Susan Tormollen

Over the past decade, corporate websites have become the hub for all national brand marketing activities, becoming the centralized landing pages through which most tactical programs are driven, tracked and measured.

For national brands, having a local presence online is now imperative to ensure that consumers can find their resellers at the local level. Local websites do this – they are the first step required for national brands to build a local market presence. They ensure search engines direct customers to the right place at the right time; they make sure local reseller/affiliate messages are consistent with national campaigns; and they guarantee customers aren’t routed to the competition.

• According to Google, 73% of online search activity is related to local content  
• 74% of internet users perform local search¹
• 51% of marketing executive respondents include localized websites as part of their preferred localized marketing channel in 2012.²
• Adding local content to web pages, blog posts and titles was the most popular local optimization tactic for 81% of marketing survey respondents. (yet, interestingly, only 37% of organizations surveyed claimed local business listings on one or more search engines)³

Without effective local marketing strategies, national brands risk losing visibility and sales at the local level.  Local websites are the most important tactic for ongoing, long-term local marketing success.

Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast.

1 The Kelsey Group

2 CMO Council "Localize to Optimize Sales Channel Effectiveness", Oct 2011