel partners to deliver the greatest marketing impact to each individual customer. BrandMuscle simplifies and scales digital and physical marketing execution, enabling brands to acquire and retain the best customers, build loyalty, enhance lifetime customer value, and maximize ROI.