As public relations pros, it is our job to target audiences with specific messages in order to stay relevant, fresh and on the forefront of consumers’ minds, especially on a local level. Target (yes, the national mega-store) recently proved how lucrative local outreach is.

The national brand recently created an on-the-field team of PR pros that were a separate entity from the corporate PR team to discover just how important hyper-local outreach is for a company’s brand. The brand’s goal was to test what would happen if a public relations executive was in-the-field to cultivate media and community relationships, work with local officials and support local stores in their PR initiatives.

The test-run proved successful when the Oakland location’s grand opening (which normally is not a newsworthy event) became a press conference with the city’s mayor. The momentum continued during Black Friday when the on-location PR pros utilized a grassroots strategy, in each remote location, by personally chatting with customers to feed tweets to the national @Target Twitter handle. The grassroots approach allowed Target’s customers to have a voice that normally wouldn’t be heard, including the chance to tell their feel-good Target stories (the kind of stories that the media LOVES). One feel-good story about an engaged couple who met in Target gained national attention on the “Today” show. Without the local outreach, the brand would have missed multiple media opportunities, as well as the opportunity to reach out to their regional audiences.

At Serendipit Consulting, we believe that grassroots campaigns are one of a brand’s greatest strengths. Our team has implemented multiple grassroots campaigns for our clients that have gained major local and national media coverage. For more information on our public relations tactics, click here.