Local Advertising

This MSNBC.com headline caught my eye this morning:  Weak economy means it’s a freebie nation.

At a time when almost everyone seems to be tightening their purse strings, giving past and potential customers a product or service for free is a great solution for a business with local store marketing needs. What's more, with the adoption and immediacy that social networking tools provide, the cost of getting your 'freebie' message out to your local audience doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg! In fact, you could utilize facebook or twitter and have your message out to past, current and potential customers within seconds for absolutely zero out-of-pocket cost!

While many big franchises are on the freebie fad bandwagon - Starbucks (Free music downloads), Denny's (free grand slam breakfast), Auntie Anne's (free pretzels), Amazon (free ebook downloads) - don't think that you have to have a big brand budget to offer a worthwhile freebie that yields a big ROI.

While offering 'freebies' has routinely popped up during economic slumps, never before did businesses with local advertising needs  have such a variety of affordable tools to get their message out. Not convinced that offering a freebie could help your bottom line? - What's more, Promotional Products Association recently found that consumers were far more likely to make a purchase after receiving an item for free than after simply viewing an ad or commercial for the product or service.

I've experienced this personally several times over the past several months. One of my (now) local favorite coffee shops gave me a free coffee mug a couple of months ago - at the time I didn't feel overly connected to that particular shop or brand and was surprised to receive the free mug....Looking back now, it is interesting to consider that I went from visiting their location once or twice a week to going nearly every day (seriously, if you come by my desk, 9 times out of 10 times there will be a Tully's coffee cup there). Come to think of it,  I haven't consumed "office coffee" in weeks (perhaps even months!) Nice job with the freebie Tully's - see you on Monday!

Dental practices are small businesses by nature. At the end of the day, they are trying to bring patients(customers) in the door and get them to accept treatment plans(buy products) to ultimately drive revenue all while working to keep overhead low and thus yield a profit. Sounds like a business to me.

Where dental practices veer off the path that many small businesses drive down is when it comes time to selling the practice (business). While there are many variables that impact the valuation of a business, I’m going to attempt to keep this simple because I do believe the underlying difference remains. A starting point for business valuation is often derived from an Owner Benefit number. The formula for such number is:

Pre-Tax Profit + Owner’s Salary + Additional Owner Perks + Interest + Depreciation less Allocation for Capital Expenditures

The “Rule of Thumb” is that businesses tend to sell for a one-to three-times multiple of the sum of that equation. That holds generally true, EXCEPT for dental practices. In many cases, a profitable dental practice can actually, and often times do, sell for LESS than the Owner Benefit valuation. Why you might ask? Simple. Practices rarely follow the principles of ‘Branding’. What ends up happening, is that by default, a practice coincidently becomes branded as Dr. John Doe instead of High Plains Cosmetic Dentistry.

So for the sake of this example, we can assume that when High Plains Cosmetic Dentistry is up for sale, it is because Dr. John Doe has decided to pursue a retirement filled with golf, tennis and travel. That single clinician practice may have had an Owner Benefit of $1mm but the practice is lucky to get $400,000 in the sale. This is because more often than not, patients leave when Dr. Doe leaves. The new owner may be just as talented and even keep the name High Plains Cosmetic Dentistry but it is now Dr. Tom Jones instead of Dr. John Doe. All of a sudden, customers (err… I mean patients) are confused and look for alternative options. All of a sudden the practice is not worth the $1mm that the valuation might have initially lead us to believe.

Calling all dentists! It does NOT have to be this way. Focus on branding your practice and not necessarily yourself. Be on the lead-edge of the shifting paradigm by building brand equity through strategic dental marketing. This is the first step in helping you sell your practice for what it’s worth. Heck, why not even a multiple of what it’s worth like most other successful businesses?

Balihoo is working with those forward-thinking dental practices across the country to focus on communicating the brand to the public via strategic direct-to-consumer dental marketing and local advertising campaigns. Let’s face it, at the end of the day, most of us don’t want to work forever and would sure like to sell our lifetime of hard work for what it’s worth.

Look at it this way: when Phil Knight retired from Nike in 2004, did people stop buying Nike products? Point and case.

• Greatest Generation: born prior to 1946 (Ages: 65-plus)
• Boomers: 1946-1964 (Ages: 46-64)
• Generation X: 1965-1976 (Ages: 34-45)
• Millennials: 1977-1994 (Ages: 16-33)
  
  With our beloved Boomers struggling, we are turning to the Gen X and Gen Y demos, with their disposable incomes, technology addictions and consumption-happy habits to perk things up.
  
  Anyone with a medium sized family can see at a glance that there are some huge differences between how these three demographics go about consuming media - How do you seek out products or services? What media types do you turn to (or perhaps have attached to you) every day? Now compare your answers to those of your younger cousin, grandmother, nephew, father, etc...... While Boomers are more apt to still rely on their daily newspaper or respond to direct mail flyers, Gen X and Y'ers are far more likely to rely on the internet for both new and entertainment and are more likely to respond positively to email marketing and mobile coupons. 
  
  Been dragging your feet when it comes to looking into local internet marketing? Now is the time to take a step back and consider who your most viable target audience is - there is a good chance that your Yellow Page or radio spot just isn't worth the investment anymore.
  As a small business, how are you planning on getting your local advertising in front of this audience? Perhaps it time to mix up your local store marketing and media planning strategy?

This post, Local Franchisee Marketing - 10 Things You Need to Know, was originally written and posted by Shane Vaughan on our old blog on 7/14/09.

Balihoo recently penned an article for one of our favorite sites for franchise news - Blue MauMau.  Article can be seen here, or you can read the full article below!  

Local Franchisee Marketing - 10 Things You Need to Know 

If you’re a franchisee, you’re probably already doing some local marketing — even if it’s just listing your business in the local Yellow Pages.  Think additional advertising will cost too much?  Think you don’t need an online presence?  Or does “online presence” seem to be the opposite of “local media”?

In fact, every company, no matter how large or small, can benefit from using local media effectively.  And it doesn’t have to break your budget!  Here’s a list of the Top Ten things you need to know to make Local Marketing work for you. 

1.  Know Your Target Audience.

First, last, and always:  Pay attention to your target market!  If you’re not focused on your customers, you cannot hope to win their attention — or their business. 

Be specific about who you’re trying to reach.  Men?  Women?  Retirees? Mothers?  Sports Fans? Chinchilla owners?  People with other particular interests?  Other small businesses, such as real-estate firms?  Dental offices? 

Now that you’ve clearly defined your target audience, consider what marketing messages will resonate with them.  What problem does your product or service solve for them?  Think carefully about where you should position your communications so your target audience will see, read — and act on them.

If possible, develop a “profile” of your target customer.  Give them a name to easily refer to them, let’s use “Katie” for an example.  Where does Katie work?  Is she married?  Kids?  What does she do in her free time?  What is Katie’s household income?  The more specific, the better. 

2.  Measure, Measure, Measure. 

There’s an old saying, “Half the money you spend on advertising is wasted, and you don’t know which half.”  Unfortunately, this is true in many cases, but it doesn’t have to be.  Careful planning and – most importantly, measurement, ensures your advertising is working hard for your business.    

It’s all about ROI — Return On Investment.  This may sound complicated, but it’s actually pretty easy to calculate.  Simply take the benefit you receive from an investment, and subtract the cost of that investment.  Divide the result by the cost of that investment.  (Benefit - Cost)/Cost. 

You can apply this to any business investment, including marketing campaigns.  And you should.  ROI tells you if a given effort is providing a net benefit to your bottom line, and if so, the size of the gain.  You’ll want to get the highest ROI possible from your marketing dollars, and you can’t improve what you don’t measure.   

3.  Buy Media; Don’t Be Sold

Strategically buy your media, don’t allow yourself to be “sold.”  Make sure you evaluate all options, across all communications channels, not just whoever happens to knock on your door.  And evaluate them in terms of their effectiveness for your target market, not necessarily in terms of your personal interests!

Also, make sure that any reps who call on you know you’re considering other placement; they will probably sweeten their rates.

4.  Integrate Your Marketing Messages.

Don’t spend all of your marketing dollars on a single medium.  Why not?  Because multi-channel marketing efforts perform better.  In one study, over a few years multi-channel customers spent at least several hundred dollars more in comparison with single-channel customers.  Multiply that difference by your total number of customers, and you can see there’s real value to be had.

As you venture into multi-channel marketing, be sure to integrate your marketing.  You’ll need to convey the same message across all channels.

And don’t forget some powerful experiential channels that many small franchises overlook.  Your storefront or office, your signage, your employees, and your product are all sending messages of their own.  Are those experiential messages consistent with your advertising messages?  Are they consistent with the message you want to send?

5.  Relations With Local Media.

The thing to remember about local media is that when your business is down, so is theirs.   Just like you, your local media want long-term repeatable revenue in a down economy.  They want to keep your business!  This means now is the time to renegotiate your contracts.

This is especially true of local print media.  Understand the downward pricing pressure exerted on these media by the power of the internet:  In 2008, print classified ad spend was down to about half what it was in 2000!  Blame Craigslist, Google, and Yahoo — then put this knowledge to work for you.

6. Newspapers Are Still a Valid Option.

Although readership is shrinking, newspapers are still a valid local advertising option. 

Particularly in smaller markets, newspapers carry more weight with the local audience. 

Older readers in particular continue to rely on newspapers, especially for local info.

But make sure you supplement ad placement in the print version with placement on the newspaper’s own on-line presence.  In 2008, newspapers actually accounted for over one-quarter of all local online advertising!

And consider writing up a press release announcing your company’s opening, refurbishment, website, sale, or upcoming special event — anything that could be seen as “news.”  Get it out to your local papers.  They may not take it, but they might if they need to fill a spot in a hurry.   

7.   Digital Works Locally.

You say you don’t think of interactive or online media as being “local”? 

In fact, local online advertising is expected to grow 6% in 2009, to a total spend of $13.3 Billion.  In a broader sense, local digital media includes things like Google Maps, Yahoo Local, and online yellow pages.  These are growing too.

Local search is also a powerful tool, increasingly replacing printed Yellow Pages.  People used to “let their fingers do the walking;” now it’s the mouse!  Local search is when a potential customer uses a search engine to find your kind of business, adding the name of your city or town.  When that happens, you want that customer to see your company’s link — front and center!

8.  Build Your Online Presence — Beyond Your Own Website.

Local search will work more effectively for you if you have your own website — and get it on the first page of search results.

To rise in the search rankings, your site needs to have relevant keywords but not appear “keyword-stuffed” — containing nothing but keywords and no useful knowledge.

A single website is not enough; keywords are not enough.  Search engines also take into account how many websites have links to yours.  This is an indication of how useful and relevant your content is. 

You can build links to your website from your own Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter pages.  This will help you rise in the search rankings.  But it means you need to have a strategic plan for your online presence, and commit resources to implementing it.

9. Build a Relationship.  

Attracting a new customer costs about 5 times as much as keeping an existing one.  To control your customer acquisition costs, therefore, you need to build an emotional connection between your customers and your brand.  (And yes, all companies have a brand, even if they don’t realize it!)

To do this, foster a relationship with your customers outside of the buying interaction. 

Direct mail, email, social media, blogs, and Twitter can all contribute.

10.  Email Marketing Is Your Friend.

Once you build up a solid email list, email marketing is relatively inexpensive and highly targeted.  If done right, you know you are communicating a relevant message to motivated customers who want a relationship with you.  That’s a marketer’s dream!

How do you build your own email list?  Offer a “membership” campaign on your website.  Give something of value exclusively to members (i.e., discount coupon, etc.) in return for their email addresses.  Make sure you respect their privacy and take care in how you use customer contact info — and tell them about your privacy commitment.

• Don’t spam your customers.  Use a “preference center” on your website that will allow customers to tell you how often they want to hear from you, and on what topics.
• Frequency:  Daily; Weekly; Only when there’s a sale? 
• Potential Topics:  Arrival of new merchandise; Monthly newsletter containing tips & how-to advice; When you have an event just for “members;” Only when you’re about to have a sale? 

Then, respect that preference!  Nothing is more annoying to a customer (and therefore destructive of the relationship you’re trying to build) than when they’ve told a company their preferences — and then that company ignores them. 

There you have it:  The Top 10 Things You Need To Know About Local Franchise Marketing.  It isn’t just the Yellow Pages any more!

This post, Bathroom Advertising, was originally posted by Shane Vaughan on our old blog.

In the past decade, in-bathroom advertising has become an important staple in many a marketers arsenal of communication methods.  Marketers love it - a truly captive audience, their attention is directed at the space in front of them for approximately 90 seconds with nothing else to do but read your ad.  It’s also naturally a fantastic method to targeting gender-specific messages with 100% accuracy (I would hope!).  Additionally, the ads reach the audience typically most coveted by marketers, 21-35 year olds in a social setting, which suggests a group with disposable income who like to go out and spend money.
 

Whether you like the concept of advertising in the bathroom or not, it’s hard to argue with the metrics as seen in this Barbour & Monroe survey:

• 84% Recalled seeing specific advertisements in the restrooms
• 92% Were able to name specific advertisers without prompting
• 88% Recalled at least 4 selling points in the ads surveyed
• 98% Reacted positively or neutral to seeing ads in restroom facilities 

  This particular medium is an excellent example of the value the Balihoo provides businesses and brands with local advertising needs. Bathroom advertising companies are typically local, which makes them very difficult for marketers to find and buy their ad inventory.  Working with Balihoo, we can help you find local advertising options (bathrooms if need be) in nearly every market!
   

I am a self-professed magazine fien. I currently subscribe to (gasp) 11 magazines (Real Simple, Runners World, The Week, Glamour, Shape, US Weekly, Women’s Health, Bon Apetite, Outside, Self, and Cooking Light). I pay between $7.99 and $64.95 for each subscription.

Over the past month, I have been amazed at some of the deals that have arrived in my mailbox. It seems that almost all of my subscription fees have been drastically cut. So a few weeks ago when I saw this AdAge article, it didn't really surprise me. A whopping two-thirds of the 344 magazines analyzed have dropped their per-copy subscription prices. Even more interesting – the price choppers are continuing to lose subscribers.

The less money magazines generate from subscribers, the more publishers depend on advertising dollars. Only, as anyone in the advertising world knows, print advertising dollars aren’t as easy to come by as they once were. In addition, the less a reader has to pay to obtain the magazine, the less they may value the magazine (and thereby the advertising brands that they are exposed to). It isn’t clear though, whether a subscription purchased at a drastically reduced cost provides as valuable of a reader for advertisers as a subscription that is actively sought out.

If single-copy purchasers, subscribers AND advertisers are all less willing to ante up and both single-copy sales and subscriptions are down, what should magazines do?  For many, they are turning more attention to their websites. For example, Runners World, Real Simple and Cooking Light have fantastic websites (I know because I have all three bookmarked). I spend more time online than I do reading, watching television, listening to the radio, etc. If your target demographic includes someone like me, turning to local internet marketing would be a good bet.

While I love my magazines, they more often than not fuel my love of the internet - I often "get my chef on" (as my husband calls it) with a recipe I pull from one of my favorite magazine's websites AFTER perusing my coveted magazine collection. With the economy in its current state, affordable, effective local marketing ideas are a necessity, it comes as no surprise that more and more neighborhood businesses are amping up their local advertising efforts. If you are a local business owner and haven't changed your local advertising strategy in ages, take another look at your online options, you might be surprised at who is online and how affordable it is to get in front of them.

Active Network – twitter.com/activenetwork
Amazon – twitter.com/amazon

American Airlines - twitter.com/AAirwaves
Anthropologie – twitter.com/anthropologie

Baskin-Robbins – twitter.com/BaskinRobbins
Barefoot Wine - twitter.com/barefootwine
Ben & Jerry’s – twitter.com/cherrygarcia

Best Buy - twitter.com/bestbuy

Bigelow Tea – twitter.com/bigelowtea
BMW - twitter.com/bmw

Bojangles – twitter.com/gottawannaneeda
Bosco Chocolate Syrup – twitter.com/scott_so
Build-A-Bear Workshop - twitter.com/buildabear
Cabela’s - twitter.com/cabelas

Cabot Cheese – twitter.com/cabotcoop
Cadbury – twitter.com/CadburyFriends

Carpet One Floor & Home - twitter.com/carpetone
Charm City Burger – twitter.com/charmcityburger
ComputerGeeks – twitter.com/ComputerGeeks
Constant Contact – twitter.com/ctcthelp
Dairy Queen - twitter.com/dairyqueen
Dell – twitter.com/Direct2Dell
Delta - twitter.com/DeltaAirLines
Dippin’ Dots – twitter.com/realdippindots

Discovery Channel – twitter.com/DiscoveryChPR
Domino’s Pizza - twitter.com/dominos
DunkinDonuts – twitter.com/DunkinDonuts
Eastbay – twitter.com/Eastbay
Etsy - twitter.com/etsy
Fast Company – twitter.com/fastcompany
Fiji Water - twitter.com/FIJIWater
Flooring America - twitter.com/flooringamerica
Flying Dog Beer – twitter.com/flyingdog
Ford Trucks – twitter.com/fordtrucks
ForRent.com – twitter.com/AptsForRent
Gandolfo’s NY Deli - twitter.com/gandolfos
Gatorade – twitter.com/Gatorade

GM Trucks – twitter.com/GMtruckclub
Greenling Organic – twitter.com/greenling_com
GU Energy – twitter.com/GUenergy
H&R Block – twitter.com/HRBlock
Harley Davidson – twitter.com/harleydavidson
Hertz – twitter.com/connectbyhertz
Home Depot – twitter.com/thehomedepot
HP Snapfish – twitter.com/snapfishbyhp
Ikea Fans – twitter.com/ikeafans
Infusionsoft – twitter.com/Infusionsoft
Inkfruit – twitter.com/inkfruit
iPhone – twitter.com/iphone
Jetblue – twitter.com/JetBlue
Joost – twitter.com/joost_com
Kodak – twitter.com/kodakCB
Landor.com – twitter.com/landor_dot_com
Lands End – twitter.com/LandsEndChat
Lilly Pulitzer - twitter.com/xxlilly

L’Express – twitter.com/LEXPRESS
M&M’S – Ms. Green –twitter.com/mmsgreen

Magicomm – twitter.com/magicomm
MarketingProfs – twitter.com/marketingprofs
Marriott – twitter.com/MarriottIntl
McDonald’s –twitter.com/mcdonalds

MGM Grand Hotel and Casino – twitter.com/mgmgrand

Moxie Java (Boise) - twitter.com/moxie_java
Nestle - twitter.com/nestle

Nike Basketball – twitter.com/nikebasketball

Nordstrom – twitter.com/nordstrom

North Face – twitter.com/thenorthface
nuBound- twitter.com/nuBound

Pancheros Mexican Grill – twitter.com/pancheros
Parts Express – twitter.com/Parts_Express
Patagonia – twitter.com/patagonia

Pepsi – twitter.com/pepsi

PizzaHut - twitter.com/pizzahut
PlanetGreen – twitter.com/planetgreen
Playboy – twitter.com/Playboy
popchips – twitter.com/popchips
Popeye’s Chicken – twitter.com/PopeyesChicken
Quiznos –twitter.com/quiznos

Red Hat – twitter.com/redhatnews
REI - twitter.com/REI_CoOp  

Ron’s Home And Hardware – twitter.com/rons
Rubbermaid – twitter.com/Rubbermaid
Sacre Bleu Wine – twitter.com/sacrebleuwine

Safeway - twitter.com/safeway
Salesforce.com – twitter.com/successforce
Scuba Diver Girls – twitter.com/scubadivergirls
SEGA – twitter.com/segaamerica
Share Our Strength – twitter.com/sharestrength
Sierra Trading Post – twitter.com/sierratp
Southwest Airlines – twitter.com/southwestair
Starbucks – twitter.com/starbucks

Subway –twitter.com/subwayfreshbuzz

Taco Bell – twitter.com/TacoBellTruck

Tasti D-Lite - twitter.com/Tastidlite
The Oregonian – twitter.com/oregonian
The Sims3 – twitter.com/thesims3
TheHandbagShop – twitter.com/thehandbagshop
Thomson Reuters – twitter.com/thomsonreuters
Thomson Reuters Careers – twitter.com/TRCareers
Tiara Hotels & Resorts – twitter.com/TiaraHotels
Tillamook Cheese – twitter.com/TillamookCheese

Times Online – twitter.com/timesonline
Trader Joe’s – twitter.com/traderjoes
Triathlete Magazine – twitter.com/TriathleteMag
TurboTax – twitter.com/turbotax
Urban Outfitters – twitter.com/UrbanOutfitters

Vera Bradley - twitter.com/VeraBradley

Vitamin Water - twitter.com/vitaminwater
VIBE Magazine – twitter.com/VibeMagazine
Virgin – twitter.com/virgindotcom

Volvo (US) - twitter.com/VolvoCars_US
Wachovia – twitter.com/Wachovia
Weight Watchers – twitter.com/weightwatchers

It’s an idiom the advertising industry has tossed around for years: grab the low hanging fruit.  These are the people already looking for a particular product or service, they know what they want, they’re familiar with an established company, and all they need is a little nudge to get them walking in the door to spend money. 

But what about the high hanging fruit?  The people content with the status quo who aren’t looking to try something new or different.  Appealing to this group is particularly challenging for service companies that must rely on their prospective clients to proactively reach out in order to engage with a new company.  

I’m going to throw myself in the category of the high hanging fruit.  I’m quite positive I’ve stuck with the same handful of companies my entire life that are providing crucial services including tax preparation, financial planning, and insurance.  In order to prompt me to try a new company, I would need to be convinced that what I’ve been doing for the last 10 or so years is not the best option, that it would be worth it to schedule an appointment in my already packed schedule, or that I actually need a new service I’m not currently utilizing.

Many of the service companies actively looking for new clients are running national campaigns that have done well to establish their respective brands as household names.  As an average Jane consumer, I enjoy watching the Aflac duck risk his life on a daily basis, I’m charmed by the Geico gecko, and I think the Fidelity green line is ingenious.  These memorable campaigns are great at keeping their brands top of mind and may be enough to attract the low hanging fruit, but I would argue that a more aggressive approach is sometimes needed in order to attract the consumer base a little further out of reach. 

To bridge the gap between advertisements that I, as a consumer, perceive as sheer entertainment and those that will influence my behavior, these companies need to complement their national campaigns with advertising strategies that deliver a more personalized touch.  Their services need to be presented as tangible and easy to obtain, I need to feel like a qualified potential client, and most importantly, I need to be assured that there is a real person behind the catchy message who wants to meet me and is waiting just down the street to be my new agent, advisor, or consultant. 

People in the high hanging fruit category like me don’t want to call 1-800 numbers and talk to someone across the country who doesn’t know us.  We’re perhaps a little too timid to walk into an office without a friendly invitation, and we might not even realize there is a local branch of a well-known company in our area.  Through local marketing efforts, these national companies can give me a map to their office, a picture of a person to meet, and phone number that will be answered by someone in my same county, let alone continent. 

National companies can equip their local affiliates with the tools and resources they need to complete the challenging puzzle of local advertising.  Witty campaigns are a great start, but co-op programs, locally customized advertising material, and a smart media planning strategy are what it takes to fill in the missing pieces.  These local marketing ideas can transform amusing ads into influential ads that will, (to continue with the allegory), give a tree a good shaking to knock the top fruits from their secure holding and bring them falling into the net below.

I can’t even begin to tell you how often I hear that comment when meeting with dentists in regards to direct to consumer advertising to help fuel practice growth. They say this as though their marketplace is a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific and cold-hard facts don't apply.  While I do agree that no two markets are alike, I respectfully disagree that their market is so different that their practice cannot benefit from local advertising. Here's why:

48% of the US population, over 25 years of age, is missing one or more teeth. That’s a bold fact. 16% of the US population is missing 4+ teeth! Wow. Now we are on to something. These facts came from one of our clients, Nobel Biocare, who conducted one of the largest consumer dental surveys ever. So what does all this mean?

What this tells us is that, relative to the population in the market, there are a lot of people missing teeth. So then the next thing I typically hear is, “Well, they don’t have money and can’t afford to have their teeth fixed.” WRONG. The largest percentage of people missing 4+ teeth happen to fall in the higher socio-economic category(annual income of $100k-$149k/year).

So let’s get back to basics here. Why aren’t these people doing anything about their missing teeth? In most cases (43% of those people missing with incomes above $75k/year to be exact), are “not concerned” about their missing teeth. Ok, why not? Because the majority of these people are unaware of the health ramifications of not replacing their missing teeth. And how could they be? In most markets, nobody has educated theme about the long-term health benefits of dental implants outside of their office walls which is simply, insufficient. For example, a typical dental office in New York City has a network of approximately 4,000 patients. That’s less than 1/10^th of 1 percent of the people that reside in New York City. Therein lays the unrealized opportunity via local advertising.

There are a lot of people who need the services, could benefit from the services and can afford the services but simply don’t know about the services. Enter Balihoo, the low-barrier to entry local marketing automation solution for those loyal Nobel Biocare customers who realize that at the end of the day, their market isn’t THAT different.
 

1. Don't over-update (which, I think applies to almost all social media networks. I have unfollowed a number of "noisy" Tweeters before)
2. Allow a fan/customer of your page/brand to be an admin on your page. While this is dependant on both your brand and the fan, in general, I think this is a great idea and falls along the same line of thought of testimonials and success stories - people trust "real" people (just look at Match.com's commercials..."real"?)
3. Whether you have established a page or not - chances are people/customers/potential 'fans' are discussing your brand. Reward the positive feedback quickly but respond to the negative immediately before it catches fire.

If you watched the second week of the Olympics, there is a good chance that you might have seen some coverage on Men’s Freestyle Aerials Skier, Jeret “Speedy” Peterson. Speedy, who happens to be a Boise native, managed to take home the silver medal after stomping a trick he calls The Hurricane. The Hurricane is a jump that consists of three flips and five twists all while soaring 55+ feet in the air over a period of about 2.9 seconds. It’s simply unreal. Jeret named the jump The Hurricane because he said halfway through; you have no clue where you are.

Rather than attempt the jump myself, I’ll gladly take his word for it. Jeret happens to be a buddy of mine so I took particular interest in his success and actually planned meetings around when he was competing to make sure I was near a TV. The meeting I had prior to his event was with that of a dental practice that had been dabbling in local advertising but saw minimal success because they simply, didn’t know where they were. Because they got lost in the mix, they gave up which is common in the world of local marketing and often times the demise of most direct-to-consumer local advertising campaigns.

Fortunately for national brands and franchises, Balihoo is changing this with its local marketing automation platform. It allows the parent company to offer their customers, distributors and/or affiliates the ability to implement strategic local advertising campaigns with the assistance of enterprise class advertising professionals, and all at a fraction of the cost. Rather than attempting to throw The Hurricane (which is actually a fair description of advertising world in general) on their own and risk the bone-breaking brutal landing, companies now have the ability to utilize Balihoo’s local marketing software to take on The Hurricane and nail the landing with the precision to bring home the medal.

For those loyal Balihoo Blog followers who were too busy reading our blogs and missed Jeret “Speedy” Peterson landing The Hurricane, I have attached a link to watch him compete. Enjoy! Click to View