My coworker and I went for a stroll down Main Street in Longmont this morning. What started as a coffee quest turned into a wonderful exploration of the stores and restaurants, new and old, that line the sun-filled street. Like all marketing dorks, we had no choice but to discuss each venue—what they had to offer, what their branding and design spoke to, and what they could do to take advantage of all the communication and promotional options available to them. If I do say so myself, we had some really great ideas. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized, the ideas were so good and so insightful, so tuned in to the core of these brands because they are local businesses and we are a local company…and local consumers. We work right in the heart of downtown; we know what events are being planned, where people shop and eat and what they’re looking for in local businesses. We constantly frequent the places we do work for. We understand the people who live here, what they need, what they want, what’s already being offered to them and where there’s a hole that needs to be filled.

There’s so many huge and impersonal marketing and design firms out there; places who claim to cater to any demographic and consumer category. They’re huge buildings filled with brilliant people studying demographics, targets and an endless onslaught of research to determine how and where to meet consumers. They come up with a few interesting ideas and the force them to apply to whatever clients need a new campaign. Concepts get used and reused whether it’s relevant to that particular business or not, whether it’ even connecting to consumers and reaching them in a meaningful way or not.

That’s because they sit in their fancy offices with their top-of-the-line equipment without ever walking down Main Street and shopping at the business they’re doing the research and coming up with these “innovative” ideas for. They’ve never bought a car at Small Planet eVehicles, eaten a wonderful meal on the patio at Sugarbeet, or gotten crafty for an afternoon at Crackpots. They’ve never experienced what it’s like to be a member of the Longmont community, and will never know what it means to be a part of this unique community. They sell mountain biking gear without ever strapping on a helmet and riding through the Front Range. They ramble on about great food and a sense of camaraderie and belonging without ever having a beer and plate of bbq at The Rib House, while chatting with the people next to them. I’ve worked at these kinds of places and trust me, as long as they get paid and get to submit the work at award shows, they don’t really care if your business thrives or dies. There’s no personal connection. And there’s no real understanding of who your business is and what it means to the area it lives in.

Choosing local goes far beyond food and products. It means more than just keeping your dollars in the community (which is really important, by the way). It means giving your heart and support to a place and that people that keep it vibrant. More importantly, it means truly having insight into your neighbors and knowing what they need and how to get it to them—in the right place, at the right time and with the right content.That’s why I’m so happy to work at BKMedia Group, with people who truly care and know about their clients’ business. I don’t feel like I’m “selling,” or guessing or stretching the truth up to get people interested. I’m a part of a group who really knows what it’s like to be a consumer, who used loves the products and services offered and am just spreading the word. It’s a great feeling.