Want to Grow Your Sales? Then Empower Your Channel

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 by Chris Keller

You’ve heard it a thousand times: Empower Your Channel to Grow Sales.

Sounds good, right?

Problem is that empowering your channel has always meant hiring more sales people who struggle to control the loose ends. It turns out that implementing channel marketing automation technology is a cost effective approach that will provide a tangible return on investment.

Reality

A recent call with a prospect illustrates the situation. Half of this prospect’s sales come from Group A, a handful of large, national B2C buyers with thousands of local stores. The other half of sales come from Group B, consisting of thousands of local and regional distributors with 1-5 locations. Logically, this marketer focuses the majority of his resources on the handful of big buyers who drive sales quotas.

The irony, while Group A does drive tremendous volume, and total sales, their fixation on price drives profit out of each transaction, resulting in commoditized products. In stark contrast, Group B tends to be very loyal, strong brand advocates, and more profitable (considering the very small amount spent on them currently). So the prospect neglects Group B.

Sadly, this is an all too common problem. Gerald Murray, Research Manager with IDC, recently released a study of channel marketing for large IT companies stating that, on average the IT company participants in his study have 19,000 inactive partners. Beyond IT, the problem pervades other industry sectors.

Solution

How then can the prospect cost effectively drive sales through the more profitable Group B? It turns out that hiring more people is not the solution. The increased human capital costs would outweigh the subsequent sales increase. The opportunity then must lie in the use of technology.

Murray from IDC tends to agree, though his solution is to implement partner relationship management (PRM) tools, though I don’t think that fundamentally tackles the channel marketing problems. Instead, I think a local marketing automation (LMA) platform includes the full suite of tools to solve channel problems. Also based on technology, it focuses on empowering the local channel reseller, a distinct difference from PRM tools that focus on tools for a brand’s channel marketing/sales organizations.

The LMA solution is scalable, cost effective, and ultimately places emphasis on local store marketing execution, a movement that is much more than a trend. To understand this as a solution, one must consider the MARKETING problems a channel faces:

Marketing Materials - Access and ability to customize proven, professionally designed, and nationally branded creative assets.
Advertising Funds - Traditionally administered as a co-op marketing solution, national advertising dollars are a lifeline to the small marketing budgets of local channel resellers.
Strategy - Local channel resellers typically don’t have the training, experience, or attention to develop, implement and execute effective cross-medium local marketing.
Execution - Local marketing requires knowledge of effective branding across multiple mediums.

What do you think? Are these the problems your channel faces?

1 vs. 100: Marketing in the Face of Constrained Demand

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 by Zac Monahan

In 2008, the 100 Thing Challenge created quite a stir on the web, motivating people to own fewer material possessions and cap that ownership at 100 personal items. While Dave Bruno’s challenge lasted for a finite period, some analysts think recession fueled decreases in consumer spending may represent a permanent trend in consumer behavior.

When considered along with the 100 Thing Challenge, the idea of a permanent decreasing in spending leads to a challenging thought experiment for marketers: what if your advertising not only had to generate interest from consumers but also had to motivate them to displace another possession prior to acquiring your product?

The thought begs a number of questions:

How does your marketing emphasize the value your brand provides?
Would severely constrained demand change your approach to demonstrating this value?
If yes, would that approach be different in Albuquerque, New Mexico compared to Augusta, Maine?
How would you coordinate your efforts in different geographic areas across multiple mediums?

At Balihoo, we believe that knowledge and know-how to adapt marketing to local markets probably already exists within your Brand’s organization. Rather, what most brands are missing are the tools to execute locally. Balihoo’s local marketing software simplifies and automates your local marketing strategy, enabling national brands to collaborate with franchisees and affiliates to drive demand and appeal to local buyers with local needs. Specifically for national brands, Balihoo provides tools to streamline funds allocation and administrative oversight of Co-op Advertising programs. Take a look at our White Papers to see how our software can help both your franchisees, and affiliates to drive sales with creative and targeted campaigns tailored to the local level.

The New Definition of 'Locally Owned and Operated'

Monday, August 23, 2010 by Kallen Hayes

What does it mean to be locally owned and operated? I found myself asking this question when I stepped into Tully’s Coffee the other week and noticed that exact phrase written on one of their gift cards. The card itself caught my attention because it had a beautiful picture of Boise on it (a smart local store marketing tactic). What really got me thinking was their use of ‘locally owned and operated’. I’ve always thought of Tully’s as a chain coffee shop, whereas ‘locally owned and operated’ makes me think of an individual, independently-run store. I'm positive the Tully’s on 8th and Broad in downtown Boise isn’t the only Tully’s coffee shop in the world and I know the company's corporate headquarters aren't located here in Boise. So does my favorite coffee shop (with great tasting lattes) really qualify as local? The question has been raised by other Balihooers and undoubtedly brings to mind the arguments of our era's epic battle between the 'big box' businesses and the local ma and pop shops. Though, with the growing trend toward franchise and chain businesses and the continual blurring of the line between local ownership and corporate control, has the meaning of locally owned and operated evolved?

According to my research, there are a variety of opinions on the definition of "locally owned," but most tend to agree that it describes a business owned in majority by local residents who are largely free to make their own local advertising, operational, and legal decisions. On the International Franchise Association's website, they promote the notion that all franchise companies are ‘local’ and are merely supported by their parent companies to facilitate and accelerate the steps to achieve their own business development goals. In fact, the IFA’s tagline, 'Franchising: Building local businesses, one opportunity at a time' clearly states their intention to foster and support healthy communities.

I would argue that the time has come for a significant shift in what consumers consider to be a ‘local’ business. With today's advanced technology and improved production, distribution, and shipping standards, it makes sense for small business owners to maximize their investments by leveraging resources available through franchise organizations and co-op memberships. In order to help these small business thrive in this new competitive landscape, we as consumers should adjust our 'us versus them' mentality to embrace the new era of national organizations. Sure, to some extent, there will be an inevitable loss of local history and charm as chain brands replace many of the old and cherished business names with which we've grown up. But we cannot deny that market forces will prevail in the end. The concept of economies of scale tells us again and again that pooling resources and knowledge will always create a smarter business model.

To look at it from a more personal perspective, it's only fair to admire and appreciate a local resident with the entrepreneurial spirit and drive to start their own business, employ local workers and sponsor local events. Further, they may be every bit as committed to contributing to the health and future of their community through their local store marketing efforts as the individually owned local store owners whose businesses have survived against the big-box retailers. With that in mind, Tully's Coffee and the other franchise and chain stores with local owners dedicated to serving their customers and investing in their communities are every bit as deserving of the locally owned and operated recognition.

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.

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!

The Key to Successful Marketing

Monday, August 9, 2010 by Phil Bear

I recently read a great list (I'm a sucker for Top 10 Lists - just ask David Letterman) on marketing blunders from major global brands. The one that stuck with me above all the rest was this one from Pepsi Cola:

"Pepsi's 'Come alive with the Pepsi Generation' translated into 'Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave'" for its campaign in China.

Someone needs dental implants.

Now, according to Snopes.com, this entire story about Pepsi and their marketing blunder is undertermined. Whether this is true or not is completely irrelevant to this blog. (I got to put a picture of a zombie in my blog, so I win.)

What I took from this particular top ten list (some within the list are confirmed true) is that even major brands still do not have local advertising figured out. No matter how well these brands are globally recognized, they still make mistakes when it comes to individual markets (I'll give you that China is a prettty big market, but the point still stands).

What national brands need is Balihoo. We have created marketing software that integrates digital asset management with administration into a simple online co-op marketing solution. It truly is a solution that someone has to see to believe. Luckily for you, our dear readers, the crack marketing group here has recently put together a two minute(ish) flash demonstration that gives you a better understanding of how we are revolutionizing marketing on a local level.

You can check that out here:
http://balihoo.com/coop-marketing/coop-marketing-demo.html

If that doesn't peak your interest in our marketing solution, then you must be dead inside. Or undead on the outside.

Her shirt has a stain on it. How embarrassing!

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.

New Advertising Services - We're Listening

Friday, July 30, 2010 by Betsie Richardson

When Nobel Biocare asked Balihoo to partner with them to provide local consumer advertising for their dental implant clinician clients, we jumped at the opportunity. We initially rolled out a subscription service that provides clinicians with a soup-to-nuts advertising campaign. We are excited to announce that we have added two new subscriptions to our service offerings. We have our clients to thank for communicating what they want, and we listened!

In the initial "Platinum" Subscription, we start by diving into the market to develop a cross-medium annual strategy with budget allocation, detailed tactics and demographic research. The service also includes a suite of creative material that includes TV, radio, print, direct mail, online, internet paid search - the full gamut. We load this material into our proprietary co-op marketing software where clinicians can customize it to their brand and objectives. Finally, we perform local media buying and post-buy analysis.

Having consulted with hundreds of dental implant clinicians over the past year, we have learned a lot about what they want in an advertising campaign. Importantly, we learned many clinicians are not ready to dive into a mass media advertising campaign, the cost barrier aside. They are simply not ready to see their name on TV or a billboard. This puts them in a defensive position with their GP referral base that they may not be ready to manage. They are, however, very comfortable with Internet marketing and hosting free patient education seminars through their local newspaper.

These learnings combined, we came up with the Gold and Silver Subscriptions.

Gold includes:

Print (newspaper & direct mail)
Online (Google AdWords bidding & E-mail)
Microsite (w/customizable offers that update immediately)
Media Buying
Account Management

Silver includes:

Online (Google AdWords bidding & E-mail)
Microsite (w/customizable offers that update immediately)

The Gold subscription includes material focused on marketing patient education seminars. Silver will eventually include microsites that market dental services other than implants (i.e. wisdom teeth, veneers, crowns and bridges, etc.) We will continue to deliver services as our clients ask for them and always welcome new ideas!
Are you a Nobel Biocare customer? Are you interested in local marketing ideas to grow your dental implant business? Go to www.dentalmarketing.balihoo.com to learn more or download our whitepaper here.

Guest Post - The Best Strategy for Implementing Marketing Strategies

Thursday, July 22, 2010 by Shane Vaughan

The below is a guest post from Evan Hackel at Ingage Consulting.

The Best Strategy for Implementing Marketing Strategies

By: Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel is the President and Founder of Ingage Consulting, www.ingageconsulting.com. Throughout his twenty-five year career, he has seen the need not only for improved engagement but for an understanding of why engagement plays such an important role in any organization. Evan’s company works closely with the managers and leaders of franchises, co-ops, and buying groups, to help them improve their business practices. Evan can be reached directly at ehackel@ingageconsulting.com.

When it comes to creating and implementing marketing strategies, many organizations miss an opportunity to engage their franchisees, members, or dealers. Companies tend to just present their ideas and force them down through the ranks until they have reached everyone associated with the brand. Of course, this is not really the case, but it can seem that way to recipients of the information. Implementing a marketing strategy this way will only cause franchisees, members, or dealers to resist the new strategy. In general, people like to feel like they are part of the process; therefore, they respond better when made part of the process.

In an ideal world, franchisees, members or dealers would enthusiastically implement all new marketing programs. In high performing organizations, there is a lot of enthusiasm and support for new ideas; communicating is relatively easy and there is a great deal of support for the efforts. But for many franchises, co-ops, and dealer networks, it is difficult to implement the organization’s message effectively and in the way that management would like.

One of the best ways to ensure that a marketing plan is received and executed at all levels in the organization is to first, involve franchisees, members, or dealers in advertising groups. These groups, local or regional, will represent what is happening at the consumer level and be networking groups to support each other in marketing efforts. It's important to use the groups to get input on the development of marketing plans; not just as a way to roll out a program.

Another way to engage franchisees, dealers, or members in carrying out your marketing strategy is to create a brand council. The brand council should be involved in aspects of your marketing efforts. Participants of the brand council should also be included in presentations to the franchise, cooperative, or dealer group and should be invited to write articles and postings for the organization’s intranet.

Engaging your members, dealers, or franchisees in implementing marketing strategies is just the first step. Organizations need to measure and understand the success level of their current marketing plan. Of course, this is a good practice for understanding success and helping with future marketing efforts. It is also important for franchisees, members, and dealers to know that you are paying attention to them. Many of you, I am sure, are tracking sales, which is good, but there are intangible aspects to marketing efforts that sales alone can't measure. Having a report form for your franchisees, members, or dealers to feel out their opinions on the marketing efforts is a good way to get high-quality feedback. Ask questions like: how could we have made this local marketing effort better, would you do this again in the future, and did customers mention the local advertising? Report back to the group what you have learned. This will show you have been listening.

The reports are a great idea for improving engagement and for learning more about the success of your marketing efforts, but you are likely to only get a small sampling of reports back. This is okay; the fact you are asking for feedback and that everyone knows they have the ability to share their thoughts and ideas is what's important.

How do you engage your franchisees, members or dealers with your local marketing plans? Do you have a brand council and how does that work? How do you get feedback on success?

Thanks for the guest post Evan, good information. I couldn't agree more, specifically when you're dealing with Local Marketing Automation. Whether implementing a new local advertising campaign, new channel marketing software or new local marketing software, it's critical to get buy-in from the key players. This will be one of the key drivers of adoption - in fact, we recently wrote a whitepaper identifying the key issues with adoption around new co-op marketing solutions, you can download it here.

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!

Your Co-op/MDF Advertising Program Sucks

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 by Shane Vaughan

If you've ever been associated with the "delivery" side of a co-op or MDF advertising program, you've likely received an email/vmail/letter something like:

Dear Product Manufacturer,

Your Co-op advertising program sucks.

First, what are the specific rules and regulations? How do I know what's covered? What is my specific co-op advertising balance and what can I use it on? I've spent hours and hours working on this with my sales rep (is that the best use of his time?) and we still have no idea.

Secondly - thanks for all the product images...now I get to take them to my local agency and pay thousands to get an ad designed that I 'hope' you will approve. At least you're paying for most of the design fees, but wow, wouldn't those dollars be much better spent driving demand in the marketplace?

Thirdly - are you serious with this creative? It's a big, branded ad for your brand with a small little spot for my logo. Why would I spend money on this? Where is the demand-generation component? What's going to get customers to walk in my store and make a purchase? Where is the tracking? How do I know if this is going to work for my local marketing efforts?

Also, I see you've given me a print ad and a flyer. That's great and all but this is 2010 - where is the banner ad? What if I want to put up a microsite? PPC? Social media? TV? C'mon, marketing at the local level HAS to be integrated across mediums - I know you know that because that's what YOU do at the local level. Where are the other mediums?

Finally - 6-10 weeks to get my co-op/mdf money back? Really? And half the time we have to go round-and-round to get that (another great use of my sales reps time). Why can't you just give me an immediate discount on the marketing spend for the amount you're going to cover?

That's it, I've had enough, I'm going to market Competitor X from now on. Good luck with your big product launch later this year....

Any of these issues sound familiar? Did you know that using Balihoo's channel marketing software to manage your co-op advertising program can address all of these issues and more? Avoid getting another letter like this, request a free demo of our solution today.

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.

Balihoo Wins Red Herring 100 North America Award

Friday, June 25, 2010 by Shane Vaughan

We announced some exciting news this morning:

Local Marketing Automation Leader Joins Prestigious List of Innovative, Industry-Disrupting Companies

(PRWEB) June 25, 2010 -- Boise, ID - Balihoo (www.balihoo.com), the premier provider of Local Marketing Automation technology and services to national brands with local marketing needs, is a winner of the prestigious Red Herring 100 North America Award. Following a thorough analysis of hundreds of cutting edge companies and technologies and based on Balihoo's potential for explosive growth, the Red Herring editorial team chose Balihoo as one of its award recipients. Each year the Red Herring 100 North America award identifies the most promising private technology ventures from around the world, including past award winners such as Google, Yahoo!, Skype, Salesforce.com, and YouTube.

"Balihoo is honored to join the elite list of Red Herring 100 North America Award-winners, many of which completely disrupted an industry or created a new industry entirely with its distinct vision and innovative business model," said Pete Gombert, Balihoo's CEO. "We consider this recognition both an honor and validation of our efforts to reshape local marketing. Our local marketing automation solution delivers the tools and insight to empower franchisees and national brand resellers to deliver effective, customized marketing campaigns that resonate with their customers better than ever before."

"Clearly, Balihoo is poised to dramatically change the local marketing landscape with insightful and intuitive enterprise-level tools that enable the local marketer to create, implement, monitor and refine impactful marketing campaigns. Both national brands and their local representatives can engage their customers at a higher level to drive more business and increased loyalty. Delivering this increased marketing capability at the local level led us to enthusiastically endorse Balihoo as a 2010 Red Herring 100 North America Award Winner," said Anam Alpenia, Director, Red Herring.

The winners were announced on Thursday night at the conclusion of the Red Herring North America 2010 conference in San Diego, California after an extensive review of applicant qualifications and on-site presentations to the editorial team. Each applicant had to qualify as a technology company that is privately held and not listed on any exchange anywhere in the world. Winners are expected to lead the next wave of disruption and innovation.

For more information about Balihoo and how its Local Marketing Automation Solution can help companies translate national strategies into local execution, download Balihoo's Integrated Co-op Marketing Whitepaper or the latest whitepaper, Fixing the Biggest Co-op Advertising Program Issue.

About Balihoo
Balihoo is the premier provider of Local Marketing Automation technology and services to national brands with local marketing needs. Balihoo brings enterprise-class marketing to the local level and gives national brands full visibility into all local marketing activities and results. http://www.balihoo.com/

Let them know you're listening!

Thursday, June 24, 2010 by Kallen Hayes

A few months ago, during one of Balihoo's Friday morning trips to the local Starbucks coffee shop, I noticed an interesting display on the counter. It was a clear container full of green sticks with little mermaids adorning their tops. What caught my eye, in particular, was the message on the display. In case you can't read it on the attached picture, it says:

'Inspired By You! A great idea brought to us by YOU. Keep 'em coming - we're listening!
- MyStarbucksIdea.com

I was immediately impressed with Starbucks' proactive approach to connecting with their customers and letting them know they're listening. I quickly realized it wasn't about spilled coffee, the need to stir in four packets of sugar, or cute green mermaids. Starbucks easily could have produced the 'splash sticks' and simply started stocking them in their shops alongside the sugar packets and napkins. But instead, they took the time to create a new display and a friendly message to catch the eyes of their customers as they ordered coffee.

Connecting with customers is something all business should strive to do. And there is no better opportunity to reach out and show them you care than when you have clearly listened to their feedback and acted on it.

Being a growing company, Balihoo has a lot to learn from our customers. Although we already think our co-op advertising and local marketing software is pretty cool, we realize there is a long path of development ahead of us, and much of that path is yet to be mapped. We will have to listen to our customers and continue building our product so it doesn't just meet their needs and expectations, it exceeds them.

We're already doing a lot to give our current users the opportunity to let us know what they think about our software and how we can make it better. From our user experience study group, to email surveys and the feedback tool in the corner of our homepage, we want people to feel comfortable telling us exactly what they want.

And from my own experience interacting with our users, I'm going to agree with Starbucks that it's a lot more fun to make a big deal about a new product, new design, or new feature, than to quietly launch it and wait to see who notices.

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.)

Balihoo is a Red Herring 100 North America Finalist

Monday, June 14, 2010 by Shane Vaughan

Balihoo Selected as Finalist for Red Herring 100 North America Award

Globally Recognized List Showcases Innovative Private Companies with Industry-leading Potential

Boise, ID – Balihoo (www.balihoo.com), the premier provider of Local Marketing Automation technology and services to national brands with local marketing needs, has been selected as a finalist for the prestigious Red Herring 100 North America Award. Technology industry executives, investors, and strategists rely on this award to identify the most promising private ventures from around the world. Past award winners include Google, Yahoo!, Skype, Netscape, Salesforce.com, and YouTube.

“Being named as a finalist for the Red Herring 100 North America Award is a tremendous honor and validation of Balihoo’s innovation of local marketing efforts,” said Pete Gombert, Balihoo’s CEO. “This list has a tradition of recognizing businesses with the potential to reshape an industry, and we believe our local marketing automation solution has the power to redefine the relationship between a local business and its customers. National brands now have access to tools and resources to deliver effective, customized marketing campaigns that resonate locally.”

The Red Herring 100 North America award highlights exciting startups that will lead the next wave of disruption and innovation. Applicants must be a technology company that is privately held and not listed on any exchanges anywhere in the world. Finalists for the award were recently announced and winners will be unveiled at Red Herring North America 2010 in San Diego later this year.

For more information about Balihoo and how its Local Marketing Automation Solution can help companies translate national strategies into local execution, download Balihoo’s Integrated Co-op Marketing Whitepaper or the latest whitepaper, Fixing the Biggest Co-op Advertising Program Issue.

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.

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?

Co-Op Advertising Program - How to Increase Reseller Participation!

Friday, June 4, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

If you are like the vast majority of product manufacturers and corporations, your co-op advertising program just never seems to receive the recognition (and reseller adoption) that you would like. Check out the below presentation to find out why your program isn't being readily adopted and what steps you can take to begin improving it and spur adoption:

Co-Op Reseller Adoption: Fixing the Five Biggest Co-Op Advertising Program Issues

View more presentations from Balihoo.

To learn more about how to improve your current co-op advertising program or to find out about Balihoo's integrated co-op marketing solution, contact us today for a quick, live demo of the tool!