Multi-location brands are faced with a two-fold marketing challenge: building national awareness and reaching consumers where they shop locally. With more than 90% of purchases still taking place in physical stores, local tactics are important and new data reinforce this importance.

According to a new study, when both brand and location-specific pages exist, 85% of all consumer engagement takes place on the local pages (e.g., Facebook Local Pages, local landing pages). A minority of impressions and engagement (15%) happen on national or brand pages.

This drastic gap suggests that multi-location brands need to reevaluate how marketing dollars are spent. Localized pages and campaigns should be given at least as much emphasis as national campaigns. That's because, in many respects, location is the most fundamental relevance signal.