Living in a regional area in Australia is bloody tough, especially in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. In Australia, we have a dozen or so major cities spread across the coastline of our incredible island continent with smaller satellite towns clinging to each one. The vast distances in between are what we call 'the regions'. And we don't mean the international romanticism of the "outback" (that is much further inland). No, we mean that vaguely mountainous brown/green strip between the blue sea and the red dirt. That is regional Aus. In New South Wales alone, where we are located, a third of the population lives outside of the major city center of Sydney, and are served by 33% of the state's businesses. That means the approach, methodologies, and strategies that work in Sydney may not apply to the other 30% living outside of the Sydney city limits. So how can you find a creative and marketing partner that understands you if you're a regional business owner? Pick People That Get Your Challenges
There is nothing worse than being misunderstood, especially when creating your new brand, product, or website. This can cost you huge amounts of money and critical time you will never get back. Picking a city-based agency might seem like a good idea, but in reality, you might be left frustrated.
Searching in your backyard has the added benefit that whoever you pick will understand how important your time and budget are. They understand how difficult it can be to deliver your service or product to remote places. They can identify opportunities in your branding with your limited competitor pool. They will be able to suggest strategies suited to your unique needs, as opposed to a cookie-cutter big-city approach.
Choose A Patient Creative Working regionally is about small wins and being patient. You cannot just scale quickly because regional Australia is less densely populated. There's a different level of demand for products and services. You may not be able to quickly replenish stock or materials should you begin aggressively scaling your product. Regional business owners need to work with like-minded creatives who are in it for the long haul and understand that doing business in the regions requires patience. We believe in helping our regional biz owners at Black Tusk so we're going to share 3 things we do for our clients to support their efforts: 1. Market To Your Backyard: Don't waste money sending ads to places you can't service. Know your service area and target only the people living in that place. This could be the whole state, or it could just be 20 kms around your business. Know it and advertise there on social and search platforms.
2. Be Memorable: Customers choose businesses that they can recall when they need them. Stand out with branding that matches your business.
3. Have An Awesome Website: We've seen many regional businesses that only operate through social media accounts and miss out on major opportunities. Websites don't have to cost you an arm and a leg. Have a direct, product-centric website with a clear call to action and what you can do for your customers to solve their problems.
It's A Different Culture To Market To Regional Australia is a big place, and it's different from the burbs. This can make it challenging to create marketing campaigns that resonate with locals and convince them they can trust your business. Trust is huge in regional Australia. You may need to tailor your messaging and branding to specific regions, or even specific towns or communities.
We've had success by spending time researching our customer's communities. Here are 2 ways you can do that for yourself: 1) In Person: Go to the local coffee shop, takeaway joint, shopping center, RSL, park, industrial area or CBD (if there is one). Pay attention to the people there, watch, and focus on how they interact and talk. Look at how they dress, carry themselves, every detail. Too many business owners (and marketers) like to sit in an air-conditioned office and make assumptions. One day out on the beat can make a huge difference in how you understand your customers. If you have customers on the books already, call them and talk to them, or send them a survey to understand them better. 2) Digitally: Join as many social media groups as you can in your customer's LGA. This will most likely be on Meta (FB or Insta) or even TikTok depending on the age group. Forget LinkedIn, it's not a good acid test for community culture. You can build a customer persona based on their needs, wants and even the language they use. Review government data and any other publicly available sources to build a picture of what your ideal customer looks like. Either way, you will gain an understanding of WHO you are trying to sell to and HOW your service or product can help them. Try Different Methods The business landscape in regional Australia is always changing, and because there are fewer customers you need to be able to pivot quickly to reach them. This might mean experimenting with new marketing channels or exploring new products and services that meet the needs of your customers.
For example; if you are launching a regional clothing brand, you might start with a small collection of shirts and discover through research that customers often buy socks when upsold at checkout (you can perform this type of research through Amazon and pay attention to what you are recommended). From there you might create a new collection of secondary products to suit those needs. Cross-selling and upselling associated products are ideal ways to improve your average order value.
Get Out There
Designing and marketing in regional Australia can be tough, but it can also be incredibly rewarding. Embrace the quirks and idiosyncrasies of your region, be genuine and support your local community - they are the ones who will support you.
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