Karan Narang, Managing Partner at AdGlobal360, brings 16 years of experience in digital strategy and Martech innovation. From leading global GTM initiatives to launching transformative platforms, he has helped scale brands across markets. In this interview, he shares insights on hyperlocal marketing, tech-led growth, and the future of brand engagement.
1. Hyperlocal strategies have gained traction recently, but where do they fit in the broader Martech evolution? Are we seeing a fundamental shift in how brands engage with local audiences, or is this an iteration of past tactics with better technology?
Hyperlocal strategies aren’t just an upgrade of past tactics; they mark a fundamental shift in brand engagement. Earlier, marketing was broad and generic, often missing local nuances. Today, Martech advancements- AI, automation, and real-time analytics- allow brands to personalize engagement at a store, city, or even neighborhood level.
Consumers expect brands to be contextually relevant, and hyperlocal marketing ensures businesses speak their language, both literally and figuratively.
This shift isn’t just about better targeting; it’s about brands acting locally at scale with precision. Hyperlocal marketing is the next phase of Martech evolution—where automation and data-driven insights create truly personalized, location-specific experiences that drive real business impact.
2. While businesses collect vast amounts of location-based data, many struggle to translate insights into action. What are the biggest barriers to leveraging this data effectively, and how can brands refine their execution?
One of the biggest challenges isn’t data collection—it’s making sense of it. Brands often struggle with fragmented data across platforms, lack of real-time insights, and the inability to link location-based data with actionable marketing strategies. Without a centralized system, insights remain underutilized.
Execution fails when brands can’t translate data into hyperlocal actions. For example, understanding regional preferences or competitor trends is useful, but without the ability to adjust content, offers, or ad spend dynamically, the impact is lost.
To fully leverage hyperlocal marketing, brands need a connected ecosystem—one that turns data into real-time, location-specific strategies rather than just static reports.
3. Multi-location brands often grapple with balancing global brand consistency with local market relevance. From your experience, where do businesses typically go wrong in managing this dynamic, and what strategies work?
The biggest mistake brands make is treating global consistency and local relevance as opposing forces rather than complementary elements. Many either enforce rigid brand guidelines that ignore local nuances or give too much autonomy, leading to inconsistent messaging.
The key is structured flexibility—maintaining core brand identity while allowing localized adaptations. A successful strategy involves centralized control with decentralized execution.
Automation and Data-driven insights allow brands to tailor messaging, offers, and creatives based on local audience preferences without compromising brand integrity. The most effective brands use technology to scale personalization—empowering regional teams while keeping branding unified.
Ultimately, success comes from enabling local teams with the right tools and guardrails, ensuring every location speaks to its audience while staying true to the brand’s core identity.
4.The industry is flooded with tools claiming to ‘solve’ hyperlocal marketing, but how much of success really comes down to technology versus having the right strategic framework?
Technology is a powerful enabler, but success in hyperlocal marketing depends just as much on having the right strategic framework. Many brands invest in tools expecting instant results, but without a clear approach—defining goals, audience segmentation, and execution processes—technology alone won’t deliver impact.
The key is aligning strategy with execution. A solid framework ensures brands know what to localize, where, and how—whether it’s adapting content, adjusting media spends, or managing location-specific engagement. Technology, like Glocal360, then automates and scales these efforts efficiently.
The most successful brands blend both—using technology to centralize control while allowing dynamic local execution. Without strategy, tools become underutilized; without technology, execution becomes inefficient. True success lies in the synergy between the two—where a well-defined framework meets the right Martech stack to drive measurable hyperlocal impact.
5. With growing concerns around data privacy and regulatory changes, how should brands approach hyperlocal personalization without crossing ethical lines or compromising consumer trust?
Brands must strike a balance between personalization and privacy by focusing on transparency, consent, and value exchange. Consumers are more willing to share data when they see a clear benefit—such as personalized offers or better local experiences—without feeling surveilled.
A privacy-first approach means leveraging first-party data collected through owned platforms like websites, apps, and CRM systems rather than over-relying on third-party tracking. Additionally, contextual targeting—where content and ads are personalized based on non-intrusive signals like location, time, and behavior patterns—allows brands to stay relevant without invading privacy.
Ultimately, trust is built when brands communicate why they collect data, how they use it, and what consumers get in return. Privacy-conscious personalization isn’t a limitation—it’s an opportunity to foster deeper, more meaningful engagement.
6. Given the current trajectory of hyperlocal marketing, what major shifts or innovations do you foresee in the next three to five years that brands should start preparing for now?
Hyperlocal marketing is poised for significant advancements in AI-driven automation, real-time localization, and privacy-centric personalization over the next three to five years. Brands should begin preparing for these shifts now.
AI-Powered Hyperlocal Automation – AI will drive real-time content adaptation, ad optimization, and predictive analytics at a hyper-granular level. Brands must invest in Martech platforms that enable dynamic, localized execution at scale.
Voice & Conversational Search – With increasing adoption of voice assistants and chat-based interactions, optimizing for local intent in voice search will be essential for discovery and engagement.
Cookieless Targeting & Privacy-First Strategies – As third-party cookies phase out, brands must pivot to first-party data, contextual targeting, and AI-led insights to maintain personalization while adhering to evolving privacy regulations.
Seamless Online-to-Offline (O2O) Integration – Connecting digital and physical experiences will become critical, with location-based engagement driving store visits, local offers, and real-time customer interactions.
Brands that invest in scalable, privacy-compliant, AI-powered hyperlocal strategies today will lead the next era of localized marketing.
