A couple of months ago I was asked to sit on a panel at a fabulous conference in Vail, Co which was put on by Pacific Crest (the investment bank).  The subject was "local marketing", which is right up my alley, so I accepted.  

The conference was held last week and my panel started off with a simple question - "what is local marketing?"  I was struck by the simplicity of the question and as people on the panel started to answer I noticed a certain bias both in the panel and in the audience.  When people think about local marketing they typically think about small/medium business (SMB) marketing, and that is a massive mistake.  Local marketing is not defined by the size or geography of the marketer, it is defined by the geographic reach of the message.  

In fact, according to this BIA/Kelsey report nearly 80% of all ad dollars spent in local markets is spent by National brands - a whopping $105 billion.  This is critical for anyone focused on Local to understand.  

The key to unlocking the $130 billion spent in local markets is not in enabling the local SMB to market effectively. The answer lies in providing solutions to national brands which enable them to more efficiently and effectively vary their message, mix and cadence at the local level.  Often times this execution involves the participation of a local channel partner - distributor, dealer, agent, franchisee, and that relationship must be facilitated seamlessly, but just as often the execution is completely independent of any local involvement.

On the flip-side, solutions which focus on SMB marketing, must not be limited to local.  SMB's often sell their products all over the country or the world.  Marketing solutions targeted at SMB's should facilitate the execution of messages nationally or internationally, not just locally.

Use these equations from now on:

SMB = (Local + National + International Marketing) done by a small/medium sized business
Local = (SMB + National Brands) marketing on the local level