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As businesses expand beyond their hometown markets, maintaining an authentic connection to their local roots can become a challenge. Growth — especially on a national or global scale — often brings pressure to standardize messaging, streamline operations and appeal to a broader audience.
Staying true to the community that shaped your brand’s identity can be the key to deeper customer loyalty and differentiating your business from competitors. Below, Rolling Stone Culture Council members share strategies for businesses looking to scale while preserving their hometown authenticity.
Prioritize Local Culture and Values
A business can balance its goal of expanding while maintaining authenticity by integrating local culture and values into its branding and operations, ensuring that community input shapes its global strategies. This fosters a sense of belonging and loyalty among local customers, who appreciate the brand’s commitment to their heritage. Staying true to local roots builds trust and credibility. – Mark Paulda, Mark Paulda & Co
Stay Engaged and Use Your Resources To Give Back
As a cannabis company, staying connected to the industry’s roots while we grow is essential; the industry wouldn’t be here without the work of activists and legacy operators. My own roots in the advocacy space allow my company to stay connected with the community, and people in any industry can do the same by staying engaged and using their growing resources to give back to the community. – Evan Nison, NisonCo
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Integrate Localized Storytelling and Community Engagement Into Branding
Businesses can scale globally while staying authentic locally by integrating localized storytelling and community engagement into their brand strategy. Supporting local initiatives and maintaining a presence in grassroots events builds trust. Connecting to your local roots ensures brand loyalty, credibility and long-term sustainability. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
Focus On the Things That Make Your Brand Unique
Understand what makes you unique — both in presence and absence. Chicago hot dogs don’t have ketchup, but they do have peppers. If you take a Chicago hot dog brand global but change that recipe, those aren’t Chicago hot dogs anymore. So, what are the peppers and ketchup for your business, brand or product? What presence and absence make your product offering unique? – Jed Brewer, Good Loud Media
Leverage Local Values to Create a Strong Global Strategy
A business can balance growth with authenticity by embedding its local values into its global strategy. This means maintaining community engagement, sourcing locally when possible and ensuring brand messaging reflects its origins. Staying true to local roots fosters trust, loyalty and differentiation in a crowded market. A strong foundation ensures expansion feels organic rather than disconnected. – Stephen Nalley, Black Briar Advisors
Keep the Big Picture in Mind
The world is your community — this is apparent in the cannabis industry. We are a global movement connected by the plant. At our company, we are focusing on our home turf in Europe while expanding into the United States, Asia and South America. This type of evolution takes a lot of work. Focus on the big picture. Keep that vision in your mind. You must act locally and think globally. – Lindsey Bartlett, Fast Buds
