Ad Builder Software

How do you find out what your customers want? Ask 'em.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 by Kelly Mason

I used to stress about how to gather feedback the 'right' way from customers. Before talking to customers about Balihoo's ad builder software, I would have all my W's (and one H - catchy right?) in a line: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How. I would search to find just the right customers, plan all the content out via a well defined script, decide a time that would work perfectly for all involved time zones, and then I would worry about whether or not I had the perfect format by which to relay and receive information - Would they get it? Would they get hung up on something? Would they be able to provide valuable feedback?

Now that I'm a veteran product manager and totally comfortable with all aspects of my job (note the sarcasm), I have more confidence. Maybe it's in me, but I think it's in the customers. When I have questions, or when I find myself looking at a few different options, wondering which one is the right one, I go to the customers. Representative customers can be found everywhere: the people placing the orders (of course), coworkers, third party feedback sites, family (thanks Mom). Though, taking representative customer feedback as directional and inconclusive is my job. It's still my job to take that information and make a decision based on what will help the affiliate be successful in their local advertising. All along the process of development, information is power, and that directional input gets us one step closer to perfecting Balihoo's ad builder software.

Let Us Organize Your Skittles

Friday, August 20, 2010 by Paul Price

Imagine a big jar filled with Skittles. The Skittles are randomly distributed throughout the jar; a jumbled mishmash of red, green, yellow, purple and orange. The jar is on a machine that shakes it vigorously. Now, imagine that this shaking action is captured on a video and played in reverse.

There is no way that you can tell the video is being played in reverse. When the video is played backward, the candies bounce just as they would when played forward. You have no way to know if the video is playing forward or in reverse.

Now, record a new video in your mind. This time, start with a jar where the Skittles are arranged in colored layers. Moving from the bottom to the top, you have red, green, yellow, purple and finally a orange layer. As the machine shakes the jar, the candies bounce and collide until they are again randomly distributed.

In this video, you can easily distinguish a forward playing recording from one that plays in reverse. This experiment illustrates the effect of entropy known as the arrow of time. The basic principle of this model is that without the help of an external exertion of energy, a system tends to become less ordered over time. Interestingly, this is the only physical property that seems to define the flow of time from past to future.

I got to thinking about this principle as I was mowing, weeding and maintaining my yard yesterday afternoon. Everything in life follows this principle: yards, cars, homes, computer systems, roads and even business strategies including your local advertising strategy. It will slowly fall apart and become less effective over time if you don't continually test, measure and refine it. For example, if local internet marketing was not a part of your strategy a few years ago, it may not have hurt your sales. But, today, if you aren't investing in local internet marketing, then you are almost certainly losing opportunities.

Even if you are executing a successful local pay-per-click campaign today, it is almost guaranteed to be less successful in the future if you don't continually test, measure and refine your approach. The same goes for all other mediums, strategies, tactics and local marketing ideas. You have to stay up-to-date on the new tools and techniques or your competitors who do keep up will leave you behind.

As a national brand, local affiliate, reseller or independent small business owner, you have a lot to worry about, and probably don't have time to get into the nuts and bolts of fighting local advertising entropy. That is where Balihoo comes in. We do that work for you; from ad builder software to email campaign automation, microsites and local media buying. Click here to take a look at some of our whitepapers and case studies. If you are a franchisee or product reseller, then direct your national brands to Balihoo, so that we can help them and you to get your skittles (aka: local store marketing strategy) to look more like this:

The User Experience Journey

Friday, August 6, 2010 by Kevin Donaldson

Software user-experience development is a journey. It's a lot like the journey of life - ideally you continue to grow and learn along this journey, and in the case of user experience, our objective is to make our users feel like marketing super hero's when using our software.

Balihoo's local marketing automation platform is considered to be one of the best in the industry, however we're always looking for ways to improve it. Not only do we continually add new functionality designed to benefit affiliates' with local store marketing needs - but we consistently strive to ensure that the product that we're currently offering continues to evolve and surpass our end-users expectations. A current enhancement that we're working through is in our cross-medium ad builder process and the user transition from the creative template library into the ad-building and ordering process.

In the first image below you will see our current creative details UI that was released earlier this year. This screen is a 'jumping off' point for building an ad and then taking an action with it. While this iteration was well received over the previous release, we knew there would still be plenty of room for growth. However one of the best ways to evolve a product is through real user activity!

Since the time it was deployed we've been gathering feedback through conversion analytics, support calls, training demos and 3rd party usability tests to look for mis-steps in the user experience. Below is an in-progress version of our next iteration. There are some minor tweaks we still want to make but overall this new concept tested well prior to development and we are now in the process of building and deploying this to our customers in the next two weeks. If you look at both screens you'll notice a number of changes including:

Increased use of thumbnail images over pure text
Clear link between the version you are looking against the assets you have stored
Available actions are all available in one place (as your eye scans to the right (always above the fold))
Clear focus toward action (i.e. conversion) on the page
Clear differentiation between the master template and versions the user has customized

This is just the tip of a much broader initiative as we work to further simplify the local marketing execution process. We're excited to be continually moving forward to better serve our customer base. Stay tuned for more peeks into this process over the next few months!

How to take your Co-op Advertising Program to the Next Level

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

Okay, I’ll admit it – co-op advertising, co-op marketing, MDF advertising – these terms threw me at first. The first time I encountered them was in a meeting with the Balihoo Product Management team (notably Kevin and Kelly – these two incredibly dedicated and bright individuals left me excited about the advancements made within the Balihoo solution AND interested to learn more about co-op/MDF programs). I wondered, just how prevalent was/is the need for a cross-media ad builder (inclusive of all media types) that ALSO houses (thereby streamlining) the co-op marketing process?

Who is offering a solution that addresses the widespread question “Okay, so I customized and placed my advertising…now I have to access X to file my co-op claim, why can’t it all just be wrapped up in one single website?!”).” Well… enter Balihoo.

Okay, so I obviously have an agenda here, I want national brands with co-op marketing brands and local store marketing needs to check out Balihoo’s integrated marketing solution – however, I also KNOW that what Balihoo's product is truly unique, innovative and GAME-CHANGING.

Schedule a demo to see how our integrated co-op marketing solution can (and WILL) help your national brand (from the local to national level) progress and see results. You won’t be sorry – I GUARANTEE it! If you attend a demo on behalf of your brand and aren’t impressed – let me know and I’ll personally send you a $10 Starbucks gift card.

Purpose Built

Monday, August 2, 2010 by Pete Gombert

I was riding my cruiser to work today on another gorgeous morning in Boise and was appreciating how wonderful the experience was. As I thought about why I enjoy riding into work every morning I went through the usual list:

1. It's a really nice ride down the old tree lined streets of the North End

2. It's great to get fresh air in the morning
3. The weather is usually amazing
4. Nobody can bother me :-)
5. It is super relaxing

But then it struck me that the one thing that made all of the above possible was the bike that I was on - the cruiser - its purpose built to be a relaxing ride for short distances. I have two other bikes, a Mountain Bike and a Road Bike, but the cruiser is what I take to work every day. The road bike is faster and would get me to work quicker. The mountain bike is better in the snow, but I greatly prefer the cruiser in all conditions and that is because it is purpose built to be relaxing and the ride to work is my time to relax.

Now you may be asking "how does this relate to Local Marketing Automation?" - well the reality is that other than Balihoo, there are no other platforms that were purpose built for local marketing automation. There are ad builders, and there are co-op platforms, that are all purpose built to facilitate parts of the local marketing continuum, but no other solution that can deliver all of the required elements to drive demand in local markets.

So when you are looking for a solution, no matter if it is a bike or a LMA platform, my take is to ensure that you find the one that is purpose built for your needs - it makes all the difference.

Start by downloading one of our whitepapers or case studies.

Transforming Granite

Monday, August 2, 2010 by Matt Borud

Last Saturday, Balihoo had the pleasure of presenting at the Granite Transformations annual franchise convention in New Orleans. Now this was a significant occasion for several reasons beyond franchise marketing - namely it being my first time in the Big Easy. After the celebration of Balihoo's arrival subsided, it was time to get down to business and talk local store marketing with some eager and engaged franchisees.

The marketing team at Granite Transformation has taken an active and aggressive approach to solving issues that countless franchise organizations face. How can a national marketing team better support local franchisees? Is your brand's creative material compelling and effective - does it help sell your product? How can your marketing team manage seemingly limitless local customizations for hundreds of franchisees across the country? How can you ensure your franchisees are using brand approved advertising material in their local advertising efforts, and how can you track and report on the results? How can your franchisees leverage Facebook, Twitter, local PR, SEO, blogs and YouTube? This list goes on and on - and frankly it requires much more than sophisticated ad builder software or someone to manage your local media buying. It requires a team of dedicated marketing experts each specializing in key challenge areas your franchisees face.

Kudos to Carl, the Granite Transformations FAC, and the rest of their marketing team for building a strong network of marketing and advertising experts for their franchisees to leverage. From PR to creative agency, online and social media marketing to franchise marketing software - Granite Transformation has covered their bases and giving their franchisees the tools necessary to thrive in a competitive and challenging market. There are certainly more hurdles to overcome, but the question becomes, whether you're a marketing executive, a franchisee looking for local marketing help, or a prospective franchisee checking out different opportunities - is your organization bold enough to take the steps Granite Transformations has taken to ensure they're franchisees have the most innovative local store marketing tools in the industry? If the answer to that question is 'no' - it may be time to reevaluate your franchise marketing strategies and talk with Balihoo about what we can do for your organization's marketing effort. Because at the end of the day, you're competing with Granite Transformations, whether for home improvement business, the consumer's limited budget and mindshare or your next well-qualified potential franchisees - and they just retooled like the Miami Heat.

From all of us at Balihoo, we're very excited to kick off our relationship with the Granite Transformations team next week. Thank you for your hospitality last weekend and the opportunity to partner - we're looking forward to a successful relationship!

The Local Marketing Puzzle

Friday, July 30, 2010 by Paul Price

Are you a local advertiser who is trying to figure out the most efficient way to drum up more business? A few years ago when asked about local marketing, a small business owner may have expressed the kind of frustration this cat is feeling:

It was kind of hard and frustrating, especially with no opposable thumbs. And, as in the case of a color blind cat, it was difficult to really understand the effectiveness and results of your efforts. That was then. Now local store marketing is something a little more akin to this:

You'd think that it would be getting easier, right? I can reach out to individual consumers with all this new whiz-bang technology, right? But with all of the fragmentation of publishers, and new complexity that sits between them and the advertiser it can be a pretty daunting task to just understand the landscape, let alone achieve tangible results. We're talking about agencies, ad servers, media buying platforms, creative optimization, analytics, data suppliers and aggregation, data optimizers, ad exchanges, ad networks, performance analysis, print ad builders, yield optimization, social tools, publisher tools, etc. How do you make sense of all of these puzzle pieces and get them to work together seamlessly?

At the end of the day you simply want more people to spend more money in your store. It would be really nice if it were handed to you like this:

Ok, nobody is going to hand you a completely solved marketing solution. Every business and market is different, there is no perfect one-size-fits-all solution. But the tools and expertise to help you get there are available. Check out our white papers and cases studies to see how Balihoo, the premier provider of local marketing software and services, can help you solve your local marketing puzzle so that you can spend more time chasing mice and playing with balls of yarn. Oops, I got my analogy a little mixed up.

The Czech Dream

Friday, July 23, 2010 by Phil Bear

Back in 2003, roughly 19 years after Ghostbusters was released in theaters, two Czech film makers decided to create a documentary about the impact that marketing has on people.

Their plan was a simple one. They would create a massive marketing campaign for a shopping mall, and its grand opening. Sounds pretty straight forward right? Wrong! The M Night Shyamalan twist? The shopping mall never has, and never will exist.

Looks like you just got air-bended.

The two film students, Remunda and Klusák, created a marketing campaign around a shopping mall called Czech Dream that was going to "open" a month from the start of the campaign. We're talking radio, television, billboards, and even a jingle.

When the big day arrived, and the 3000+ people that showed up for the opening walked towards the front of the "store", they found this:

Bruce Willis is dead the whole movie!!!!

The point the filmmakers were trying to make, from my perspective, is that we are all suckers for marketing. But it didn't strike me that way. Throughout the movie they are advertising legitimate items (be it celery, chain-link, or Ghostbusters on BluRay) with a good price. People in the film were showing up for specific things. They didn't show up because they were brainwashed by marketing.

Consumers have something they want or need. Marketing effectively is the way in which brands reach consumers about the products they, the consumer, already have interest in. How is this a bad thing? If anything, it needs to be done better. Enter Balihoo.

Balihoo, and our local marketing automation software, give national brands the ability to reach consumers that have a want or a need. We provide brands with the tools (via our sweet ad builder software), and the knowledge (thanks to our incredible local media planning team) to market national brands through local stores and dealers effectively.

Lastly, if you only watch one Czech movie about two film makers who market a make-believe shopping mall, Czech Dream is definitely the movie I recommend.

Determining the ROI of Local Marketing Automation (LMA)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 by Pete Gombert

In today's economic climate, Return on Investment (ROI) is more important than ever. Companies are running so lean that every penny is being examined to determine just how much it is contributing to the bottom line - and that is just as it should be.

So it naturally follows that when a company is evaluating a local marketing solution they should be heavily focused on ROI.

At Balihoo we think that there are several factors that contribute to the overall value of a local marketing program, and all need to be considered when calculating ROI:

Reduction in local production costs - This is the value that is most attributable to Ad Builders that allow a local affiliate to customize an ad template without the use of a creative resource. By leveraging these tools affiliates can reduce their local production costs by up to 90%.
Increase in brand integrity - This is the secondary benefit of a good Ad Builder. Because ads are templated and the customizations can be designed to be in compliance with brand guidelines, the brand can rest assured that their investment into developing their brand is not degraded through rogue local implementations.
Reduction in local execution costs - If the LMA solution allows for execution across all media types, the brand can leverage their scale to greatly reduce execution costs across different media. The economies of scale reach across transactional mediums such as direct mail, e-mail, SMS, Newspaper Circulars all the way to negotiated traditional media costs on a local level. If the LMA solution selected does not offer full execution across all media types, this element of the calculation can be eliminated.
Improved local marketing execution - A great LMA solution will help to guide the users through a combination of training, professional assistance and in application education to become a better local marketer. While the first couple benefits of the ROI calculation are great opportunities to reduce costs or negative impact on branding, this element can have the biggest impact on a local marketer's business. So much of marketing today is waste, and the marketing landscape keeps getting more confusing, which is adding to the waste. If your LMA platform can help to remove some of the confusion, and direct your affiliates to more effective marketing techniques, the impact on ROI can be dramatic.
Affiliate adoption - The final component of the ROI calculation is determining affiliate adoption. All of the factors listed above are dramatically impacted by how many of the local affiliates take advantage of the opportunities afforded to them through the LMA platform. You can create the best program in the world, but if the program is not adopted, then it will have almost no impact on your business and will certainly not deliver ROI. This is typically the largest missing piece of any LMA effort. In order to drive adoption the brand must invest in training, useful templates, strong co-op programs, and education.

By building a model with these factors, it is fairly simple to construct a well-defined and easily understandable ROI model for your LMA program. If you are interested in some sample ROI calculators and the methodology behind them, please comment on this post and I would be happy to provide you with the information.

Time for Local Out of Home Advertising to Go Digital

Monday, June 28, 2010 by Ian Mundorff

Long before there was the internet, cable or broadcast television, even print, there was out-of-home advertising. Almost elegant in its simplicity, it's tended to be static, 2 dimensional, and downright polite in its lack of intrusiveness. In recognition of those features, us media planners have rewarded its contribution to advertising by paying comparatively low rates for your highway billboard and bus bench...a fault that the outdoor advertising industry has somehow spun into a virtue.

Ah, but then it occurred to them to plug in the billboards. Digital Out of Home (whose acronym gets a second 'O,' robbing us of the pleasure of a D'OH) consists of the Times Square "Spectaculars" pictured above and the LED billboards on the side of the highway, but also includes the closed-loop TV screen you see in your local coffee shop, pharmacy, and super market.

It's also one of those few media that has continued rapid acceleration in the face of the past few years' economics. Leading U.S. DOOH network, Adcentricity, recently published it's 2010 Outlook white-paper, and sees revenues jumping from $3B U.S. this year to $4.5B by 2013, an enviable growth curve in a sluggish economy.

So why are those of us charged with allocating your advertising media dollars flocking to this emerging media? Here are a few good reasons:

Reach: While it pales in comparison to the nearly half-million billboards that line America's highways (sigh), DOOH now exceeds 150k screens nation-wide, and reaches 2/3rds of the population.
Location, Location, Location: Only 150k screens? Yes, but many of those are in places where we're better able to distinguish the audience's mindset. At the gym? Perhaps you'd like a sports drink? At the doctors? You might like some aspirin.
Interactivity: Remember that part about OOH being static? So much for that. DOOH's pictures are not only moving, but interactive. As dated as it is, this brilliant example from Nike through agency R/GA still gets me excited about the potential of a huge glowing wall.

What's this have to do with you and your local marketing efforts? I'd like to tell you we'll be recommending a giant interactive billboard in Time Square with every media plan, but let's take this one step at a time. DOOH is a great local advertising tool, allowing you to select from multiple venues, and, unlike broadcast, allows you to choose a relatively precise geographic footprint for your ads. Speaking of which, even if you don't have a 90 foot electronic billboard loaded in our ad builder software, we can work with your existing television and OOH creative to find new and more select audiences.

If you'd like to talk about the future of what local DOOH can do for you and you're one of our co-op or franchise marketing partners, check out how Balihoo can help with your local media planning. If you're still looking for a Local Marketing Automation solution, make sure to check out our demo.

Gaining Qualified Dental Implant Leads from Consumer Advertising

Monday, June 21, 2010 by Betsie Richardson

Being in the dental implant marketing space, we at Balihoo are often asked how to gain more qualified leads in local advertising. There are many consumer barriers to overcome with dental implant marketing. How much will this cost? Is it painful? Will it take a long time before I have functioning teeth?

These questions can be answered in a free-to-the-public education seminar. Now the doctor has the ability to speak in great detail to a captive audience of consumers, and they can ask questions in a comfortable setting where they are surrounded by people who also suffer from the discomfort of missing teeth.

Many dental clinicians - specialists in particular - run education seminars for general dentists to open a channel of patient referrals for dental implant procedures. These prospecting patients call the implant specialist's practice with a fairly knowledgeable understanding of the procedures available, obstacles and costs. The office staff is used to this "qualified" lead. Now try running a strong :30 second TV campaign like we do for many of our clients, and your staff is suddenly hit with an influx of prospecting consumers who have many questions about the exciting procedure they saw marketed while watching Oprah. Simply put, a :30 second TV spot cannot qualify a dental implant patient on its own.

In our integrated marketing plans, we often include such an education seminar in the annual strategy. The one medium that has proven most successful is...drum roll please...newspaper ROP. This "dying" medium is still highly read by our target demographic in most markets. My anecdotally-based theory is that consumers are value or event-shopping newspaper's advertisements. They can physically hold onto the paper, read your ad in detail and cut it out and post it on the fridge to remind them of the date.

One of our local clients held a patient education seminar last week. Running an integrated approach of newspaper, network TV and online advertising, they had a great turnout of 14 consumers. Nine of them scheduled personal consultations that evening. Needless to say, that client found their answer in seeking more qualified leads.

Download our white paper here to learn the three cardinal rules of dental marketing.

(Nobel Biocare taps into our local marketing automation software to provide a co-op advertising solution for their partner clinicians. Using our print ad builder, these clinicians tag their advertisements with their photos, logo and customize the messaging.)

Childhood, Co-Op Marketing, and Perception Versus Reality

Friday, June 11, 2010 by Phil Bear

Childhood. For most, it is a time that you can look back at the wonderful memories you experienced with family and friends. The hardest part of your day was having to go to school, generally that lasted only 3/4 of the year. No job, no responsibility, and adults had all of the answers. Or so you thought.

As we gradually transform from children into adults, we start to realize that parents don't have everything figured out. They are faking it with their confidence and authority over us. (Those tricky adults!) I am constantly reminded of this bamboozling the more I do research on co-op marketing.

Co-op is an essential piece to a brand's retail marketing puzzle. It's the grappling hook in a ninja's arsenal. Brands know this, and because they know this, they have a co-op marketing program. The thing is: a lot of brands don't know what they are doing when it comes executing effective local co-op marketing.

Companies I research and talk to repeatedly tell me that they have no clear vision on how to execute co-op advertising. They are aware of the elements that make up co-op marketing, but putting them together and making them work is where things get rough.

Essentially there are two parts that make up brand's co-op marketing strategy: digital asset management, and co-op administration.

Digital Asset Management is the online warehouse where a brand stores all of its marketing material. Dealers and distributors can go in and access this material, usually in the form of some kind of ad builder software, and order co-opted brand advertisements.
Co-Op Administration is how the brand tracks and administers subsidies for dealers and distributors who use their brand. This can range from imputing the information into a spreadsheet, to website devoted entirely to tracking subsidies. Depending on a brand's particular system, dealers and distributors may have to wait for up to six months to get approved for reimbursement. Ouch.

Because these two aspects are not generally integrated into a single solution within a company's local marketing strategy, there is huge potential for a lose/lose situation here.

Take this example:

Local dealer Manfred Winthrop accesses marketing material from the brand's online ad builder.
Manfred creates his own ad, and executes. Believing he has complied with the brand's messaging, sends the ad to the brand to get a co-op reimbursement
The brand finally gets to Manfred's request a few months later, and doesn't like the look of the advertisement. His request for co op reimbursement is denied.
Manfred is frustrated, and stops using the brand in his advertising, costing him potential customers.
The brand loses its local advertising, and potential customers.
Lose/Lose

Balihoo can solve this massive problem in one integrated co-op marketing solution. We have introduced an innovative software and services solution that bridges the gap between digital asset management and co op administration - streamlining the entire process into one user friendly web portal. Imagine if Mr. Winthrop could access pre-approved brand marketing material and immediately receive the subsidy for the local advertising plan - all while giving the brand complete visibility into his marketing efforts. That's a win/win. That's Balihoo.

Brand Affinity Technologies = Celebrity Trafficking + Local Store Marketing... Huh?

Friday, May 28, 2010 by Alex Fascilla

Hey folks, let's kick this off real quick and review our old standbys when it comes to advertising approaches/appeals (Caps indicates yelling):

    * BANDWAGON APPROACH
    * HUMOR APPROACH
    * SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE APPROACH
    * TESTIMONIAL (Hint: this is the one this blog is about!)
    * GLITTERING GENERALITIES APPROACH
    * SNOB APPEAL
    * APPROACH APPROACH

That last one was included to make sure you are paying attention. There is no such thing as an 'approach approach'. [Seriously, I just typed that word so many times it looks weird to me now.] Anyway, that may not be the most comprehensive list of appeals used when advertising but we're only going to focus on one; one that I'm sure is in the list... I think.

As Wired Magazine and the New York Times recently reported, garnering celebrity endorsements (and more specifically, professional athlete endorsements) for TESTIMONIALS is about to become quite the turn-key affair. A company called Brand Affinity Technologies has created an online marketplace that connects local advertisers and what Brand Affinity might call a 'regional celebrity' for use in local marketing and media creative.

So, while you may not be the fanatical Vikings fan that I am (which I find incomprehensible) and thus probably do not know their starting Center is John Sullivan, those in Minneapolis that see him in a Burger Jones ad are going to recognize him and subesequently take him up on his recommendation to "come on down and take the Sully Burger challenege!" Burger Jones is banking on that fact, anyway. As well as the fact that out-eating their favorite center in the National football League is something all Minneapolins (Minneapeeps?) aspire to do.

Garnering celebrity endorsements is something that's traditionally been very difficult. Time, expense, lengthly contracts, and just tracking down the damn celebrity, have all hobbled the process. With Brand Affinity promising to rid the ordeal of long-term contracts and reduce negotiation times to no more than 96 hours, most of those pain points are removed and a platform that makes creating celebrity testimonials more simple emerges!

So... with their catering to local/regional marketers, wouldn't it just go over like gangbusters if Balihoo and Brand Affinity Technologies teamed up and a BAT component was integrated into our ad builder software? Now that's a top-to-bottom marketing software tool! Imagine this, my local marketing audience: Balihoo creates your brand, plans and buys your media, produces and builds your BAT-supplied, celebrity-infused ads, and then follows up with constant campaign optimization... AND it all takes place within one easy-to-use platform? DONE. Nailed it.

And hey, as I'm leagally obligated to say, even without the Brand Affinity Technology component, our software can do incredible things. Check it out! In the meantime, however, I suggest you incorporate more of the bandwagon approach into your ads. Why? C'mon! Because everyone else is!

ESPN The Storyteller

Monday, May 24, 2010 by Betsie Richardson

"It's not about elections, sanctions, proliferations, he-said, she-said, my land, your land, no man's land; it's not about the stock market, black market, orange alerts, green homes, hope, change, fear or loathing; it's not about Communism, Socialism or Capitalism, war or peace, love or hate...this is about the one month every four years when we all agree on one thing: 32 nations, one world watching; 2010 FIFA World Cup."

Watch ESPN's 2010 FIFA World Cup "United" television commercial here:

You know that moment when you find yourself lazily flipping channels on TV, lacking inspiration to settle on a program when you find yourself pause on a commercial. Something about it - the music, the vibrant imagery, the inspiration of the voice talent - grabs your attention. You want to be a part of that brand - buy their product, join their event, watch their program. Watching ESPN's "United" commercial for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, I felt goosebumps spread across my body. I was ready to buy tickets to South Africa just to stand outside the stadium.

In our dental marketing efforts with Nobel Biocare partner clinicians, we often talk about telling a story. Every advertiser has a story. Dental implants are no exception. The dental professionals with whom we work talk passionately about the life-changing effects of the fixed prosthetics they offer patients. We provide a number of creative themes that tell the story of renewed confidence, restored comfort and enjoyment of foods forbidden to denture-wearers, which all leads to feeling younger, feeling good about yourself and embracing age.

Sure, something like direct TV begs for infomercial-style product marketing. We all remember Billy Mays fondly as the infomercial king of such products as OxiClean and Liquid Diamond. Our dentist clients often ask about testimonial-style commercials or demonstrations of how dental implants are placed, however, we have had the best return on investment from our :30 second spots that tell a story. The consumer watches the TV and feels a connection - this doctor understands my issue and has a solution.

Do you run a dental implant practice and want to learn how to tell a story with your brand? Contact one of our consultants to learn about our local marketing ideas.

(Nobel Biocare taps into our local marketing automation software to provide a co-op advertising solution for their partner clinicians. Using our print ad builder, these clinicians tag their advertisements with their brand identity and customize the messaging.)

The Last 10% Team

Sunday, May 23, 2010 by Kelly Mason

Here at Balihoo we have an intense focus on our customers. If you are a follower of Kelly Mason blogs (thanks, mom) then you've seen numerous blogs about our ongoing effort to find new and effective ways to take in all the feedback we can directly from our customers. We've got some good processes in place, and we continue to improve on them every day. So the next logical question is, how do we ensure that our product is the best it can be even before it gets to our customers?

We realized that that we have a reliable group of 'customers' right here at Balihoo. That group being our entire smart, passionate, and customer-centric team. So a few weeks ago we started a User Representative team. The team is made of people from all different teams within the company, from the sales team to the creative team to the development team.

Before a new feature goes live, it goes in front of this team and they will be advocates for our customers. We're not discussing how something should work or the benefit it provides - that has already been hashed out. What we're discussing are the details - the small things that can make or break a user's experience with our local marketing software. And because we have a passionate team, this meeting might turn into a heated debate about whether an option on the page should be a link or a button, whether it should be at the top of the page or the bottom.

Our CEO sent out a blog to the company this week that highlights the fact that putting in the last 10% of effort is harder than the first 90%, but it's also what separates you from the other guy. I thought first about this group, and its purpose. It's easy, after building a massive new piece of functionality within our ad builder software, to say who cares if it's a button or a link? But it's the details in the last 10% of the work that's going to take the product from being liked by your customers to being essential to your customers.

Stuff Marketing People Like

Friday, May 21, 2010 by Megan Heath

We're a pretty low-key group of folks here at Balihoo, and there's little in the day-to-day that causes contention. Among the would-be controversial elements in the office is my quasi-inflammatory desk calendar: Stuff White People Like.

If you haven't read this blog, you're missing out. If you think the content is more inappropriate than funny, you might consider lightening up. But I digress.

Inspired by my environment and a daily dose of SWPL, I've compiled the first unofficial list of Stuff Marketing People Like.

Jargon: If you hear someone at a party trying desperately to work the words "mechanicals," "reach and frequency," or "channel marketing" into a conversation, you can be confident that they're with an agency. If you hear them say "co-op marketing solution," "ad builder software," or "local marketing readiness," they're with Balihoo.

PowerPoint: With gifted designers and creative producers at their disposal, you'd expect marketing pros to have a better presentation format than PowerPoint. Check those expectations - we love us some branded slide decks.

Ridiculous Competitions: Mustache May... enough said.

Having Better Clients Than You: We're really blessed to work with innovative brands like Kohler, Specialized, and Chevron. That's not name dropping; I really mean it.

Being a Mac or a PC: It's not just about picking sides and talking trash. It's about having an identity: you're either a smart, efficient Account Manager or an edgy, nonchalant Creative Designer. The rest of the agency is slightly irrelevant, but encouraged to join the debate none the less.

Adult Beverages: Beer isn't just a drink, it's an attitude. We have plenty of both.

Big Budgets: You have a million dollars and an ambiguous goal? Please join me in front of my PC for a PowerPoint presentation on how I can triple your reach & frequency. Can I get you a beer?

Small Budgets: Big budgets are for kids and execs. A hardcore marketer loves a small budget, an awkward, disjointed market, and an impossible deadline. This is where heroes and ulcers are made.

Seeing Their Own Work: Back in my media buying days, I got a real kick out of seeing and hearing my clients' ads. And if you think that box under my desk is full of old betas and newspapers, well, you're right. Just dying to see some old dental commercials and smoothie ads? I thought you might be.

Logos: It's not vanity. But the metal is just shiny enough to see your own reflection among the many, many client icons.

The Reverse Referral in Dental Marketing

Monday, May 10, 2010 by Betsie Richardson

Everyone knows the old adage, You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours. This colloquialism rings true for many of the dental specialists who engage with us in direct-to-consumer local advertising of dental implants. These specialists want to maintain their General Practioner (GP) referrals that have fueled a majority of their business over the years, but they fear advertising will appear to "skirt around" their GPs. What is the solution? I give you the reverse referral.

The reverse referral works such that a specialist begins marketing to the local consumer base through our integrated media plan. They begin drawing new patients from the local market who have not seen a general dentist in years and sometimes decades (typically due to dental phobia). These patients often have several missing teeth or are fully edentulous. They are therefore great candidates for the Nobel Biocare All-on-4 or related procedures. Our specialists then collaborate with GPs to send the patient to their practice for restoration of the fixed prosthetics. Everyone wins.

One such oral surgeon specialist who uses our local advertising platform held a dinner for his top 20 GP referrals to openly announce his advertising efforts and product launch marketing of the All-on-4 procedure. A few months passed when he sent an advertising-driven All-on-4 case to a GP in his building for restoration. This GP had never seen an All-on-4 case and was not well versed on the topic before the surgeon's dinner. This GP has since sent the oral surgeon four patients who accepted treatment for the All-on-4. You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours.

Download our white paper here to learn the three cardinal rules of dental marketing.

(Nobel Biocare taps into our local marketing automation software to provide a co-op advertising solution for their partner clinicians. Using our print ad builder, these clinicians tag their advertisements with their photos, logo and customize the messaging.)

Local Marketing Automation Gains Momentum

Thursday, May 6, 2010 by Shane Vaughan

Taking a moment to step back and survey the forest (instead of focusing on all the trees) sometimes has a sobering effect.

A few weeks ago I realized that we hadn't made an announcement recently regarding all of the new customers that had been joining Balihoo. I decided to focus on just our wins in 2010 - and as I developed the list, I was astounded at its depth and breadth. I built the press release associated with this announcement, and it quickly became apparent that it was going to be overwhelming to include all of our great new customers.

So, to those that were unable to be included because of space (or because of confidentiality reasons) please know that you're still incredibly important to us.

Without further delay - here's the announcement from today:

Boise, ID (May 6, 2010) – Balihoo (www.balihoo.com), the premier provider of Local Marketing Automation technology and services to national brands with local marketing needs, continues to gain traction with national brands representing a diverse range of industries. During the first quarter of 2010, Balihoo solidified multiple partnerships with leading national brands that have local marketing needs – representing everything from dog care to delicatessens, home fixtures to auto maintenance.

Now leveraging the Balihoo platform to empower thousands of franchisees and resellers are national brands including Specialized Bicycles, Kohler Co., ProTect Painters, Oil Can Henry’s, Mattress Firm, Dogtopia, Gandolfo’s, Granite Transformations, TSS Photography and Verlo.

“Our new partners understand the power and influence of targeted local marketing and believe in Balihoo’s ability to help drive demand – and ROI,” said Pete Gombert, Balihoo’s CEO. “Our local marketing automation solution will empower the franchisees and resellers for each of these leading brands to deliver effective and customized marketing campaigns that resonate with their local customers.”

Gombert continued, “This flood of well-respected organizations, along with Balihoo’s acknowledgement by Gartner as a “Cool Vendor” in the marketing landscape, is a clear indication that Local Marketing Automation is becoming a key strategic differentiator for national brands.”

Clients that have recently partnered with Balihoo include:

Specialized Bicycles

Specialized Bicycles was founded in 1974 by riders for riders. Headquartered in Morgan Hill, California, with global distribution, the company focuses on making everyone’s time on a bike better by delivering functional and technically advanced equipment that provides a performance benefit. In their quest to provide a superior dealer experience through their exclusive IBD channel, Specialized is utilizing Balihoo to ensure alignment of local dealer marketing to the national Tour De France promotional launch.

Kohler Co.

Kohler Co. is one of America’s oldest and largest privately-held companies and is a global leader in the manufacture of kitchen and bath products, engines and power systems, furniture and decorative tile, and hospitality and real estate including world championship golf resorts in Kohler, Wisconsin, and St Andrews, Scotland.

ProTect Painters

ProTect Painters is a member of Service Brands International, a privately held, multi-concept franchise system with worldwide headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan. ProTect Painters has become one of the largest painting companies because they have the experience to handle all painting needs, both exterior and interior. ProTect Painters is using Balihoo to provide a completely outsourced local marketing solution to their franchisees nationwide.

Oil Can Henry’s

Oil Can Henry’s makes vehicle maintenance quick, convenient – and even a little fun at their service centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington. They selected Balihoo to ensure their franchise system is marketing and communicating in a common voice by putting a local marketing automation platform in place that will consolidate all local marketing activities.

Mattress Firm

Mattress Firm is one of the nation’s leading specialty mattress retailers, offering a broad selection of both traditional and specialty mattresses from leading manufacturers, including Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, Simmons, Stearns & Foster, Sleep to Live and Serta. Founded in 1986, Mattress Firm's purpose is to improve lives one night at a time. While Mattress Firm had been utilizing a traditional ad builder system for several years, they called upon Balihoo to develop a comprehensive Local Marketing Automation platform capable of enabling their franchisees with the ability to easily execute local marketing efforts.

Dogtopia

Dogtopia has a clear mission to be the premier provider of the highest quality dog care in the United States, and continues to experience promising growth driven by quality service and leadership. Balihoo and Dogtopia share a passion for making the franchisee successful and are working hard to provide the marketing tools and planning needed to execute and grow in the local marketplace. Solid media planning, customizable creative and excellent support services are being utilized to make every promotion and campaign “paw-rific”.

Gandolfo’s New York Delicatessen

Dan Pool discovered Gandolfo's New York Delicatessen in Salt Lake City, Utah. It took one bite into a Gandolfo's sandwich for Pool to invest and ultimately become owner and CEO. Founded in 1989 by New York native Craig Gandolph, Gandolfo's New York delicatessen is the nation's only "authentic" franchised delicatessen. Gandolfo's has spent the last twenty years spreading the love of authentic New York delis across the country by providing the freshest deli meats and vegetables on top of its selection of homemade breads. Balihoo has developed an end-to-end email marketing platform that offers Gandolfo’s franchisees with everything they need to quickly and easily communicate with their local customers in a manner that it is 100% in concert with the national brand.

Granite Transformations

With U.S. offices based in Miramar, Fla., Granite Transformations, a division of Trend USA, has facilities and showrooms around the world offering new and exciting alternatives to traditional countertops, backsplashes, floors and more. They have teamed with Balihoo to provide franchise owners with an integrated marketing platform that gives them creative flexibility, email functionality, media planning services and cost savings through economies of scale. Granite Transformations was looking for an easy-to-use and cost-efficient solution for their franchisees and Balihoo delivered.

TSS Photography

TSS Photography has been the leader in youth sports, school and event photography for over 25 years. They specialize in team picture days, sports photography, school photography, special events and tournament photos. They plan to utilize Balihoo technology to maximize promotional campaigns, retention programs and lead communication. Customizable creative templates paired with customer management systems will allow them to accomplish these goals. With additional services and tools, Balihoo offers their franchise owners the resources they need both currently and with future growth.

Verlo

Headquartered in Fort Atkinson, Wis., Verlo Mattress Factory Stores is the nation's largest Craftsman-Direct® mattress retailer. Offering the only franchise opportunity in the $8 billion-a-year sleep specialty industry, Verlo Mattress Factory Stores was selected as one of the 100 companies to be featured in the 2009 (3rd) Edition of Bond's Top 100 franchises, competing with over 3,000 active North American franchise systems. Balihoo has supplied Verlo with a consolidated marketing solution that will dramatically improve system-wide visibility into overall marketing spend.

For more information on how Balihoo can help companies translate national strategies into local execution, download Balihoo's Local Marketing Automation Whitepaper and Integrated Co-op Marketing Whitepaper.

Local Store Marketing that Works in Your Local Community

Thursday, April 29, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

I came across this blog post this morning 'Trends Affecting Local Store Marketing'. In this post the blogger touches upon some of the trends in the QSR sector (nutritional labeling, technology, green, sustainability, construction (layout of the building), health-focused, packaging, etc.) before turning to advertising and promotional trends.

When he gets to advertising and promotion, he stresses the importance of focusing on one's local audience and tailoring their local store marketing tactics and materials to their local community. Today, added cost promotions just don't work across the board as they used to - now, the focus is placed on discounting, dollar menus, loyalty programs and competitive comparison but more than anything it is dependent on what one's local audience values and currently wants. Local store owners and franchisees need to have the ability to make their offers quickly and easily as the need arises in their area.

The blogger states that as an industry "We need to find a signage and promotional materials solution that allows the store to change its mesage on very short notice, so the store can react to a competitor or any other situation."

Enter Balihoo's local marketing automation solution....

Providing a world-class, cross-medium ad builder that local franchisees or affiliates can log into and instantly access and customize brand-approved templates, Balihoo's solution provides concrete brand consistency, lower marketing costs, reduced marketing complexity and increased revenue.

If, for example, I was a Suzy B's Pizza franchisee and wanted to generate coupons to compete with a neighboring pizza place that's offering x savings on an XL pizza during the week of our community's local homecoming game, I could log into the branded Suzy B's Marketing Platform and instantly select, customize (quickly select from a long list of preloaded coupon offers) and place my coupon direct mail order, or I could opt to just have the coupons mailed directly to my store. Not only would I have met my need on the local level but I would have done so quickly, easily and at a fraction of the cost!

We have an awesome team here at Balihoo that runs people through demos of our solution every day. If you are interested, schedule a demo.

Eco-Friendly is Great Dental Marketing

Friday, April 23, 2010 by Matt Borud

Like New Year resolutions and Festivus, Earth Day is a yearly opportunity to reconfirm our commitment to healthy causes and challenge ourselves to feats of eco strength and sustainability. With many business jumping on the "green" bandwagon, it's important to note all the advances the dental community has made in making practices more friendly to Mother Earth, and what it can do for your practices local marketing efforts.

There have been several significant "green" developments in recent years. Advances like mercury-free fillings and filtration systems, steam-based sterilization tools, and X-rays that use digital imagery technology to minimize toxic developing chemicals are all providing for a much healthier patient experience. This isn't limited to in-practice efforts either. Dental practices have the luxury of a captive audience when a patient is in the chair. Recommendations like turning off the water while you brush - some estimate we're losing 27 billion glasses of clean water EVERY DAY because we're leaving the water running - tend to stick better in the patient's mind than another green plug from elsewhere.

Not only are these changes great for the environment and patient health, they're a great way to advertise locally and differentiate your practice from your competitors. Successful local marketing is much more than fancy ad builder software or co-op advertising programs - its about finding new and different ways to connect with your patients and their interests. Eco friendly products and procedures translate to great local marketing ideas because more and more consumers are making buying decisions with green vendors in mind. Many consumers are looking for service providers who share their values, and when making green and sustainable business decisions, it's important to message them to the consumer through appropriate local marketing and advertising mechanisms and bring them in your door.