Blanket communications (i.e., template-driven, "enter city here" marketing efforts that don't reflect local sensibilities) will never warm local markets, and that is the only blanket statement acceptable on the subject. Think about it: highlighting your swimwear won't turn heads in New York City as it did in California. Referencing long subway commutes won't resonate as well in Baltimore as it does in Washington, D.C.
Becoming the friendly neighborhood national company requires business owners to create a niche communication strategy—one that joins the conversations already taking place in the community and provides clear solutions for the community members' everyday challenges, needs and aspirations.
Genuinely relating to your community means not only identifying its challenges, needs and aspirations (as discovered in your research), but also building—and building upon—relationships with the people and businesses that make up the community. Any corporate engagement that connects loose threads—i.e., that reinforces and mends the bonds within a community by connecting its people—renders your business indispensable.