Co-op Marketing Software

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 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!

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.

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.)

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.

ESPN The Storyteller

Monday, May 24, 2010 by Betsie Richardson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stuff Marketing People Like

Friday, May 21, 2010 by Megan Heath

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

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

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

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

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

Ridiculous Competitions: Mustache May... enough said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Reverse Referral in Dental Marketing

Monday, May 10, 2010 by Betsie Richardson

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, We Can Do That!

Monday, May 3, 2010 by Kallen Hayes

It seems that every week Balihoo is engaging with a new company and starting the exciting process of implementation. During that time, we really get to know our new clients by learning about their marketing needs, analyzing how our product and services can best supplement their advertising efforts, training their corporate team and local affiliates, and prepping our platform so it’s ready to roll-out on the designated ‘go-live’ date.

Despite the fact that the process is extremely thorough, we have learned from experience that it’s not always possible for a brand to provide all the necessary information to all their affiliates to produce a perfectly seamless transition to the Balihoo platform. There are always a few eager local advertisers who 'missed the memo' and don't understand the full extent of what Balihoo is bringing to the table.

I have the pleasure of remedying this situation by fielding calls and emails from the confused local store owners. And I have to admit, it’s fun to be the person answering questions in the exact way the callers are hoping. For most of the inquiries that start with ‘Can you…?’ I get to answer, ‘Yes, We can do that!’. I can practically hear the sigh of relief on the other end of the phone when I tell someone we have a full-service media team standing by to help them sort through the maze of local marketing options. Be it a full-scale annual media plan or just a professional point of view on current advertising spends, we have the local marketing and media consultation services for any size operation.

What about co-op advertising with a national brand? 'Yep, we can help with that too!'. Our co-op marketing software allows for a subsidy amount to be deducted up front or after final billing, and it takes only a few easy steps on behalf of the affiliate. We’ve been getting a great response from the users of that feature. No more messy paperwork or long delays for creative approval and co-op reimbursement.

My favorite questions to which I can often answer ‘yes!’ is whether or not we can make a requested upgrade or if we have plans to develop specific functionality in the future. Due to the flexible nature of online software, (and the talent of our awesome development team) we have the ability to respond to our users’ needs in a matter of weeks. New brands always bring new ideas to our attention, and its very exciting to be the person on the phone letting the users know their request has been fulfilled.

As our software advances and we learn more and more from our users, I know Balihoo is going to be saying 'Yes! We can do that!' a lot more. It's very exciting to be on the front line of that conversation and building great relationships with our users, one caller at a time.

Co-op Advertising Whitepaper - Reseller Adoption

Monday, April 26, 2010 by Shane Vaughan

I've recently been writing a series of co-op advertising blog posts in preparation for a co-op marketing white paper I've been developing. I'm happy to say it's done and live, you can check it out here: http://balihoo.com/co-op-ad-program-white paper

For those of you involved with trade promotion marketing, co-op advertising or channel marketing software - whether on the manufacturer or reseller side - I would love any feedback you can provide around this whitepaper (svaughan at balihoo dot com).

Thanks in advance!

Eco-Friendly is Great Dental Marketing

Friday, April 23, 2010 by Matt Borud

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

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

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

Earth Day the Balihoo way

Thursday, April 22, 2010 by Megan Heath

In addition to ad builder software, local advertising, and co-op marketing, Balihoo folks share a passion for the great outdoors. Likewise, a commitment to the environment is core to Balihoo culture.

Here are a few of our Earth-friendly practices:

Reduce: No employee is without a glass, metal, or recyclable plastic water bottle, and a fully-stocked kitchen ensures that disposable utensils are a rarity.
Reuse: Following the remodel of our current office space in 2009, Balihoo received a Building Excellence Award for our "Green Upgrade." Original wood paneling, electric wiring, 2" x 4"s, doors, and more were re-purposed throughout the office to limit waste.
Recycle: Several months of insistence finally prompted our building to implement a recycling program, to which we are the largest contributor.
Walk and ride: A central downtown location affords Balihoo folk the luxury of walking most everywhere: to lunch, to run errands, to meet clients, to grab supplies, and to stake out a happy hour table. Those who live nearby are rewarded for exchanging their parking passes for a spot on the bike racks.
Eat local: No drive-thru bags here. Balihoo employees are loyal patrons of restaurants, grocers, and farmers markets that offer locally grown products.
Take the bus: Don't let two dozen of your closest friends drive 175 miles to the nearest casino; charter a bus and ride together. Alex and Brian can elaborate.

*Please consider the environment before you print this awesome blog post.

The Bentley of Ad Builder Software

Monday, April 19, 2010 by Caroline Moore

I recently had a client tell me that we have the Bentley of Ad Builder software and offer it at Volvo pricing. I thought, "How nice to be regarded as such a great value." I began to think about what made our Balihoo Solution fit this analogy. Is it the world class print ad builder itself or is the pieces of the solution that surround it? Is it the focus on local marketing automation or the co-op marketing solution that make it great? Does the local media buying bring more value to the client or is it the one-stop-shop platform with over 17 integrated media vehicles that really meets the client's needs?

I eventually arrived at a conclusion. It is all of the

pieces of the Balihoo Solution that make it great. Though we may not have the heritage of Bentley as of yet, we share two pivotal characteristics that drive our brands. Passion and dedication. We both embrace modern technology while ensuring commitment to ambitions of quality and engineering. Many different elements are combined to produce strength of function and performance in a product that upholds that standard. Every day an entire team focuses to build on that brand and product to make it better. Trying to be both revolutionary and evolutionary in a time when value is important and your commitment to the valued customer is even more important. If we can continue to deliver a quality product that meets and exceeds clients' needs, we will be successful for a long time.

Different Industries - Similar Local Marketing Issues

Friday, April 9, 2010 by Jill Coles

As a Program Manager at Balihoo, I have been exposed to diverse franchises, with very similar local advertising challenges. In the past two months, I have grown to know and love a national mattress brand, a kitchen and bath brand, a kidney dialysis brand, and a retail sandwich shop brand, all of which have selected Balihoo as their local marketing software provider. What do all of these brands have in common? More than you think.

They are all nationally recognized as leaders in their field. They have realized the need to provide a higher level of sophistication and assistance in local advertising to their franchisees. They recognized the fact that planning and launching an advertising campaign a the local level can be a painful, expensive and lengthy undertaking for a local store/center/showroom owner.

Enter Balihoo. We may not be the only franchise marketing software out there, but for these brands, we were the company of choice.

Giving franchisees the resources that they need to be successful in local advertising, co-op advertising, local media buying and media planning is a huge value-add provided by a national brand. We hope to see more of it!

Whether Regifting or Remarketing, Marketing Software Tools Continue to Impress

Friday, March 5, 2010 by Alex Fascilla

Now that we're well out of the holiday season, it's time to take a few minutes--or hours, if your 'haul' was like one of those kids' from the TV show my Super Sweet Sixteen--and conduct inventory on the gifts you received. "Alright," you say to your gifts, "which ones of you is a re-gift, and which ones of you will I treasure for years to come?" It should be a pretty simple task. The Blu-Ray you received probably isn't in this particular pile but rather long been set up in your entertainment center--shrugging apologetically at the progressive-scan DVD player as it was being switched out--while the Hillshire Farms Summer Sausage Sampler Pack is firmly established among this group of misfits, collecting dust since the morning of December 25th, when its brick-patterned wrapping paper was apprehensively removed.

The worst among these is the 'ween-gift--the gift that leaves you on-the-fence about whether to hold or fold. This might be the basket of wine cheeses you can someday see yourself sampling at a spring picnic (heh, yeah riiiiight...), or, conversely, giving to your fiancée's aunt to save yourself some coin when faced with buying a gift for someone who, one, you don't know anything about, and two, don't necessarily care about. These are the gifts that take the longest to relegate to 're-gift' status. Eventually however, your logical side overtakes any romantic vision you had and a re-gift is born. As an aside, please join me in listening to (sorry, copyright laws prevent me from saying watching) perhaps the most hilarious example of a re-gift attempt of all time (at bottom):

So where am I going with all this 're' talk? Well, what if I told you it is possible to 'remarket' or 'retarget'? According to a recent article in MediaBuyerPlanner, advertisers are severely under-utilizing this relatively new retail marketing feature. This is how it works: suppose you go to backcountry.com and find a new pair of Smith sunglasses you want. You add them to your cart, enter your shipping address, and even go as far as to enter the first 4 digits of your credit card before deciding, "I don't want to buy this. This is impulsive." You close the browser window, close your wallet, and take a quick walk, shaken up by your close-call with impulse (your walk invariably leads you outside where you immediately squint at how bright the sun is...).

If Backcountry wanted that business back, it could entice your return by utilizing 'remarketing'--or serving their ads on other sites you visit to constantly remind you of "what you could have had**". As it turns out, many advertisers do have access to this remarketing feature, but as the article reports, only about 31% of them actually use it. A staggeringly low amount given some remarketing efforts have boosted ad response as high as 400%.

Why not turn this into a co-operative marketing solution? I can see these online retailers that have similarly been 'doorbell ditched' swapping impressions on each other's sites, banding together to recover lost sales. Any hey, even if they don't pursue the co-op advertising route, it's painfully obvious retailers need to make remarketing/retargeting a part of any media planning strategy they follow. Good luck ducking those impulses now!

**Thank God my ex-girlfriend doesn't have access to this technology.

Breadmaker sound bite Will Ferrell sound bites