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?

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

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 by Kelly Mason

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

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

My New Strategy: Pair Up Prime Time TV Ads with Targeted Local Internet Ads

Friday, August 27, 2010 by Sam Martin

Simultaneously advertising on prime time TV and on internet sites may be a solid new strategy to touch consumers according to my analysis of The Nielsen Company's recently released 2010 Q1 Three Screen Report entitled, "What Consumers Watch: Technology Enhances the Video Experience."

The report provides information and data about households and their video viewing behaviors when using HDTV, timeshifting (DVR or OnDemand) devices, broadband internet, and smartphones. The findings are interesting for local advertising buyers for franchise marketing efforts, and they suggest a new strategy may be in order.

The report finds that DVR usage and penetration into homes has increased 14% to more than nine and a half hours per month. Interestingly, while DVR usage increases, the rate of commercial viewing during playback remains steady—good news for advertisers. According to the report, on average, "45% of commercials are viewed during [DVR] playback in Q1 2010 compared with 43% in Q1 2009."

Also interesting is that 58.7% of people are using TV and the internet simultaneously. This number astounds me and got the wheels turning. Perhaps, integrating a local internet marketing campaign along with a prime time TV schedule could be an effective way to target my audience and reach them where they are currently absorbing a majority of their advertisements. It may seem obvious, but paying attention to the data and placing advertising in multiple mediums where consumers are most receptive, in an integrated fashion, is a critical component to advertising success and is one of the Balihoo media team's strengths.

Whether you work in advertising or are on the other end as a consumer, I encourage you to check out the report.

Need Flowers? Call 1-800-Flowers. Need LSM? Call Balihoo.

Friday, August 27, 2010 by Alex Fascilla

The other night, I caught an episode of CBS's Undercover Boss, a show in which, if you haven't already heard (hopefully, you have, as your CEO could be lurking--perhaps even watching you now as you read this, posing as an interested temp as he scribbles a mental note, "This guy likes to read blogs when he should be working . . . fired!") features CEOs of Fortune 500 companies—never mind—I just explained the entire premise of the show.

Anyway, this particular episode trailed Chris McCann, the President and little brother of Jim McCann, the CEO of the largest floral and gift company in the world, 1-800-Flowers. [An aside: the best scenes came when Jim treats Chris like they're both 9 years old again, going so far as to almost blow Chris' cover in a stunt to embarrass him in front of people that technically work for him. Classic!]. The episode proceeds as most do. Boss finds some bad. Boss finds more good. Boss hands out promotions/gentle coaching. However, one particular scene made my "hey-Balihoo-could-own-that-if-given-the-chance" light bulb go off. Yes, I have that light bulb. Jealous?

Shortly after this scene was shot, Chris was almost fired by this lady! No joke!

The scene involves Chris visiting a franchise that recently went from locally-owned to a 1-800-Flowers branded florist shop. When the manager of this particular store was asked why the store was struggling, she stated simply, "people just don't understand we're the same shop, with a different name, especially since we aren't involved in local advertising." DING! Enter Balihoo. With Balihoo actively enabling breakthrough local store marketing, that store, and other 1-800-Flowers franchises just like it, would have been quickly outfitted with the tools neccessary to get their store performing optimally.

So, Mr. McCann (and others just like you) . . . can I get you our local marketing playbook?

Local Online Marketing Works - Take it from Groupon

Friday, August 27, 2010 by Betsie Richardson

Being in the business of local advertising, we at Balihoo are often asked by our small business owner clients about how to utilize local internet marketing. They hear buzz that their customers are overwhelmingly adopting online media. But the internet appears to our business owners as, well, the world wide web - rather daunting, and they don't know where to start.

Our retail store owners in particular spent much of their local marketing efforts in the past few decades hanging coupons on doors and running inserts in the local newspaper. This method simply doesn't cut it in today's fragmented consumer marketplace.

Online advertising is a great way to market on a tight budget and reach a targeted demographic. Google Paid Search (pay-per-click) and SEO efforts should be top on any local business marketer's list. Then consider what your local media outlets offer on their online properties.

Groupon's online display campaign in the NYTimes.com illustrates a great example of local targeting through online news sites. Admittedly, I was reading an article about Snooki, but my shame aside, Groupon's ad on "Boise's Best / Up to 90% Off / Get Today's Special" caught my eye, and I found myself adding to their click through rate. The special today happens to be laser hair removal at a high end spa in Boise. Well targeted at me - a young female professional reading the Fashion & Style section of the NYTimes.com.

Groupon is averaging 500,000 new subscribers a week. After they ran an $11 million promo for Gap, they gained 750,000 subscribers (see Advertising Age's article).

What to learn from Groupon's online marketing:

Identify your target demographic and only buy top-rated pages against that audience
Keep your message concise and easy to read (the less words the better)
Focus the message on the call-to-action
Leverage the measurability of online advertising - track your results closely and optimize as you see upward/downward trends

Are you a franchise owner looking for guidance with local store marketing? Check out Balihoo's white paper.

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.

Let Us Organize Your Skittles

Friday, August 20, 2010 by Paul Price

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moe's Southwest Grill Nailed It!

Thursday, August 19, 2010 by Brian King

I was recently catching up on some light reading at FastCasual.com, a site devoted to insights for innovative restaurants, when I stumbled upon an article that made so much rationale sense in a world that can sometimes be so irrationale.

The article, Moe's invests in local-store marketing strategy, is in reference to Moe's Southwest Grill's recent corporate initiative to increase local marketing efforts by adding a grassroots element to the franchisee's bag of available tools for franchise marketing.

Below are two favorite quotes from the article, and my thoughts on them:

1. "Local-store marketing has always been a part of what we do and we have always provided a kit to our franchise partners, but not many of our franchisees are comfortable leaving their four walls." - Right on! So many franchises want to focus on local advertising and marketing, but neglect to provide quality tools to the franchisees that truly enable them to act as effective local marketers. Ahem. . .better take a peek at Balihoo's Local Marketing Automation solution.

2. "It allows the franchisee. . .to totally control his or her territory, and they're less reliant on corporate staff or the franchisor to do the marketing for them." - FINALLY! While their effort is primarily focused on grassroots marketing, at least they are working to put tools in place so that local marketing isn't something that is only discussed during executive brainstorming sessions, but rather something that is actively done at a local level to drive demand generation.

Kudos to the team at Moe's. Now my recommendation to them: Call us, because we all know that grassroots marketing is just one component of the numerous marketing activities that should take place at the local level. We can help you with the rest!

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.

Dental Implants - How Much is Quality of Life Worth to You?

Monday, August 16, 2010 by Betsie Richardson

Working on the local consumer advertising side of the dental implant industry, I understand the barrier of finding financially qualified leads. This procedure is still young, and consumers are simply uneducated on the cost parameters. Once they see the high out-of-pocket cost, they have to ask themselves how much they would pay to smile proudly again, eat apples and steak, speak confidently, and eliminate the stigma of dentures going in the sock drawer at night. What is the price tag on quality of life?

The New York Times posted a good article on this topic on July 29 - read it here.

As Lesley Alderman writes in this story, insurance typically only covers up to $1,500. When a single implant procedure runs $3,000 minimum and full-arch implants start at $20,000, you can imagine the sticker shock experience for a consumer who just wants to eat steak again.

Based on our experience, the best prospect-to-patient conversion rates in dental implant marketing happen as a result of public education seminars and our local media buying experts have given clients great results by recommending advertising in newspapers. It turns out to be a key medium for the target of this specific marketing campaign with these demographics (female in house, 55+, household income of $75,000+).

We worked with a dental implant center in Boise that ran their third public education seminar last night. They had 21 attendees, of whom 17 had missing teeth (the other 4 were supportive spouses). Not bad for two hours of the surgeons' evening! These were These attendees scheduled personal consultations on the spot, and when they walk into their appointments, they will have a solid understanding of the benefits and costs of available procedures.

If you are interested to learn how Balihoo's dental marketing arm can provide local marketing ideas to benefit your business, contact us: www.dentalmarketing.balihoo.com.

The ABCs to Know Your Audience

Friday, August 13, 2010 by Tiffany Schrenk

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday, August 12, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

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

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

The study concluded with some interesting findings, including:

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

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

TO SUMMARIZE:

Facebook-first consumers:

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

Email-first consumers:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

The Basics Of Pay-Per-Click

Friday, August 6, 2010 by Sam Martin

One of my responsibilities at Balihoo is managing pay-per-click campaigns for several local franchisees. A couple years ago I knew absolutely nothing about pay-per-click advertising, but since then I have tried to learn as much as I possibly can, not only my personal satisfaction but to better serve our clients local store marketing efforts.

The one thing I have found about pay-per-click is that on the surface is it pretty straight forward but the minute you dive in a little deeper it gets fairly complicated. There are a lot of dials to turn and buttons to push in order to make a campaign perform at its best. The complexity of PPC creates a challenge when trying to describe how it all works to clients that have never been engaged with local internet marketing. To hopefully help in this area, I recently built a slide deck that gives a brief overview of what PPC is and how it can benefit local store marketing.

Google Adwords Overview

View more presentations from Balihoo.

The purpose of this deck was to provide a resource for our clients to reference and gain a better understanding of PPC at a high level. I also wanted to address a few of the questions that I get on a regular basis from clients who are just starting with PPC - Why isn't my ad showing or Why is my competitors ad above mine?

So, if you want to learn some basics of pay-per-click advertising, check out the presentation and don't forget to download our whitepaper to find out more about Balihoo.

The Local Advertising Monster

Wednesday, August 4, 2010 by Brian King

I'm a big Seth Godin fan. I've read numerous books by him and I tend to follow his blog fairly closely. Last week he had a great posting about facing a monster head-on. The simple blog read as such:

Every monster has a big shadow

That's what makes it a monster.

In fact, when you look the monster in the eye, when you calmly and carefully inspect the actual monster, you discover that he's not so bad after all. It's just the shadow that's scary.

When in doubt, ignore the shadow.

This short and simple blog is a great analogy for those launching a local advertising campaign for the first time. I see so many small businesses afraid to take the necessary step forward to implement targeted local advertising because they are scared of the daunting task that lay ahead. Well, I've got good news! Balihoo's local marketing automation platform is designed to help your distributors, affiliates and franchisees "ignore the shadow" and face the monster head on to achieve long-term sustained business growth through strategic local marketing and advertising.

Find out how Balihoo's innovative local marketing automation solution can help your organization take on the monster!

Local Internet Marketing: Ready for Back-to-School?

Wednesday, August 4, 2010 by Marcie Blagden-Ellison

As a local business owner or distributor with local advertising needs, you’re probably more than a little familiar with circulars (i.e. those advertising inserts that are always falling out of your newspaper). If you've used circular advertising in the past, you've probably wondered how many of your own ads are falling out of the papers - only to go unseen by your target consumer...

What if your circular was digitally buzzing around the internet's most popular social networks and landing in front of your local customers?

Today, with the newspaper industry struggling to attract ad dollars and our society's flat-out addiction to the internet, it's fitting that new circular-specific applications are hitting social networks. ShopLocal just launched (yesterday) a new set of applications that enable retailers with local advertising needs to add circulars and ads to Facebook pages (already being implemented by JCPenny, Office Depot, CVS, etc.). In addition, on Monday Microsft Advertising introduced a new localized interactive circulars experience (added to MSN Local Edition) that allows past and potential customers to "grab" savings as they need them.

Perfect timing considering a recent Burst Media survey indicates that the internet will be a key shopping tool for back-to-school shoppers. With just under half (48.9%) of survey takers reporting that they'll go online to research a product/service for the school year and 47.1% of them acknowledging that they're influenced by online ads geared toward the back-to-school season - it's a pivotal time to make sure that your products/services are easy to find online (assuming your target audience falls in this bucket).

While ShopLocal and Microsoft's new tools are currently being utilized primarily by retailers, there is no reason that such functionality couldn't and shouldn't also be provided to a brand's distributors and resellers and/or to a chain's franchisees. While we wait for this application to appear....(*glances hopefully at the Balihoo product/development team (who have already developed some awesome social networking functionality)*) you can get ready by getting your Facebook page setup and connecting with your past or potential local customers.

Broadcast your current sale to local customers! Offer a unique discount to Fans! Just get involved with your local customers online by providing them with value (savings, information, entertainment, etc.) - you won't be sorry!

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.

Got great customer service? Flaunt it!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 by Kallen Hayes

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Simple Thought on Simplicity

Monday, August 2, 2010 by Kelly Mason

“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.”

This sentiment by Longfellow has outlived its time. Longfellow was writing in the mid-1800's. If you were magically shot back to this era, think how quiet, how simple things would seem compared to today's world of iPod's and twitter and Jumbo Trons.

In building marketing software tools for local advertisers, this idea takes on a whole new level of importance. The more complicated the process, the harder it is to simplify, AND the more important it is to simplify.

You can have the coolest features ever, but if they're not usable, your users will call you out on it, as they should. When it comes to a new feature, take what you think should be there, and then strip it down to what absolutely needs to be there, and then make sure that is simple. When it comes to building local marketing software, which is complicated in its nature, it doesn't always work out that way, but I will continue to use this idea to check myself.