Advertising Media Plan

5 Steps: Creating an Effective Referral Marketing Program

Monday, August 23, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

If you own a local business or are a local product distributor, you likely know how powerful customer referrals can be to your bottom line. While most business owners recognize this opportunity, many mistakenly leave Referral Marketing out of their annual local marketing strategy.

Perhaps you're thinking: "Referral Marketing - as a strategy? Referrals should be organic," which, in part, is correct. Referral marketing should be organic; however, if you aren't providing your satisfied customers with the tools and an incentive to share their experience(s) with their social networks (via referral marketing tactics), you're missing out on a huge opportunity.

At the end of the day, nobody talks about businesses that allow themselves to be forgotten. In order to get a significant amount of referrals, you need to ensure that you've made it EASY for customers to refer you. To do this, you need a referral marketing plan.

To get started, follow these steps:

1. Consider the companies that you've referred. Why did you refer them?

Taking a minute to consider the companies that you've referred will help you to identify some tactics or methods that can help kickoff your referral brainstorming process. Once you've identified several referral marketing masters, consider what seems to 'work' for them.

Example: My gym has practically mastered the art of referrals. They continually run members-only promotions that encourage members to bring friends and family into the gym (free training, free gym bag, discounted month, discounted Smoothies, free body analysis, etc.). As such, I've referred several neighbors and family members. So, If you have a membership-based business, take note!

2. Identify Your Target Referrer
Not all of your customers are going to be your best referral candidates. Carefully consider who among your most satisfied customers are your target referrers. Once you have that person identified, think about what makes him/her happy with your service. What do they find valueable? You want to make sure that the value(s) and benefits(s) that they will be sharing align with your referral marketing goals.

3. Create Your Custom Referral Plan
Ultimately, everyone likes to get a deal. Offering a discount, free item, unique promotion, etc. is often the best way to prompt referrals. Most satisfied customers will be more than happy to recommend your business - especially if you're offering them an incentive to do so. To ensure that your plan gets off to a successful start, make sure that all of your employees are onboard.

NOTE: As a rule of thumb, industry experts suggest waiting until the transaction (i.e. cash register exchange) is complete before asking for referrals.

4. Elicit the Correct Information
Using a referral form or card will help you capture the information you're after AND will encourage referrals. Consider creating a personalized form or card of some sort (that offers a discount/free item to BOTH the referrer and the referree). Following the business transaction, send/provide these referral cards to your satisfied customers.

5. Keep Track - and Keep in Touch!
Don't worry if a number of your referral candidates don't immediately recommend your business. Depending on your business, the referral process might take longer (i.e. car dealerships). Make sure you have your referral contacts' info on file and keep in touch with them by sending quarterly letters or newsletters.

Example: The car dealership that I bought my last car from sent me a personalized tin filled with cookies around the holiday season. I've sent them two referrals and won't forget them anytime soon (i.e. - Send more cookies, please!).

At Balihoo, our media planning strategy team provides many of our clients' local business owners with integrated marketing plans. The different types of referral programs that I have seen this team come up with is remarkable. To continue exploring the art of customer referral programs check out this Entreprenuer blog post. Or to learn more about building a breakthrough local store marketing plan, check out this free white paper.

Five Signs that ‘Local Marketing’ is Much More Than a Trend

Thursday, August 19, 2010 by Chris Keller

In the last few years, Balihoo has served a growing list of national brand clients. The attention that has been given to our ‘local marketing automation’ platform has caused me to reflect on five signs that ‘Local Marketing’ is much more than a trend:

‘Local Marketing’ Search Volume is Dramatically Growing—As a search term, ‘Local Marketing’ started growing in 2008 and has exploded in the last year, according to Google trends. Variations of this term have seen a similar explosion in growth. Balihoo coined the term ‘local marketing automation’ and owns that space as evidenced by it owning the top three Google search results.
Analysts' Increased Attention—Analysts like Forrester and BIA/Kelsey are giving increased attention to local marketing, local search and now ‘hyperlocal’ media trends.
1. A recent Forrester “Distributed Marketing” report illustrates the ‘local marketing’ challenges. It was music to my ears and I was glad to see Balihoo was included as a vendor solution, although sad that Forrester didn’t give more attention to define the integrated approach Balihoo employs to combine ad building, co-op management and execution across all mediums. That approach is how we are changing the rules of the game. Seriously, a 30-minute demonstration will prove my point.
2. A review of BIA/Kelsey blog posts illustrates the growing interest in local, hyperlocal and geo-targeting topics.
Steady Saturation of Mobile—the ubiquitous adoption of mobile phones has changed how brands can “connect” with consumers.
1. Texting was slow to take off, but according to CTIA, the Wireless Industry Association, in ’09, 152B SMS text messages were sent monthly, up from 9.8B in 2005.
2. According to the Pew Research, adult cell phone ownership has gone from 65% to 83% between ’04 and ’09 and 93% of 18-29 year-old adults and 75% of 12-17 year-old teens have cell phones.
3. Smartphones and mobile devices--with the launch and adoption of the iPad and Kindle platforms-- are fueling a revolution in mobile computing.
Meteoric Adoption of social platforms and geo-location tools—Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter’s meteoric rise along with other evolving geo-location based tools like Yelp, Foursquare, and Groupon are changing the way consumers consume and share information. It presents huge opportunities and challenges for marketers.
Increased Acquisition/IPO Activity—The last few months have resulted in some interesting acquisition/IPO activity that affects local marketers including IBM’s announcement to acquire Unica, and ReachLocal’s $54 Million IPO. Other activity includes Yelp’s Rejection of Google’s $500 Million offer, Google’s subsequent launch of Google Places, and Facebook's announcement today of its geo-location solution, Facebook's Places.

So what does this all mean for national brands?

First, it means every national brand needs to have a local marketing strategy. What is yours?

Second, as stated in the Forrester research, local marketing is very difficult. That is where Balihoo comes in--pardon the quick plug. We have the best tools available for ad-creation, asset management, co-op advertising administration, media planning, microsite creation, and execution across all mediums including social. In addition, Balihoo has an incredible CEO, management team, and board of directors that understand Balihoo's opportunity to revolutionize local marketing.

Pete Gombert said it almost as good as Bob Dylan sang it, that Times They Are a Changin' and all signs indicate that 'Local Marketing' is much more than a trend. It may be a revolution.

The ABCs to Know Your Audience

Friday, August 13, 2010 by Tiffany Schrenk

Recently, I have had multiple, similar conversations with Balihoo clients about the importance of identifying target consumers..

Establishing a target audience is one of the most important aspects of a successful local marketing campaign. Without this, advertisers cannot accurately identify likes, dislikes, and habits of potential consumers which are critical to the success of the overall integrated strategy and marketing plan across multiple mediums.

Unfortunately, more often than not, those who manage local advertising make a mistake assuming that their target audience consists of individuals just like them. As a case in point—based on a recent situation I had to correct—most females older than 35 are not listening to sports radio during their morning commute.

In general, this ABC approach provides a good starting point for identifying target audiences. It is a simple model with some good succinct advice and is a great exercise for local advertisers developing a local marketing strategy.

A - Audience - Define the characteristics of your target audience. You can't serve everyone and so you must weigh specific characterizations with generalities. You are often better to lean toward specifics.
B - Behavior - What actions do you want that target audience to take now and over time.
C - Conversion - How will you turn that prospect into a customer. Consider the paths from their position to your product and leverage people, processes technology to influence your target to become a customer.

Common sense should be your measuring stick in all local advertising and local media buying practices.

Facebook or Email? Where does your target consumer turn first?

Thursday, August 12, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

"What is the first thing you do online on a typical day?"

ExactTarget posed this question during a recent research project developed to provide insight into how consumers interact with brands online.

The study concluded with some interesting findings, including:

42% of U.S. internet users use Facebook daily (69% of which are FANS of one or more companies on Facebook)
88% of U.S internet users use email everyday (95% use it at least monthly)
93% of U.S internet users are subscribers (i.e. they have opted-in to receive permission-based emails)
58% of online consumers check their email first
11% start their day by checking Facebook

Looking deeper, it turns out that how and where internet users start their online day can reveal a lot about how they typically interact with brands online - and what they ultimately want from those online interactions.

TO SUMMARIZE:

Facebook-first consumers:

Tend to share more information online
Prefer that brands maintain a solid distinction between how they communicate via email vs. Facebook
Engage with brands for entertainment or to be 'in-the-know' regarding brands' activities
Tend to be younger - 43% of high school aged teens begin their day on Facebook (compared to 22% who start with email)

Email-first consumers:

Tend to more task-oriented online
Are more readily engaged through the use of deals, promotions or new product announcements
Less interested in providing feedback to brands on their products and services without an incentive to do so
Tend to be older

So what does this mean to you? Well, several things:

Skilled Coordination:  Marketers need to coordinate their Facebook and email strategies to ensure that they're maximizing their communication with their target audience.

Messaging and Communication Balance:  Brands need to carefully balance their tone, engagement level and message to deliver their target audience with the savings, information, entertainment, deals etc. that appeal to them.

Both are "Keepers":  With 93% of online consumers 'subscribers' and 38% 'Likers' of brands on Facebook, both email and Facebook are powerful tools for connecting your brand to your target consumer.

Ultimately, national brands' (and their dealers, distributors and affiliates) have local advertising needs that could greatly benefit from carefully planned and researched integrated marketing plans. Balihoo's local marketing automation and services solution (which includes Facebook and email - as well as TV, Direct Mail, POP, Radio, Display, Outdoor, Newspaper, Magazine, etc.) AND co-op functionality AND a professional media team can streamline the efforts of virtually any local business owner, product distributor, dealer, etc.

Optimizing your facebook and email effort is just the tip of the iceberg! Explore the possibilities by scheduling a demo today!

Got great customer service? Flaunt it!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 by Kallen Hayes

A few days ago I encountered what struck me as a very unique online banner ad for Zappos.com. It was an image of a charming customer service representative with a speech bubble that read 'Happy to help 24/7". How interesting, I thought, that the message of the advertisement was focused not on Zappos' wonderful selection of shoes, their speedy (free!) delivery, or even their multitude of other clothing and home goods offered for sale on their website, but rather on their customer service! I figured it was not just a standalone banner ad that I had stumbled upon. I knew there had to be a good sized campaign going on with more of these charming puppets promoting Zappos famous customer service and quirky (er... charismatic) employees.

Perhaps I've been living in a cave for the last few months to not have already seen this retail marketing campaign on any other media outlets. After just a little bit of investigating, I learned the campaign, developed by Mullen, currently spans TV, print, and online video, and has already garnered quite a bit of attention for its trailblazing focus on the company's customer service department. The ads center around phone calls made by Mullen employees posing as actual customers making unusual (and rather hilarious) requests. The puppets fielding the phone calls are modeled off of real-life Zappos employees. Their responses to the requests are authentic -- the employees didn't know the calls were pranks. (I can't help but make a comical comparison to the Crank Yankers episodes).

The campaign is clearly taking the lead in a recent trend to bring customer service out from the dark cubicles of off-shore office buildings and onto the center stage of integrated marketing plans. Customer service has for too long been considered a cost center for companies, and hasn't received the attention and promotion it deserves. As service departments improve, it makes sense that this aspect of a business would naturally become a bragging point to attract new customers. Ann All supports this idea in her article, Customer Service: a Selling Point for Those That Get It Right. She says customer service as subject matter for sales and marketing is smart because great customer service is an excellent differentiator from the masses of other companies who've neglected that department.

As more customer interactions move to the online platform, companies are beginning to realize that their online presence --be it their website, their online chat services or their local internet marketing-- must convey the empathy and personalities of the people behind the technology. For Zappos, even their tagline 'Powered by Service' aims to draw the attention away from their highly advanced warehousing and shipping technology to the actual people manning their phones, executing orders, and happily on call to serve their customers.

I know for a fact that our company, Balihoo, is making great strides to reach out to our current and prospective customers to understand their wants and needs in order to continue moving forward as a customer-centric company. We want to design our local marketing software as an easy to use self-service portal while at the same time providing fantastic customer service to our end users seeking technical support or professional help with their media planning strategy.

Kudos to Zappos for being one of the first companies to embrace the new age of customer service and to step out with a memorable and entertaining campaign that rightfully gives tribute to its valued customer service agents. From the ads' featured customer interactions it's clear that the contagious energy and joyful attitude of the Zappos employees is easily perceived through every phone call and live chat conversation with their customers. As the bar for customer service continues to rise, I think Zappos is a clear front runner in the game.

The Latest in Newspaper

Friday, July 30, 2010 by Tiffany Schrenk

When conducting local media planning here at Balihoo there are a few constants in the media research process. Most local advertisers have budgets and objectives that warrant a deep dive into local media outlets. One of the largest media outlets is local newspaper. It is important for us to understand distribution and circulation of the printed newspaper as well as how many impressions (or views) the newspaper's website receives. This gives us a firm foundation to compare this media type to others in the market. The goal of course is to reach many consumers as possible- cost efficiently.

That said, I came across an article discussing the fact that the Audit Bureau of Circulations (the organization that actually measures how many people are consuming newspaper distribution in a given area) will be rolling out loosened standards in the upcoming months. Essentially, counting online, iPad, smartphone, etc subscriptions in their results for a given market.
How will this effect local marketers? Well, initially some skewed results... which could potentially effect local recommendations.
As Media Buyer/Planners here at Balihoo who execute local media planning we will be watching and aware of these changes. We will make certain to ask the right questions and get correct results on behalf of our local advertisers.
Interesting article... for more information click below.

www.marketingvox.com/how-will-advertisers-react-to-the-looser-abc-standards-047436/

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.

The Latest in Digital Advertising

Monday, July 19, 2010 by Tiffany Schrenk

As a local marketing and media planner here at Balihoo I have heard plenty of wacky ways local advertisers are marketing within their community. The most recent of which truly ranks among the strangest. Let's just say... if you are an advertiser in the state of California searching for the newest local advertising opportunity then look no further than your local DMV. That's right- the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The California Legislature recently introduced a Bill that would allow California residents to install license plates that flash digital ads. The plates would show the registered display (numbers/letters) for that specific vehicle while in motion then run advertisements when the vehicle is stopped. The plates have the potential to be used for emergency broadcasts and Amber Alerts as well. As the California budget deficit continues to grow law makers are doing their best to come up with ideas to combat it. And to top it all off the DMV is considering splitting the ad revenue with participating drivers... Sign Me Up!

The idea steamed from the recent success of outdoor billboard companies. They have been continually transitioning traditional outdoor billboards (posting of paper or vinyl) to digital boards with increased adoption and excitement from advertisers. Not only can the same technology be applied to vehicle license plates but the message can be changed out just as

quickly.

Of course there are proponents (local marketing and media professionals) and those in opposition to the proposed effort. Both of which have very valid points, check out the link below to learn more:
www.govtech.com/gt/765490

Kudos to whomever came up with this incredibly creative idea. If all goes as planned and Californians begin to see Burger King Whopper Juniors on the back of Mom's Minivan I don't doubt that some genius out of Silicon Valley will eventually figure out a way to send texts directly to license plates. Wouldn't it be nice to tell that tailgating jerk behind you what you really think!?!? Oh the possibilities...

Balihoo Strives for Best Service

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 by Kallen Hayes

Last week I had the great privilege of attending a customer service workshop hosted by one of Balihoo's investors, OpenView Venture Partners. The workshop was lead by Bill Price, who with David Jaffe, co-authored the book The Best Service Is No Service: How To Liberate Your Customers From Customer Service, Keep Them Happy & Control Costs.

The workshop focused on the seven principles of the book (which I would recommend for anyone who may EVER come in contact with a customer) and engaged the participants with plenty of hands-on tasks and group activities. Bill had a lot of great advice for the small group of attending tech companies, which wasn't surprising, coming from his background as Amazon's first Global VP of Customer Service.

The fundamental principle he emphasized again and again was to challenge the need for customer service, not just meet the demand for it. In the context of the SaaS (software as a service) industry, the message particularly rang true with our driving quest to create intuitive software products that deliver engaging self-service. Bill challenged us to proactively identify the root cause of our customers' needs and get ahead of them to deliver solutions long before someone has to pick up the phone or type an email to a customer service team.

For Balihoo's local marketing and co-op advertising solution, we realized right away that Bill's approach to providing not just great service, but 'Best Service' was soon to become an integral part of our entire company. Because Balihoo's service offering goes beyond simply supporting the users of our software to delivering comprehensive local marketing and media planning services, everyone in our office is customer facing in one way or another. I believe that this additional service component of our company is what separates us from most other software companies, and makes Bill's ideas all the more applicable to our mission to revolutionize local marketing.

I'm excited to implement the Best Services principles in our office and I am confident our customers will agree!

Arrested Development Alumni Go Viral

Monday, July 12, 2010 by Phil Bear

I'm a big fan of the too-soon-canceled Arrested Development. Not the music group either. It is funny. It references pop culture. It is post modern. It is a family show that brought together families, and helps remind people what life is about. Sound familiar?

Thanks for checking out my secret text, by hovering your mouse over this picture.

It's basically like Little House on the Prairie, is what I'm getting at.

So when I heard through the grapevine (old fashioned term for reading something on the internet) that a couple of the besties from Arrested Development were creating their very own viral marketing company, I was pretty excited.

I've probably watched this video like 100 times. But the question that the fellas from DumbDumb (and ulitmately Orbit in this case) have to ask themselves, is it effective in terms of marketing.

It seems that in order for a brand to market themselves effectively in modern times, they have to pull out all the stops. Gone are the days of relying on print and radio alone. In the above example, Orbit has gone way past standard marketing strategies of "the olden days" to reach their audience.

Balihoo has created local marketing automation tool for this exact reason. We know that in order to reach the largest audience, brands and franchisees need a local marketing strategy that encompasses media of all types. Our platform currently encompasses over 12 mediums, where local dealers and franchisees can access, customize, and execute local media planning from one easy to use place.

I'm curious, of the viral marketing that our readers have seen, can you recall the product they were promoting?

Come on!

The Power of Word-of-Mouth Advertising: How to Generate it?

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

There is no question that word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing tactics can generate interest, store traffic and sales. Hearing about a product or brand from a real person is simply viewed as being more powerful - and in many cases, more "trustworthy" that hearing about it from the brand or manufacturer.

Today, one of the best places to generate WOM is on the internet. At a time when seemingly "everyone" maintains at least one social network presence - the internet is more influential than ever and provides brands with a platform to spark WOM (the not so easy part: WOM success requires solid concepting, precise timing and proper execution).

According to this study, the internet encourages brand-related conversations (thereby influencing our purchasing decision and brand preferences) and generates WOM more successfully than TV. While only 7% of all brand-WOM conversations occur online, 38% of people have brand-WOM conversations offline that are influenced by the internet (Yahoo estimates this 38% to be about 74 million people). Also of interest, apparently 15% of our conversations involve subjects, products or brands that we discuss (or back up) with information found online.

This discussion brings up two things:

1) If you are still dragging your feet when it comes to diving into local internet marketing - WHY!? Your customers are online and in your absence your competitors are getting all the glory.

2) Obviously not all WOM is GOOD - but if you aren't a part of it and/or ready to address it (good or bad) that's far worse! Get ahead of the game by planning an online campaign with the goal of sparking WOM buzz. With FREE tools like Twitter and Facebook - all you need is a clever concept, an appealing offer, intelligently planned timing and a targeted audience.

So, is your brand generating lucrative WOM action with its local internet marketing strategy? At Balihoo, our media team has a blast researching and developing unique, affordable, non-conventional advertising tactics for our clients' local marketing and media plans - who knows what they could do for your brand.

Real Men Clip Coupons? How about the Wealthy and Affluent?

Monday, June 28, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

According to Harris Interactive, coupon-clipping has become increasingly popular among men. Typically tailored to the female consumer; coupons are increasingly being used by males (with 51% of men reportedly having used a coupon in the past six months)! So, if you market to men, it may be time to get into the coupon game.

Also of interest, increasingly affluent, highly educated and metropolitan-located Americans are hopping on the coupon-bandwagon. “The advent of digital savings tools coupled with a challenging economy has taken couponing mainstream. All sorts of people – including what we call the ‘sophisticated couponer’ – are proudly aboard the couponing bandwagon.” said Steven Boal, CEO of Coupons.com. ”We all want

the biggest bang for our buck, so the fact that well-heeled, educated and urban shoppers are taking advantage of coupons and searching for them online further illustrates the proliferation of the culture of couponing.”

The same study reports that 8 of 10 U.S. adults believe that they will continue to use coupons even after the economy improves - which supports the belief that the adult American's shopping habits and/or criteria have permanently changed as a result of the past 18-months. While the economically troubled climate has undeniably altered the way we shop and budget - whether or not the changes will prove to be long-lasting waits to be seen....

What is certain: your local customers, at this moment, are different than they were 2, 3 or 4 years ago - their priorities have shifted - and if you haven't reviewed and altered your local advertising and media planning strategy to meet their needs and appeal to their new ideals and interests, you're missing a huge opportunity.

Working across all media forms, helping local affiliates and distributors across numerous industries, the average Balihoo employee has developed a deep understanding of the components that go into a tailored, quality integrated marketing plan. Curious about how to enable your local affiliates, distributors or franchisees to revamp their marketing efforts to appeal to their local customer's new ideals - CONTACT US!

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.

Local Store Marketing 101: Location-Based

Thursday, June 24, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

Location-based service (LBS) providers have been receiving a lot of buzz lately. If you have any remaining doubt regarding the future success of LBS providers, consider the following:

Consumers' growing demand for real-time, on-demand access to info while making purchasing decisions
Skyrocketing ownership of internet and GPS-enabled smartphones
Significant and widespread improvements in wireless carriers' network infrastructures
Explosion of consumer adoption in mobile social media platforms

Intrigued? - Check out this iMediaConnection article to take a look at the major players in the field and receive some tips on how to incorporate location-based marketing into your marketing and media planning strategy.

On another note - these kind of topics always make it interesting to look back at earlier predictions (below). With a bit more time - perhaps 6 to 12 months?) we might have to reconsider the "mobile at the local level as more sizzle than steak" statement - but those will be our 2011 predictions ;)

Top Local Marketing And Media Trends 2010

View more presentations from Balihoo.

Are you Willing to Pay for Online News?

Friday, June 18, 2010 by Tiffany Schrenk

As a media planner here at Balihoo involved in annual plans for local marketing and media, I regularly execute research on local newspapers. Research is conducted on both the print and online version of these papers for circulation, distribution, readership profiles etc. In most markets this is one of the most highly utilized forms of local advertising and news. As most advertisers are aware online newspaper consumption continues to rise and actual printed paper distribution has significantly declined. It's been on such a decline the past few years (and with the current economic climate) that some newspapers have simply closed their doors.
That said, from my perspective this begs the question, "What's next? How do the local newspapers combat this?"

One simple answer... charging for online access. You have to pay for a paper right? Why not pay for the online version? Granted you can't "take" the online version with you but with today's technology you can probably view the site on your phone or personal digital devise of choice. Publishers are also attempting to add value with the addition of extra video content and interactive tools in hopes that these features will continue to attract consumers.

Two local newspapers in Vermont rolled out the new pay-for-access model this month. Check out the attached article for the full story:

www.mediabuyerplanner.com/entry/51869/vermont-papers-join-paywall-dash/

As online newspaper access continues to rise it will be very interesting to see if the "new" model tempers this in any way and which of the nations publishers end up adopting it. For local advertisers the outcome could definitely change local marketing strategy.

There's More To Local Than Yellow Pages

Friday, June 11, 2010 by Ian Mundorff

How'd you find my blog? Did you let your fingers do the walking?

My guess is that you fell back on that little box in the upper right hand corner of your browser and let Google or the like tell you where to go. And while we in the Balihoo Media Buying Team don't encourage the 'focus group of one' mentality, you're right this time around.

Sure, the local advertising landscape is considerably more complicated than just Google, with the local shopper going through about 8 different resources to find their best local shop. Still, Search Engines have eclipsed the traditional print Yellow Pages.

A recent report finds that while the Yellow Page book can still be found in 84% of homes, only 28% report using it as their primary source for local business information, down from 33% in 2007. Meanwhile, Search--both standard Search Engines and Local Search Sites like Google Maps--is the primary source for local business information for 40% of the population. The rest of that pie is sliced up almost entirely by other online tools. Aside from being the first choice for local shoppers, Search Engines are also used more than 1x a week by 71% of users. Compare that to Yellow Pages rate of just 40%.

There's a lot to the data, and in many cases Yellow Pages can still complement a local media plan. However, if your marketing strategy consists of renewing your Yellow Pages ad, it's time to reevaluate your options.

If you're ready to take it up a notch and you're one of our beloved 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. If you're not sure if you're ready, you might want to try that box in the upper right corner of your browser.

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.

Spend hours on Facebook? How's your wallet?

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

With new research indicating that heavy Facebook and Twitter users tend to spend more money on the web than non-users, having a social network presence has never been more valuable for your overall media planning strategy. And the vast majority of online retailers have apparently recognized it - 9 out of 10 are planning on having a Facebook presence by the end of 2010 (Source).

This comScore study, indicates that the more time a person spends on Facebook, the more money he or she also spends online. Twitter users also tend to spend more dollars online (but not in direct correlation with their level of use).

Appealing to a huge number of Gen Y and Xers with their disposable incomes (see this post for more information on this demographic) and increasingly gaining older users, social networking is no longer dominated by tweens and teens with less power over their financial purchases.

For business owners with local store marketing needs, maintaining a Facebook presence can help build brand awareness, distribute information, build a sense of community, offer additional customer support and boost sales (both in-house and online). Now there's something to consider while contemplating your local internet marketing strategy.

Are your fans raving?

Friday, June 4, 2010 by Brian King

I just finished reading a great book by Ken Blanchard titled Raving Fans. I would highly suggest it to anyone who works with customers. It’s a quick read and one that will inevitably leave you thinking about things that you, or your organization, could do to improve your organization’s approach to customer service.

One of the best takeaways I got was the way a customer feels when they walk away from an experience. Often times, we assume that if the customer isn't visibly mad or upset, that they were satisfied with their experience. However, this is not necessarily true. The only time we can truly know if someone is satisfied with an experience is if they walk away as a raving fan. If their reaction is neutral when they walk away, there is a good chance that the delivered experience was in fact below expectations.

Look at it this way, ever been to a restaurant where the food was marginal but when the waitress asked, “how is everything?” you replied with, “everything is fine.” Now the waitress might take that as everything is great but in reality, you may have felt that the food and service wasn’t terrible but was mediocre. Well unfortunately, mediocrity doesn’t cut it in today’s competitive business world. Extraordinary is the only truly sustainable business model.

At Balihoo, building a killer local advertising plan or implementing a game-changing co-op advertising program is simply not enough. While we like to think we are damn good at doing those things, it is even more critical for us to be creating raving fans through a comprehensive approach of not only building great products, but delivering exceptional customer service. We aren't perfect but we are continually pushing the envelope and raising our game to the next level every single day that we all walk into the office. Its engrained in what we do, who we are and how we succeed and its what keeps all of us working harder and harder every single day.

So let me ask you, are your fan’s raving?

Big Outdoor Advertising Ideas

Thursday, June 3, 2010 by Tiffany Schrenk

When researching media vehicles for an advertising media plan here at Balihoo we make certain to cover all of our bases, from television to newspaper advertising and everything in between. Inevitably we end up requesting local advertising information about out-of-home (which comes in many forms: traditional billboard, vehicle wraps, bus shelters, etc). Out-of-home can be a very efficient media type for clients whose initiative is to drive brand or promotional awareness at the local level. It's one of the oldest forms of advertising that remains one of the most effective. I recently heard about two very established global brands who have turned their attention to out-of-home for upcoming promotions. They are taking out-of-home to entirely new and creative level.

Universal Studios Hollywood is making a real "footprint" in the marketplace on the promotion of a new attraction opening this Summer; King Kong 360 3-D. Check out the attached article to see where King Kong has been sighted and the damage he's doing in places like Dodger stadium.

www.slashfilm.com/2010/06/03/cool-stuff-king-kong-attacks-dodger-stadium-and-santa-monica-beach/

JELL-O another global brand with a very strong following is once again teaming up with Bill Cosby (after a 10 year hiatus) this summer traveling around the country with the "Give it a Giggle Tour". Participants at 22 different locations across the US enter a traveling recording studio to voice their best giggle. The winner will be selected by Cosby himself and aired within a national television spot. Click below to read more.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/bill-cosby-jell-o-togethe_n_578592.html

During a time when most advertisers are relying on Internet and interactive media as primary advertising tools it's refreshing to see large well known brands implementing out-of-home into their marketing plans. I encourage those responsible for local marketing strategy to reexamine this medium and integrate it once again in local marketing and media plans. Out-of-home that stands out from the crowd does require creativity and reinvention but it's not a lost art. Advertisers will be pleased with the amount of consumers that receive their message and how far the reach will extend.