Two recent announcements about increasing the reach of broadband in rural Ireland might serve as a kick in the behind for anyone who still thinks digital marketing won’t reach their rural target market.
Enet has announced plans to deliver high-speed fibre broadband to ten towns around Ireland: Ballinasloe, Ballybofey, Ballyshannon, Buncrana, Bundoran, Castleblayney, Cootehill, Donegal, Manorhamilton and Stranolar.
While Eir is preparing to connect 300,000 homes in rural areas. The situation for broadband access in rural Ireland is changing. Is your digital marketing plan keeping up?
If you are marketing to rural Ireland, you need to be aware that people don’t enjoy the same level of service as those in urban areas. It can take longer for pages to load, and that’s annoying.
Good UX for this audience is to keep things at a volume that loads easily – for the moment. However, some brands still think that means that it isn’t worthwhile to consider rural areas in their wider digital marketing plans. They couldn’t be more wrong.
Consider that it can be harder for people in rural areas to drive to locations with a lot of options for shopping. Think about how many of these rural-based people commute to urban areas to work and enjoy broadband on their smartphones and other personal devices. Commuters don’t always have the time (or energy or inclination) to stay in town or return on the weekend for shopping. That fact alone makes them a very appealing market.
Take a good look at your market. Is it rural? Is it concentrated in one geographic area or spread throughout the country? The landscape is changing. Right now it is more important than ever to pinpoint the geography of your market.
You must know what kind of broadband access they have. Watch for broadband being rolled out in the area of your market. If you have a business in a small town, maybe it didn’t make sense to do online marketing years ago. But that is changing. Your strategy needs to change to keep pace.
If you are looking to upgrade your website, consider whether your target audience is due to get high-speed broadband. You can safely assume a significant number of them on getting online via devices such as smartphones and tablets.
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By Irene Hislop
By Conor McCaffrey