What Google "Search Plus Your World" Means for Your National Brand's Local Internet Marketing

Friday, January 27, 2012 by Shane Vaughan
Certainly by now you've heard about Google's "Search Plus Your World" initiative to more completely integrate social/personal data in their search results.  You can read the official announcement from Google, made on January 10, here.  Google Plus Logo

The question I hope to answer in this blog is, "What does this mean to the local internet marketing efforts managed or executed by my national brand?"  

SPOILER ALERT:  It doesn't mean that all of your local stores/affiliates/resellers/franchisees should rush out and create a Google+ business page.  

To be fair, it also doesn't mean that your local affiliates shouldn't be engaged in Google+ either.  No, the intention of this blog post is instead to cover the implications this will have on your long-term local internet marketing strategy.  

The major impact this announcement, and the resulting changes to Google's search results, will have on your local internet marketing efforts will be from a local SEO standpoint.  Your first step is to determine if you care about local SEO.  Your knee-jerk reaction will be "Of course I care about local SEO!"  However, if you haven't yet launched co-branded local websites for all of your local stores/affiliates/resellers/franchisees, that should be your first priority.   If this is the case, then you should start with these resources: Assuming you already have these assets in place, then the issue of local SEO should be of significant importance to you - you naturally want traffic (especially free traffic) to these sites.  

The significance of the "Search Plus Your World" announcement is how deeply Google is integrating social search results into the SERP (search engine results page).  It's interesting to think of the progression of the big changes to the SERP: 
  • First, it was just natural search
  • Then, it became natural results plus paid results
  • The last several years have seen the significant rise of local results
  • Now Google is heavily integrating social results

For the time being, this integration is just happening with content primarily from Google+, their proprietary social network, and there has been significant backlash to Google for limiting the data to their own network.  And, the fact is, that this will change.  Google has built their brand and their product on the idea of "relevancy" and regardless of how hard they want to push Google+ as a social network, they will not let that shortsightedness impact their core brand values (at least in the long-term).  

So - what does this mean for your local websites and local internet marketing efforts?  At a basic level it means social will now have play a much more significant role in your efforts.  If it's going to play more significant role in the search results - it will impact clicks/traffic to your local sites - and hence impact revenue.  

If you haven't yet already started integrating social into all of your local marketing efforts, this should be the clear sign that it's time.  Get those Facebook/Twitter/G+ buttons onto your local websites (pointed at either the national brand's presence or the local presence).  Incent your distributed marketers to begin engaging in social, to begin caring about it.  

Ultimately - search engines are how customers find your local businesses - and we are seeing the first signs that social engagement is going to dramatically impact those search results.  It's time to get on this bus before it's too late.  



The Local Web - Making Your Brand Relevant

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 by Amber Daley

The local advertising marketplace is changing—and fast. While national brands typical own the front end of the customer lifecycle, revenue is often lost during what Balihoo defines as “the last mile of marketing.” Research shows that 54 percent of Americans have completely substituted phone books with the Internet and local search. So where does your brand or product fit in on the local level?

Listen as Shane Vaughn, Balihoo’s VP of Marketing, explains the Local Web and why it’s essential for national brands to embrace this segment of the advertising marketplace.

The Year Ahead - Our Predictions

Thursday, January 19, 2012 by Amber Daley
We at Balihoo believe great things are in store for 2012.

Primarily, national brands can expect Local Marketing Automation to go mainstream. Is your brand poised to capitalize on these emerging trends and position itself as your industry’s leader?

This year is already proving to be an eventful one—both for Balihoo and across the entire local marketing landscape. In addition to a substantial funding announcement (click here to read the press release), VP of Marketing Shane Vaughn and Susan Tormollen, Director of Marketing, discussed 10 Local Marketing Predictions for 2012 in this year’s first webinar. The majority of participants rated the information “valuable” or “highly valuable,” illustrating the importance for national brands to strategically focus on local marketing.

If you missed the webinar, click here for a PDF download of the slides.

To read our initial blog posts on the 10 Predictions, see below:

Prediction #1: Local Marketing Automation Goes Mainstream
Prediction #2: CMOs Demand ROI Reporting on Local Co-op Programs
Prediction #3: Continued Dramatic Increase in Localization of Media Channels
Prediction #4: Content Marketing Moves Downstream to Local Businesses
Prediction #5: National Brands Demand Integrated Local Marketing Analytics
Prediction #6: National Brands Invest Heavily in Local Websites
Prediction #7: Local Marketers and Businesses Increase Video Use
Prediction #8: SMBs Get on the Call Tracking Bandwagon
Prediction #9: Traditional and Digital Media Lines Blur
Prediction #10: Local Businesses Embrace Mobile Marketing

The Local Web - an Image

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 by Susan Tormollen
A decade ago, purchases were primarily made—and consumer loyalty built—via traditional print and media ads, and the yellow pages.

But all of that is quickly changing.


While traditional forms of advertising are still relevant, today’s dollars are spent and customers are captured by means of digital marketing, including social media. In fact, in 2011, over $1 trillion in retail sales could be attributed to web-influenced purchases, according to a study conducted by GroupM Search and Kantar Media Compete. And the Local Web, an ever-growing ecosystem of online media channels, is the single largest influencer of this shift in consumer behavior.

Is your national brand poised to reach your local audience?

Balihoo, the industry leader in Local Marketing Automation, believes a well-executed local marketing plan is essential. Click here to download our infographic to learn more about why a localized marketing strategy is a national brand’s single largest opportunity to increase ROI and follow our five-step process to build your local marketing plan.

The Local Web Infographic

Balihoo Secures $5 Million in New Funding

Friday, January 13, 2012 by Susan Tormollen

This week, Balihoo, the leader in Local Marketing Automation technology and services, announced it secured $5 million in new funding. This investment will mean further momentum for Balihoo, which has already experienced triple-digit revenue growth for the past three years.

Click here to read the press release.

Join us for 10 Local Marketing Predictions Webcast.

Sunday, January 8, 2012 by Susan Tormollen
10 Predictions

Please join us for the "10 Local Marketing Predictions for 2012" webcast on Tuesday, January 10 at 12 Eastern Time (11 CST, 10 Mountain Time, 9 Pacific Time).

We'll review the 10 predictions, share statistics and research, and most importantly, discuss how national brands can capitalize on these trends in 2012 to improve overall marketing results and sales.



PS:  Let us know if you have pre-webcast questions about any of predictions:

Prediction #1: Local marketing automation goes mainstream in 2012
Prediction #2: CMO's demand ROI reporting on local co-op programs
Prediction #3: Continued dramatic increase in localization of media channels
Prediction #4: Content marketing moves downstream to local businesses
Prediction #5: National brands demand integrated local marketing analytics
Prediction #6: National brands invest heavily in local websites
Prediction #7: Local marketers and businesses increase video use in 2012
Prediction #8: SMBs get on the call tracking bandwagon
Prediction #9: Traditional and digital media lines blur
Prediction #10: Local businesses embrace mobile marketing (50% plan to engage in mobile marketing in 2012!)

Goodbye 2011 Hello 2012

Thursday, January 5, 2012 by Pete Gombert
2012

2011 is behind us now and I for one have mixed emotions.  

On a positive note.  There is something refreshing about a new year that helps people to re-align, gain perspective and gear up for a whole new year.

On the negative side I am a little sad to see 2011 go simply because Balihoo accomplished so much this past year and in nearly every regard it was a breakout year for the company.

2011 saw Balihoo grow at an impressive rate for a fourth year in a row (80% year over year) and add some tremendous new clients to our already impressive roster.  We pushed our clients to think more about local digital and introduced the concept of the Local Web to the world.    

2012 is set to be another explosive year of growth for Balihoo and we have some extremely interesting new features and concepts we will be releasing so make sure to follow us, like us or sign up for our resource center to stay on top of the latest developments with Balihoo and local marketing.  

The local marketing landscape is changing at an unprecedented pace and only time will tell where 2012 will take us, I for one am looking forward to a very big year.

Prediction #1: Local Marketing Automation goes Mainstream in 2012

Friday, December 23, 2011 by Susan Tormollen

Number OneAs content continues to digitize, consumers and media channels continue to fragment. The good news is this enables marketers to better target consumers and to reach consumers where and when the consumer wants the brand’s message. The bad news is that executing campaigns which take advantage of all these new media and social channels is really complicated, especially when the campaigns move from the national brand level to the local markets. (Check out Pete Gombert, CEO, as he explains the evolving landscape: Changing Local Marketing Landscape Video).

Local Marketing Automation enables brands to take advantage of local marketing opportunities by providing the technology required to expand traditional and digital marketing efforts to hundreds, and even thousands, of local markets. Based on the changing marketing landscape and the expanded use of marketing technology by national brands, we predict Local Marketing Automation will become a mainstream marketing tool by the end of 2012.

According to the recently released 2011 CMO Council Report, Localize to Optimize, brand usage of local marketing automation platforms is expected to nearly double in 2012:

  • 30% of marketers have embraced local marketing automation software platforms
  • 27% of marketers are currently evaluating local marketing automation software

And, according to survey respondents, the top benefit identified from a local marketing automation software platform is “greater customer relevance, response and return (67%).”

Top 10

Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast.

Prediction #2: CMO’s Demand ROI Reporting on Local Co-op Programs

Thursday, December 22, 2011 by Shane Vaughan
2Co-op advertising programs provide incentive dollars from a national brand to a local outlet for marketing their products.  Historically these programs have funded everything from local golf tournaments to regional mass-media efforts and are seen as a “benefit” to the local outlet.  However, as marketing has become more digital and technologically sophisticated there is now the ability to truly measure the ROI of these expenditures at a granular level as opposed to broad sell-to or sell-through numbers. 

In addition, CMO’s at national brands are now receiving dramatically increased pressure to justify the marketing expenditures coming out of their own organizations.  It’s expected that every dollar spent is associated with a measurable ROI to determine success and ultimately future investments. 

o   57% of marketers named measurement and analysis as one of their top three issues.

o   Marketers said their top two priorities are “turning data into actions” and “attributing success to marketing”*

  • 48% of CMOs feel pressure to deliver ROI on marketing spend (this tied for first with “need to deliver quality sales” when CMOs were asked  to choose  “Top 3 Pressures”) in an Aberdeen study**

These two trends will collide in 2012 – no longer will the CMO or the Board of Directors have the luxury to look at the co-op budget as an expense line-item.  Instead, both marketing and sales will be pushed into using the latest technology at the local level to justify the significant budgets passed down to local outlets. 

 Top 10

Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast.

*Mentioned on CMO.com

** Aberdeen Group, Aberdeen Group, Sept 2011 

Prediction #3: Continued Dramatic Increase in Localization of Media Channels

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 by Shane Vaughan
Number 3Localization of media channels, particularly on the digital front, will continue a rapid escalation in 2012.  Search, social and content providers will continue to use geography as a key filter to provide highly relevant information to increasingly digital consumers.


Localization increased dramatically in 2011:

·         Google, which launched a major local search redesign in late 2010, continued this escalation with ongoing changes and testing designed to give locally relevant information more visibility in the search results.  (Catalyst Marketing)

·        
According to the Local Search Association’s State of Local Search” study, 77.1 million mobile subscribers accessed local business content as of January 2011, up an astonishing 34% from a year ago.

·        
Twitter launched Local Trends in over 100 specific geographic locations.

·        
ESPNNewYork.com launched in April 2009, and the five ESPN local sites averaged more than 5.1 million visitors and 31.8 million total minutes per month (ESPN)


National media properties view local information not only as a method to capture relevance and interest by their customers, but also as a mechanism to drive higher CPM’s among their advertisers.  As these media properties continue their shift from traditional to digital revenues, it will be critical that they focus on local as a key growth area. 


Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. 
Register for the webcast.

Prediction #4: Content Marketing Moves Downstream to Local Businesses

Friday, December 16, 2011 by Shane Vaughan
Number 4Two major 2011 trends collide in 2012:  the adoption of social media by local businesses and the dramatic growth of content marketing at the national level.  Local businesses, now heavily using social media, will be desperate for “what to say” via these channels.  Their national counterparts demonstrated in 2011 that content marketing was a highly effective B2B and B2C marketing approach.  As a result, 2012 will see local businesses rapidly adopting content marketing as a marketing strategy and promote that content strongly via social channels.  
Social media is here to stay*:

- 27% of small businesses are using Facebook for their business
- 18% of small businesses are using LinkedIn for their business 
- 7% of small businesses are using Twitter for their business
- On Facebook alone, 69% of small businesses reported receiving customer recommendations through the site 


The Content Marketing Institute reports key stats from 2011:

- Nine out of 10 national marketers are using content marketing to grow their business
- B2B marketers dedicate approximately 26% of their total budgets to content marketing initiative
- On average, national marketers employ eight different content marketing tactics


As more and more local businesses flock to social media, they will all desperately need to fill those open “post an update” boxes.  Content marketing has demonstrated significant success at the national level, and 2012 will see local marketers demonstrate a similar level of success.   Top 10


Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast.

University of Maryland School of Business Study

Local marketing is more than local advertising

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 by Pete Gombert
I took a small break last week with my wife and went down to the Four Seasons in Scottsdale ( http://www.fourseasons.com/scottsdale and @fsscottsdale ) for some R&R.  We have been to the resort several times in the past and have always gone in celebration of either my Birthday or our Anniversary (which fall fairly close together).  

In this case my birthday is right around the corner and it happens to be a fairly big one, so we decided to go back because the resort is one of our favorite places.  In the past I have always let the hotel know if there was a special  occasion for them to take into account.  In most cases they will welcome us with a bottle of champagne or a nice desert, which is a very nice touch.  However, on this occasion it slipped my mind to remind them that we were coming for my Birthday.  Despite my omission, someone or some marketing system recognized our name and made it a priority to welcome us in grand style.  

This is a picture of the welcome gift that was waiting in our room for us:

Welcome GiftWelcome Gift

And this was the card:

Welcome Card

The Four Seasons went out of their way to make sure we had a wonderful start to our vacation and this little touch of thoughtfulness is now being spread both by me verbally to all my friends and by me socially to all readers of this blog and my Twitter followers.  Now that is effective local marketing.  

While Balihoo focuses on local marketing automation, it's always nice to see local affiliates going the extra mile with service to round out the efforts that can't be automated.

Prediction #5: National Brands Demand Integrated Local Marketing Analytics

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 by Shane Vaughan
Number 5Local will continue to play an increasingly large role in 2012, and national brands will expect their partners and their vendors to deliver clear marketing analytics, both online and off, that can be rolled-up in a comprehensive view of activity and results. 

A recent study by the CMO Council found the following:

  • Nearly 49 percent of marketers believe localized marketing is essential to business growth and profitability, particularly as it relates to demand generation and sell-through of products and services.
  • Only 36 percent of marketers have a formalized process or system for tracking the impact of national brand advertising on local market development and customer acquisition. Some 61 percent either don’t measure this or have an ad hoc system for tracking national advertising effectiveness.
  • For those who do track the impact of national brand advertising on local business performance, the most common methods include:
    • response to offers or deals (45 percent);
    • awareness and recognition studies (41 percent);
    • lead and prospect flow (37 percent);
    • web site analytics (37 percent);
    • field and channel feedback (31 percent);
    • local inquiries and calls (30 percent) and
    • share of market data (28 percent)
  • Cable and broadcast television, local magazines, and radio reportedly deliver the lowest return on spend, compared to top performers like local events, direct mail or FSIs, local partner or channel web sites, social networks and electronic messaging.

As the role of local grows, and national brands look to their local affiliates (dealers, distributors, VAR’s) to drive demand, the ability to track metrics across all mediums will become critical.  Beyond 2012, we see this trend heavily impacting the way manufacturer co-op programs are set-up, administrated and in many cases the actual dollar volume available to a local outlet. 

Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast. 

Prediction #6: National brands invest heavily in local websites

Tuesday, December 13, 2011 by Susan Tormollen

Number 6Over the past decade, corporate websites have become the hub for all national brand marketing activities, becoming the centralized landing pages through which most tactical programs are driven, tracked and measured.

For national brands, having a local presence online is now imperative to ensure that consumers can find their resellers at the local level. Local websites do this – they are the first step required for national brands to build a local market presence. They ensure search engines direct customers to the right place at the right time; they make sure local reseller/affiliate messages are consistent with national campaigns; and they guarantee customers aren’t routed to the competition.

  • According to Google, 73% of online search activity is related to local content  
  • 74% of internet users perform local search1
  • 51% of marketing executive respondents include localized websites as part of their preferred localized marketing channel in 2012.2
  • Adding local content to web pages, blog posts and titles was the most popular local optimization tactic for 81% of marketing survey respondents. (yet, interestingly, only 37% of organizations surveyed claimed local business listings on one or more search engines)3

Without effective local marketing strategies, national brands risk losing visibility and sales at the local level.  Local websites are the most important tactic for ongoing, long-term local marketing success.

Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast.

 Top 10

1 The Kelsey Group

2 CMO Council "Localize to Optimize Sales Channel Effectiveness", Oct 2011

3 MarketingSherpa Benchmark Study, 2012 Search Marketing SEO Edition

Prediction #7: Local marketers and businesses increase video use in 2012

Friday, December 9, 2011 by Susan Tormollen

According to the 2011 Social Media Market Industry report, 90% of marketers say social media is important to their business. As social media continues to gain importance in the local marketing mix, small business use of video will also increase. This is due to the ability of video to enhance the social media experience, increase SEO results, and increase the overall effectiveness of multiple Local Web media channels. 

  • 86.2 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in 20111
  • Video ads accounted for 14.9 percent of all videos viewed1
  • Nearly 60% of those online will watch a video before reading the text on any given web page — and they’re more likely to make a purchase2
  • Cisco predicts that 80% of all internet traffic will be video by 20153
  • 77% of all marketers planned to increase their use of video in 2011. While this was the first choice for all marketers, small businesses lagged behind their larger counterparts (82% of large businesses saw this as a key growth area)4.
The Local Web

There is a learning curve to including video in the local marketing mix, and we predict 2012 is the year local marketers will experiment and learn. They will learn both how to cost effectively and quickly produce videos, and they will become comfortable with incorporating video in to their various social media and local internet marketing channels. Most importantly, they will respond to consumer preference for video.

Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast.



Fun Facts:

1) Viewers remember 58% more when learning via a combination of audio and video vs. print alone.5

2) Infographic: What Kind of Videos do Americans Admit to Watching on their Mobile Devices at Work




1 comScore. Oct 2011

2 Forbes Insight Survey Dec 2010. Article

3 Cisco. Article

4 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

5 Allan Paivio, University of Western Ontario

 





Prediction #8: SMBs Get on the Call Tracking Bandwagon

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 by Shane Vaughan
Number 8Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have made the realization that their customers are online, and their marketing budgets are shifting, however they have not had the tools or expertise in place to effectively track the true ROI of these activities.  2012 will see local businesses embrace call tracking technology to track the offline responses of both their digital and traditional media expenditures. 

Local Businesses Want Phone Calls: 

  • 65% of businesses rate phone calls as their highest quality lead source.1
  • Most small businesses don’t even have a website. Discover Small Business Watch reports that less than 50% of the small businesses in the US have a website.2  

Making the Phone Ring also Makes the Cash Register Ring:

  • Phone calls convert at 5X the rate of clicks and drive higher revenue value.3
  • 20% of searches carry local intent, increasing to 40% when considering mobile searches.4

In 2012, SMBs will embrace call tracking to effectively track the responses of all of their offline and online marketing activity, bringing them:

  1. The ability to truly understand where their marketing dollars are best spent
  2.  A true understanding of the ability for online activities to drive offline revenue
  3. Increased insight into the effectiveness of their staff answering the phones and their ability to close business


Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. 
Register for the webcast.

 

BIA/Kelsey & ConStat Local Commerce Monitor Wave XIII Aug 2009Top 10 Local Marketing Predictions

Discover

Marchex

Google/BIA Kelsey

Prediction #9: Traditional and Digital Media Lines Blur

Tuesday, December 6, 2011 by Susan Tormollen
Prediction # 9Until recently, there was a fairly succinct line between the providers of traditional and digital media. Consumers and marketers also divided traditional and digital activities in to distinct pillars.
Now, the lines are blurring.


Users Want both Traditional and Digital Media.

  • Print magazines are beginning to see consistent cross-over readers (readers who read BOTH print and digital versions of a publication). Affinity’s recent American Magazine Study, found that Time Inc., with a collective readership of over 114 million readers, has the largest crossover of publishers reviewed: 30% of their readers, read both digital and print products, 55 percent only use its print products, while 15 percent digitally access Time Inc. content. 1
  • Professionals are not replacing print with digital; they are using both. When professionals were asked which media they use regularly in their work, 77% reported regular use of search engines. Print editions of magazines and e-newsletters related to their industry and profession came in second at 74% each.2  
  • Consumers still prefer print coupons to digital. Users of print coupons outnumber users of digital coupons by a margin of almost 3 to 1; 68% of all U.S. adults said their household uses print coupons, a number that has remained relatively unchanged during the past five years. (Even iPhone users consistently use print coupons). 3

Media Channels and Advertisers are Responding Accordingly.

  •  In 2012 traditional media companies will control about 55% of local online ad dollars, according to a Borrell Associates report. Legacy local media companies still control 92% of all advertising, including half of all locally spent online advertising.4
  • According to The Specialist Reading Show research5, readers, regardless of age or gender, want the choice between hard copy and digital formats. And, publications are responding accordingly. There are numerous examples of traditional media companies now providing digital offerings. An interesting example is Meredith Publication which created Recipe.com print magazine from the ground up to fit consumers evolving preferences and uses.The publication integrates traditional print media, digital content, QR codes, social media, and value-added mobile apps.
  •  National brands link traditional and digital with QR codes.  14 million Americans scanned QR codes on their mobile phones in June 2011, according to comScore. The most popular source of a scanned QR code was a printed magazine or newspaper, with nearly half scanning QR codes from this source. Product packaging was the source of QR code scanning for 35.3 percent of the audience, while 27.4 percent scanned a code from a website on a PC and 23.5 percent scanned codes from a poster/flyer/kiosk.7 
In 2012, the demarcation between traditional and digital media will continue to blur, this evolution

1)      Helps media companies by providing additional channels for revenue

2)     Enhances consumers experience by enabling them to receive the information they want, in the place and format most desired

3)      Most excitingly, provides marketers with more opportunity to unify traditional and digital marketing efforts and deliver integrated campaigns at the national level and the local marketing level. Ultimately, enhancing national brands’ ability to reach consumers where and when the consumer is most receptive to the message.  

Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast.

Top 10
 
1 Folio Mag article. Affinity American Magazine Study.
2 Media Usage Study. Readex Research
3 Experian
4 Screenwerk article. Borrell Associates- Budgeting for 2012: Local Online Advertising Forecasts and Key Growth Opportunities
5 The Media Briefing article. The Specialist Reading Show Research.
6 PBS.org article
7. comScore

Prediction #10. Local businesses embrace mobile marketing.

Friday, December 2, 2011 by Susan Tormollen
Top 10Top 10As consumer use of mobile technology continues to rise, local marketers will respond with increased focus on search optimization, mobile website enablement, and mobile local advertising.  
  • According to a ThreatMetrics survey of 722 active internet using consumers, 37% intend to make a purchase using their smart phones, nearly 3 times as many as those who plan to use their tablets.1

  • Google predicts 44% of last minute gifts and 44% of local store searches will be mobile in December 2011.2

  • Local advertisers are on track to spend nearly $800 million this year on mobile advertising and more than $400 million on mobile promotions. Forecasts have those numbers roughly doubling every year for the next 5 years.3

  • 50% of local businesses plan to engage in mobile marketing. These local marketers plan to commit roughly 20% of their budgets to this effort.4

Regardless if a local business is an independent SMB or a local affiliate for a national brand, mobile will be an integral part of marketing for over 50% of local businesses in 2012.  Mobile enables local marketers to capitalize on consumers’ evolving investigation patterns and purchase preferences.

In 2012, local marketers will focus on search engine optimization (SEO), mobile advertising, location-based local advertising, and mobile optimization of websites. Those that do this well, will be the ones consumers find.

Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast.

1 Get Elastic

Google Holiday Retail Mobile Insights

3 Borrell Associates, Main Street Goes Mobile, August 2011

4 Borrell Associates, Main Street Goes Mobile, August 2011, Street Fight article 

10 Local Marketing Predictions for 2012

Friday, December 2, 2011 by Susan Tormollen
Here at Balihoo, we think, breathe and live local marketing. And we do it for a good reason. Some of the largest national brands in the country, such as Kohler, Aflac, 1-800 Doctors and Pearle Vision, rely on us to provide  innovative local marketing solutions to help them grow their business. They also rely on us to stay ahead of the evolving local marketing landscape and help them leverage the ever-expanding local marketing opportunities. 

Top 10

Over the month of December, we will be counting down our predictions for local marketing in 2012. These predictions are based on trends, research, and what we are observing working with our clients.

And, on January 10, we will kick off the new year, with our 10 Local Marketing Predictions Webcast, highlighting the most significant local marketing changes and how national brands will successfully capitalize on these local marketing opportunities.

Stay tuned, and let us know what you think.

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday month, 
Your friends at Balihoo

Prediction #10: Local businesses embrace mobile marketing (50% plan to engage in mobile marketing in 2012!)

Prediction #9
: Traditional and digital media lines blur

Prediction #8: SMBs get on the call tracking bandwagon

Prediction #7: Local marketers and businesses increase video use in 2012

Prediction #6: National brands invest heavily in local websites

Prediction #5: National brands demand integrated local marketing analytics

Prediction #4: Content marketing moves downstream to local businesses

Prediction #3: Continued dramatic increase in localization of media channels

Prediction #2: CMO's demand ROI reporting on local co-op programs

Prediction #1: Local marketing automation goes mainstream in 2012


Local Dealer Websites: Kohler

Wednesday, November 30, 2011 by Shane Vaughan
Working in the Local Marketing Automation space, much of our work is not frequently available for the entire population to see as it's very specific to a local market.  As a result, it's always nice to undertake a Local Websites project because they are, by nature, visible to everyone.  

Kohler is a major customer of ours and not long ago we extended their Local Marketingkohler logo
 Automation solution to include local websites for their dealers.  If you visit Kohler's dealer locator here:  http://www.us.kohler.com/wheretobuy/index.jsp any of the sites you are directed to are these local websites.  

These sites come in a couple of flavors.  First, the purely data-driven sites are simply data about the local reseller combined with a straightforward template.  The product here is a simple, easy template that provides key reseller information in a Kohler "wrapper".  Examples of these include:  The second key flavor of site is actually based on the same above template, but is created when a local dealer uses our ad builder software to customize the site template for their own usage.  Examples of these versions include: You'll notice that this second version of site includes much more customized information and, very importantly, a lead-capture option.  

One of the other great things in this program, is that it gives Kohler and their dealers a co-branded web experience to use as their call-to-action in co-op advertising activities.  So, using our co-op marketing software, Kohler resellers can easily customize their site and execute Kohler-approved and co-opped demand generation activities, both online and off, to drive traffic and leads through the site.  Pretty exciting!  

If you're interested in how local websites might be able to help your business, you may want to take a look at our whitepaper:  The Local Web:  The Linchpin to Local Marketing Success.