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This Land of Strangers - Robert E Hall

This Land of Strangers

"..the most important book of the decade." — Richard Boyatzis, co-author of best seller Primal Leadership

Relationships, in all their varied forms, have been the lifetime study of Robert Hall. He brings a rare combination of experience as a researcher, consultant, writer, teacher and CEO in dealing with the real-world relationship challenges of modern organizations. When coupled with a decade of hands-on experience in the gritty world of inner-city homeless families it translates into a tapestry of vivid stories, well-researched and oft startling facts, and strategic insights that weave together the yet untold narrative of society's gravest risk and most stellar opportunity.

The New Hyper-Local Market Reality

In 2000, it started with 374 listings … By 2008, that number jumped to 2,218 and nearly doubled to 4,100 as of today. — ‘Local Harvest’s’ listings of Community Supported Agriculture groups that provide local fruit and vegetables

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It is just about impossible to ignore this new, upgraded version of “local.” Hyperlocal even has its own Wikipedia page. My first book The Streetcorner Strategy for Winning Local Markets extolled the virtue of local but that was before the internet, was ubiquitous or Google, smart phones, Facebook, Twitter, or Yelp were invented. This new version of local changes everything.

First a little perspective. We once lived in a local world – call it 1.0. We mostly bought our groceries, pumped our gas and did our banking with locally-owned and operated businesses. For better or worse, you knew them and they knew you.

Then the world began to centralize and consolidate into larger and more distant providers. People left the farm and the local community and headed to cities. In 2.0, businesses were told they must be big, have scale and become very efficient. Predictions were dire. In banking only five or ten mega banks would survive. Branches, paper money, and community banks would go away. Size, centralization and technology would rule whereas small and local would ruin.

As a few banks got really big and shuttered branches the new 3.0 began to unfold. People living in large cities did not leave so much as they began to find new ways to localize their lifestyles. Farmers markets, social and athletic clubs, green belts, and sports bars helped reclaim the village even in urban cities.

This accelerating move to local is driven primarily by three key trends. First is a growing backlash and distrust of large institutions. Put the word “big” in front of government, unions or business and they become less attractive. Companies like Wal-Mart and big box retailers began to meet resistance from local communities who wanted to protect and support local businesses. Even darling tech companies like Apple and Google became suspect based on their use of our personal information. Large banks lost retail market share to community banks. While the younger generation mostly eschewed traditional banking and branches, the older crowd continued to value branches and as the stock market unraveled low cost deposits flowed into branches.

Second there is a growing affinity emerging for local providers. For example the rise of the “locavores” a growing segment of consumers dedicated to eating food grown and produced locally. They are convicted of environmental, energy conservation, health, and taste advantages while also supporting local farmers. Campaigns to “buy independent or local” got better organized. A 2010 nationwide survey of more than 1,800 independent businesses by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) found them outperforming chain competitors. Most notably, the survey found independent retailers in communities with active campaigns reported an increase in holiday sales three times stronger than those in cities without such campaigns.

However, it is the third factor, technology that now warrants the descriptor “hyper” in how to enable local. Hyper-local began with the power of search engines and smart phones to find just about anything, anywhere so that even people new to area can navigate like a native. According to Google, 73 percent of online activity is related to local content. What is news is how commonplace this new hyper-local technology has become. Friends recently told me that about looking for a new home in a city they had never visited. Before spending anytime reading about a house, they used Google Earth on their smart phones to view the neighborhood and quickly could rule-in or rule-out based on that view. Just last week I attended a baseball game and as the wind shifted and clouds rolled in I could quickly see on my smart phone – in between pitches – that the front with the clouds and rain would go south of us. The same night my wife was having a work group over at our house and at the last minute decided to order pizza. She checked Yelp, an online urban city guide to help people find cool places to eat and the like. She found a set of recommendations that were so compelling she ordered from a place she had never heard of, just a few blocks from our house. It was great.

The advent of social media such as Facebook and Twitter now means that friends and relationships are instantly available to seek advice and recommendations regarding local anything. It is how my twenty-something daughter and her friends do business. Customer reviews of providers are now viral. The good news of the local marketplace literally travels at the speed of light but so does bad news. Brands that take years and even decades to build can be superseded overnight. The new conversation is no longer just about the national company but also about the local store and the local person – where did you get and who sold you your latest phone, car, or loan? It is more like American idol where local market judges hold up scorecards except unlike in the small community of 75 years ago, everyone in the whole world can see them. Everyday technology delivers the voice of the local market instantly and routinely so it can be discerned and acted upon.

This new world provides real-time opportunity and risk as to how frontline sales and service people are viewed and branded locally. It also puts unrelenting pressure on how to take central marketing strategies and localize them to neighborhoods, networks of friends and social groups. It is not just about delivering fruits and vegetables that are local, fresh, and authentic – but also dry cleaning, haircuts, car repair and banking that are also. We have entered a new galaxy – but it is not out there, it is right here. And it is not in the future – it is right now.

(Column appeared originally in ABA Bank Marketing magazine – June 2011)

By ROBERT E. HALL

Not to be reproduced without written permission. All rights reserved. © Copyright Robert E. Hall 2011

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