the local web: the linchpin to successful local marketing

7/31/2019 The Local Web: The Linchpin to Successful Local Marketing

1/17

THELOCAL WEB

Local Marketing. Automated.

THE LINCHPIN TOSUCCESSFUL LOCALMARKETING

PAPER INTENDED FOR:

BUYING STAGE:

EducationAUDIENCE:

ResponsibleforNationalBranding,ChannelMarketing,andAdvertisingFOCUS:

TrendsandChannelElementsoftheLocalWeb HowtoIncorporateinNationalMarketingStrategiesROLE:

DecisionMaker Inf luencer

THELOCALWEB,WHATITISANDWHYDOESITMATTER?LOCALWEBPLANNINGMATRIXHOWTHREENATIONALBRANDSAREEMBRACINGTHELOCALWEB
http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/


2/17

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

SECTION 1: THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL MARKETING FOR NATIONAL BRANDS

THE GAP BETWEEN NATIONAL BRANDS AND LOCAL MARKETING

LOCAL MARKETING IS THE LAST MILE OF MARKETING

HOW LOCAL MARKETING INCREASES TOP-LINE GROWTH

CHALLENGES NATIONAL BRANDS FACE WITH LOCAL MARKETING

SECTION 2: THE IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL MEDIA TO LOCAL MARKETING

MARKETERS INCREASINGLY RELY ON DIGITAL MEDIA TO REACH CONSUMERS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

SECTION 3: THE LOCAL WEB

WHAT IS THE LOCAL WEB AND WHY SHOULD IT MATTER TO NATIONAL BRANDS?

STRATEGY FOR ADDRESSING LOCAL WEB ECOSYSTEM ELEMENTS

WHAT ARE THE ECOSYSTEM ELEMENTS OF THE LOCAL WEB?

LOCAL WEBSITES

SEARCH LOCAL REVIEW SITES

LOCATION-BASED MEDIA

DAILY DEALS

MOBILE

LOCAL MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIA

LOCAL WEB PLANNING MATRIX STRATEGY AND IMPACT FOR ADDRESSING LOCAL WEB ECOSYSTEM ELEMENTS

SECTION 4: HOW THREE NATIONAL BRANDS ARE EMBRACING THE LOCAL WEBCASE STUDY #1: NATIONAL MANUFACTURER CLOSES THE GAP BETWEEN THEIR BRAND AND LOCAL DEALERS

CASE STUDY #2: NATIONAL MEDICAL ORGANIZATION INCREASES PATIENT LEADS

CASE STUDY #3: NATIONAL INSURANCE PROVIDER ENSURES LOCAL AGENTS ARE COVERED

SECTION 5: CONCLUSION

EFFECTIVE LOCAL MARKETING IS THE SINGLE LARGEST OPPORTUNITY FOR NATIONAL BRANDS

ABOUT BALIHOO

3

3

3

4

4

5

6

6

7

7

7

8

8

89

9

9

10

10

10

12

1313

14

15

16

16

17

THE LINCHPIN TO SUCCESSFULLOCAL MARKETING


3/17

33333THELOCALWEB:THELINCHPINTOSUCCESSFULLOCALMARKETING

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Local marketing is the last mile of marketing i.e. communication a potential customer receives when they

are at their closest point to making an actual purchase decision making it highly relevant when it comes

to converting consumers with purchase intent into buyers of a brands products. But for the majority of

national brands who sell through local outlets (e.g. dealers, distributors, agents, franchisees, or retailers) local

marketing is a highly under-served marketing channel.

This paper explains:

The reasons why national brands are falling short when it comes to local marketing and why ignoring theproblem is simply not acceptable anymore.

The transformational shift occurring in digital media.

The rise of the Local Web as the dominant segment of the local advertising marketplace.

What the Local Web is and how it can help national brands close the loop on the last mile of marketing,and in turn, increase top-line revenue.

How national brands can begin taking advantage of the Local Web.

SECTION 1: THE IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL MARKETING FOR NATIONAL BRANDS

THE GAP BETWEEN NATIONAL BRANDS AND LOCAL MARK ETING

For the majority of national brands who sell through local outlets (e.g. dealers, distributors, agents,

franchisees, or retailers) local marketing is a highly under-served marketing channel. In the Awareness-

Preference-Purchase Cycle (Figure 1), brand marketers spend millions of dollars nationally both online and

oine to build brand awareness, interest, consideration and preference of the consumer, with consistent

messaging that builds across multiple touch points in the cycle.

However, when it comes to marketing at the local level, where nal preference and purchases actually occur,

national brands often lose control of the brand message and the eectiveness of their marketing dollars

because they must rely on their local outlets many of whom lack marketing expertise and bandwidth

to execute the remainder of the campaign. This disconnect between the national and local marketing

levels causes lost sales, and there is no doubt that by nding a way to close the gap, brand marketers can

signicantly improve sales and revenue.

FIGURE1

PREFRENCE

NATIONALMARKETING

LOCALMARKETING

PREFRENCE PURCHASE

INTEREST CONSIDERATIONAWARENESS
http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/


4/17


LOCAL MARKETING IS THE LAST MILE OF MARKETING

The disconnect between national and local marketing is

particularly interesting when one considers that local marketing

is the last mile of marketing i.e. communication a potential

customer receives when they are at their closest point to making

an actual purchase decision making it highly relevant when it

comes to converting consumers with purchase intent into buyersof a brands products.

When well-executed, local marketing can essentially close the

loop to national brand advertising expenditures and deliver

signicant benets, including:

Increasing top-line growth without signicantly increasingmarketing dollars. (See Sidebar, How Effective Local MarketingCan Increase Top-Line Growth)

Ensuring that a brands products, services and dealers can befound locally when national marketing eorts have driven

them to make a local purchase. Without this last-mile, thereis signicant waste in the national spend.

Building long-term dealer relationships far beyond that ofcompetitors by capturing local demand and delivering leadsto a brands local partners.

Mitigating competitive demand-gen capture. Whenconsumers have an interest in a brands product categoryand are driven locally to purchase, eective local marketingcan ensure that they are not persuaded to a competitiveproduct. Conversely, eective local marketing allows

companies to capture demand driven by competitors eortsby delivering the right message to the right person at theright time.

While it seems obvious, its worth pointing out that local

versions of, last-mile messages are more eective than mass-

market messages because they show the consumer that they

matter to the brand, making them feel as if the message is

speaking directly to them. For example, an auto repair chain

might acknowledge a particular citys recent hail storm in their

messages and promote a discount or fast repair turnaround

to people in that area whose vehicles were damaged. Because

theyre delivering the right message to the right person at the

right time, theyre likely to close more sales.

HOW LOCAL MARKETINGINCREASES TOP-LINEGROWTH

To illustrate the signicant impact that effective local

marketing can have on increasing revenue, lets lookat a hypothetical marketing program for WidgetCo, a

maker of widgets. They are launching a new product

and are planning on spending $10M in national

marketing efforts to support this launch. Based on

prior experience (and industry benchmarks) they

assume that this national marketing spend will result in

a 2:1 ROI, so the simple math is:

$10Mspendx2:1ROI

=$20MrevenueHowever, lets assume that WidgetCo decides to

allocate a relatively small portion of their budget

(20%) to execute highly effective local marketing

on behalf of their local dealers. Based on historical

performance of local marketing, this spend results in

twice the ROI, or 4:1. Additionally, with an effective

local presence, it also increases in the effectiveness

of whats spent at the national level, bumping its

performance to a 2.5:1 ROI. The resulting math is:

$8Mnationalspendx2.5:1ROI=$20Mrevenue

$2Mlocalspendx4:1ROI=$8Mrevenue

Totalrevenue=$28M

Relative to putting all of the dollars at the national

level, reserving just a small portion for local efforts

results in a 40% revenue increase for this single

campaign. There is no other marketing strategy or

tactic available to marketing organizations today that

can consistently provide this level of immediate return.
http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/


5/17


CHALLENGES NATIONAL BRANDS FACE WITH LOCAL MARKETING

Small local businesses not national brands are the leaders in local marketing today. In fact, with the recent

changes that the major search engines Google, Yahoo and Bing have made to their algorithms, most national

brands that sell through local outlets are currently losing market share in terms of search marketing visibility

to local small businesses (SMBs). Many national marketers are not even aware of this because of their

traditional lack of focus on local marketing.

Given all the evidence, its clear that eective local marketing presents a signicant opportunity for national

brands. So why arent CMOs putting more emphasis on building eective local marketing programs?

The reasons are varied, but they fall into 3 major categories:

1. National brands typically have to rely on a separate entity to execute local marketing dealers, distributors, agents,

franchisees, or retailers who are usually business owners or managers and this group is often unskilled in

marketing in addition to having a plethora of competing responsibilities, marketing being only one of them.

With a reliance on potentially hundreds of independent businesses, executing a well-timed, eective local

marketing eort is an extreme challenge.

2. Simply put, local marketing is difcult or brand marketers. It requires customization o messaging and graphics across a

growing number o mediums at a highly localized level often across hundreds of cities with multiple outlets in each

one. Without technology, its simply not cost-eective for a national brand to modify all of these elements at

a local level.

3. Visibility into ROI and eectiveness is practically nonexistent, so it is difcult to measure and justiy the spending. National

brands typically have to rely on sell-through or order data to gauge the impact of local marketing eorts, and

this data is typically unreliable and dated.

Regardless of the challenges, its critical that national brand marketers recognize the scale of the local

marketing opportunity available to them today so they can begin building the organizations and processes

that will enable them to eectively execute.


6/17


SECTION 2: THE IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL MEDIA TO LOCAL MARKETING

MARKETERS INCREASINGLY RELY ON DIGITAL MEDIA TO REACH CONSUMERS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

A wide range of media channels exist both oine and online for delivering brand messages to local

markets. Traditional media channels will always have their place for building brand awareness, particularly

at the national level, but when it comes to what works at the local level, the importance of online marketing

is growing signicantly because of its cost-eectiveness, the ability it gives marketers to interact on a morepersonalized level with their customers, and its ability to reach consumers when theyre searching for

products and making comparisons.

Consider these statistics on consumer behavior which underscore why online channels are becoming so

important in local marketing:

70% of U.S. households now use the Internet when shopping locally for products and services (The KelseyGroup; ConStat)

54% of Americans have substituted the Internet and local search for phone books (comScore)

Print revenue for Yellow Pages publishers will continue to decline, while online revenue will continue

at a double-digit growth rate through 2013 (YP Talk blog reporting on Simba Information Yellow PagesIndustry Forecast 2011)

The web accounted for or inuenced 42% of all local retail sales in 2009 (Forrester)

20% of all online searches (2.8 billion queries/month) and 33% of all searches via mobile web have localintent Google 2010)

82% of local searches follow-up oine via an in-store visit, phone call or purchase (TMP/comScore 2009)

61% of local searches result in purchases (TMP/comScore)

All of this explains the transformational shift

that is underway in local marketing and whyits fast approaching a tipping point where

digital media will soon be the dominant

segment of the local advertising marketplace.

Research shows (Figure 2) that online/

interactive advertising revenues are expected

to climb to $42.5 billion by 2015, almost

double 2010s $21.7 billion, representing a

compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of

14.4 percent. This means digital media will

represent 23.6 percent nearly a quarter ofall local ad spending by 2015.

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

$21.7B

$24.8B

$28.48B

$32.5B

$37.2B

$42.58B

14.1%

16.2%

17.9%

20.0%

22.1%

23.6%

85.9%

83.8%

82.1%

80.0%

77.9%

76.4%

ONLINE/INTERACTIVEREVENUES

www.emarketer.com

SOURCE:BIA/KELSEY,BIA/KELSEYSU.S.LOCALMEDIAFORECAST(2010-2015),MARCH21,2011

ONLINE/INTERACTIVETRADITIONAL

US LOCAL ONLINE &TRADITIONAL AD SPENDINGSHARE 2010-2015% OF TOTAL

FIGURE2


7/17


SECTION 3: THE LOCAL WEB

WHAT IS THE LOCAL WEB AND WHYSHOULD IT MATTER TO NATIONALBRANDS?

As the number of U.S. Internet

users and mobile device owners

continues to increase, so too does

the amount of online advertising

channels available to local

marketers who are looking to

capitalize on this growing audience.

The Local Web is the name for

the integrated, growing ecosystem

of online media channels that

collectively drive local online

marketing (Figure 3). The Local

Web is how local online marketinghappens. A national brand must

claim and at least minimally

participate in the majority of these

integrated channels at the local

level or risk being invisible in online

and mobile searches in those

geographic regions.

Collectively, new technologies and the channel elements of the Local Web are changing the way consumers

buy and brands communicate. The Local Webs social channels typically encourage consumer engagement

with the brand, while the search channels focus more on aecting a consumers purchase intent andconversion to sale.

STRATEGY FOR ADDRESSING LOCAL WEB ECOSYSTEM ELEMENTS

National brands traditional online tactics do not eectively penetrate the ecosystem elements of the Local

Web. In order to gain traction in the Local Web, brand marketers must consider all of the ecosystem elements

of the Local Web and strategically decide:

Which ones to address (i.e. How much can they impact local marketing success?)

At what level they should be addressed (i.e. heavy involvement vs. low involvement)

How they will be addressed (i.e. manually vs. automation) Who will address them (i.e. brand marketer, channel marketer, or local marketer)

When to address them (i.e. short term, long term, as needed)

Refer to the Local Web Planning Matrix in (Figure 4 ) on page 10 for guidance on how national brands can

strategically address and manage each Local Web element.

THELOCALWEB

FIGURE3


8/17


WHAT ARE THE ECOSYSTEM ELEMENTS OF THE LOCAL WEB?

Local Websites As with the national brands website, local websites serve as the

centerpiece, or hub, for all other local marketing tactics both online and oine. They

serve as the centralized landing pages through which all of the other tactics can be

driven, tracked and measured. National brands need variations of local websites to allow

them to be found at the local search level.

Examples o local website variations include:

Cobranded afliate sites with each of the brands agents, distributors, dealers, etc., which allow all aliatelocations to show up individually in location searches and maps.

City sites focused on the corporate brand, which enable all of the brand locations for that city to be listed ina single spot and for the nationally branded site to be found in organic search listings for the city.

Promotional sites which enable a brands new oers or products to be found in organic searches in each

relevant city.

Search Still the granddaddy of the local web, search maintains a dominant position and

continues to evolve quickly, particularly in the local/maps arena. National brands must

participate in the majority of the other Local Web elements outlined here to optimize

their ability to rank, how highly they rank, and how many times they rank in organic and

local search/ maps results.

Key acts/ stats:

73% of online activity is related to local content. (Google)

74% of Internet users perform local search. (The Kelsey Group)

Paid Search (PPC) PPC is old-hat for national marketers, but most local aliates have either a veryunsophisticated PPC program or none at all. National brands should create tailored PPC messages thatcan be used in local markets because emotionally, consumers are more comfortable with locally-oriented

PPC ads they feel more connected to them and know what action to take. In addition, PPC ads thatclick-through to local sites generally perform better than ones that click-through to broader, nationalbrand sites.

Key acts/stats:

Local search advertising revenues are forecast to increase from $5.1 billion in 2010 to $8.2 billion by 2015. (BIA/Kelsey)

By 2015, 30% of all search volume will be local in nature. (BIA/Kelsey)

Organic Search Optimization (SEO) The major search engines are placing an emphasis on local search resultsand placing local listing at prominent places in results. While their algorithms are complex, search enginesdetermine what to show largely by looking at relevant pages and the quality of their content and links.This is a key reason why local websites are important for national brands. Consistency of information,number of citations, number of reviews, and locations of businesses also play key roles.

Key acts/stats:

Many SEO experts agree that citations, (i.e. references to name/address/phone) may be more important in local SEO than links.

SEO experts agree that local search ranking factors are fundamentally dierent than national SEO factors.(Local Search Ranking Factors)


9/17


Local Search / Maps Optimization Local search/map results are playing an increasingly large role in thesearch engine results, yet many national brands have no strategy in this area. All three of the major searchengines have local/mapping services Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo Local that oer free listingsfor each business location. Claiming these listings and fully completing them for all business locationsshould be a major priority for national brands because of the signicant exposure they provide.

Key acts/stats:

Google generates Places pages automatically. Google currently has nearly 50 million Places pages waiting to be unlocked by businessowners. (Google)

80% of budgets are spent within 50 miles of the home. (DMA/proprietary)

Local Review Sites Local review sites are playing an increasingly important role as they

become integrated into the major search engines results. National brands should claim

and fully complete their listings with review sites at the local level to help optimize local

search results. Ongoing, they should regularly monitor reviews and have a policy for

responding to issues at the local store level. This will ensure that goodwill established by

the national brand is maintained at the local level. Automation technology is available

to help monitor sites at an aggregate level.

Key acts/stats:

Yelp has reported they have over 15 million reviews and more than 40 million monthly visitors to their review site.

59% of all local-business searchers say ratings and reviews are important while searching for a business.(TMP/15 Miles)

LocationBased Media Location-Based Media (LBM) delivers multimedia and other content

directly to the user of a mobile device dependent upon their location. Consumers use

location-based applications like Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt to search for businesses

nearby, and also to check in at business venues. These applications oer an easy, low-

cost way for national brands to attract new customers at the local level, retain existing

ones through a remember-your-name type of loyalty that consumers want, and track

information and statistics about visitors. At a minimum, national brands should set up

their brand pages and claim all of their local venues to take advantage of the brand

awareness these applications can oer.

Key acts/stats:

Foursquare, a leader in the space, reported 3400% growth in 2010.

In June 2011, Foursquare reported hitting 10 million active users.

Daily Deals Bridging the online-to-oine gap, Daily Deals are pioneering a new breed

of trial-based advertising. While the popularity of these sites, like Groupon and Living

Social are growing at an astounding pace, for national brands, the merits of participating

in Daily Deal promotions remain unclear. There is no doubt that Daily Deals can help

create awareness and drive trac into local retail outlets, but how well that trac can

be translated into repeat business and long-term customer loyalty remains to be seen.National brands should look closely at whether or not Daily Deals can support their local

objectives before deciding if theyre a tactic that makes sense.

Key acts/stats:

Groupon had 83.1 million subscribers as of March 31, 2011. (Groupon)

Groupon has raised $1.12 billion so far in venture funding. (Mashable)


10/17


Mobile 2011 is being called the Year of Mobile as a result of the growing popularity

of smart, mobile, Internet-connected devices. More than ever, consumers use mobile

devices, like smart phones and tablets, to research purchasing decisions within a 10 to

20 mile radius of their location. Because of this, local websites are highly important for

national brands, and mobile versions of these websites are benecial. Brands should

also consider how text messaging campaigns and QR codes might support their local

marketing objectives.

Key acts/stats:

Mobile web access will surpass traditional PC access by 2013. (Gartner)

53% of mobile searches on Bing have a local intent. (Bing)

U.S. local mobile ad spending will grow from $404 million in 2010 to $2.8 billion in 2015. (BIA/Kelsey)

95% of smartphone users have looked for local information. 61% call a business, 59% visit a business, and 44% actually make apurchase. (Google)

Local Media Although traditional media continues to decline, the online version of local media outlets

are gaining momentum as consumers consume local content via the web. Many people, especially baby

boomers, still draw conclusions about the strength of brands from traditional print and broadcast ads.

National brands should continue to consider traditional media when planning media in local markets.Key acts/stats:

Consumers in local markets nd print newspaper advertising to be most credible, with 66% saying they trust ads in the local printedition, followed by ads on local TV at 51%, local radio at 46% and community websites at 45%. (Nielson)

Digital media will represent 23.6 percent of all local advertising by 2015. (BIA/Kelsey)

The U.S. local advertising market is forecasted to reach $144.9 billion in 2014. (BIA/Kelsey)

Social Media Potentially the hottest space in the Local Web, social media has become

critical to the interplay between brands, local resellers and their consumers. Social media

is a great way for brands to build awareness and create loyalty among consumers who

become their fans at both the national and local levels. Brands can greatly extend their

reach through the visibility gained when a fan follows them on Facebook or Twitter. Forexample, when a fan likes a brand on Facebook, the brands messages will then show up

in the fans newsfeed, allowing the messages to be seen by all of the fans friends, which

typically number in the hundreds.

Key acts/stats:

Seven out of 10 consumers are more likely to use a local business if it has information available on a social media site.(comScore Networks/TMP Directional Marketing)

Facebook has more than 750 million active users. (Facebook)

Twitter has 175 million registered users. (Twitter)

Linked in has over 100 million users. (LinkedIn)


11/17


Advertising With sophistication growing in targeting, technology and reporting, advertising via socialmedia may very well surpass search advertising in the long-term. Using the precision-level targetingavailable for social media sites, national brands can personalize ads at the local level, making them: 1)more relevant to readers, 2) more likely to perform better for the brand, and 3) more cost-eective for thebrand especially when compared to most traditional and search media. And because of the analyticsavailable through social media sites, ads placed there are extremely measurable, giving brands a clearview of ROI.

Its important to note that while it s highly recommended that brands engage in social media sites atthe national and local levels, doing so is not necessary for a brand to take advantage of social mediaadvertising.

Key acts/stats:

Worldwide ad spending on social networks will top $6 billion in 2011. (eMarketer)

Facebook ad revenue will surpass $4 billion in 2011. (eMarketer)

Twitter advertising revenue will surpass $150M in 2011. (eMarketer)

Local Engagement Beware! Regardless of whether or not a national brand has actively engaged in socialmedia, consumers are using it to talk about national brands and their local resellers often in a negativelight. By engaging in social media, particularly at the city level, national brands can create place-speciccommunities where consumers can have personal interactions with the brand that are more relevantto their daily lives, and where the brand can monitor and manage their reputation. City-level sites alsoprovide more avenues through which the brand can push demand-generation activities.

While engaging in social media at the local level may seem daunting for a national brand, it is doable ifthey put infrastructure, processes and guidelines in place that support planning globally (by the nationalbrand) and acting locally. (via aliates or local community managers)

Key acts/stats:

50% of Facebooks 750 million active users log into Facebook each day. (Facebook)

More than 7 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each week. (Facebook)

More than 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. (YouTube)


12/17


CO-BRANDEDLOCAL WEBSITES

CITYSITES

PROMOTIONALWEBSITES

PAID SEARCH (PPC)

ORGANIC SEARCH(SEO)

LOCALSEARCH / MAPSOPTIMIZATION

LOCAL REVIEWSITES

LOCATION-BASEDMEDIA

DAILY DEALS

MOBILE

LOCAL MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIA:ADVERTISING

SOCIAL MEDIA:LOCAL ENGAGEMENT

High on the front end; low

thereafter.

Medium on the front end;

low thereafter.

Medium on the front end;

low thereafter.

High

High

Low to medium on the front

end depending on quantity;

low thereafter.

Medium on the front end

and ongoing

Low to medium on the

front end; depends on

brand strategy/campaigns

thereafter.

Medium

Medium to high on front

end; low thereafter.

Depends on brand strategy

Medium

High on front end; medium

to high thereafter

Near-term; ASAP

Near-term; ASAP

Depends on brand strategy.

Not urgent for day-to-day

operations.


Near-term; ASAP

Near-term; ASAP

Near- to mid-term for

claiming sites; mid-term

for establishing monitoring

process

Depends on brand strategy.

Not urgent.


Mid-term



Mid-term. Sustained, on-

going management is a

requirement for success.

High

High

Depends on brand

strategy

Depends on brand

strategy

High

High

High

Medium to High

Depends on brand

strategy

High

Depends on brand

strategy

Medium - High

High

Automated

Automated

Automated

Automated

Automated

Automated

Manual

Manual

Manual

Automated

Manual

Automated

Manual

National marketer on the front

end; afliate thereafter. National

marketer provides ongoing content

updates as-needed.



marketer provides ongoing content

updates as-needed.



marketer provides ongoing contentupdates as-needed.

National marketer and/or afliates

National marketer

National marketer


end; afliates or national marketer

thereafter.



National marketer

Afliates


National marketers must train/

coach afliates or community

managers who can then manage

long-term

LOCAL WEB PLANNING MATRIX STRATEGY AND IMPACT FOR ADDRESSING LOCAL WEB ECOSYSTEM ELEMENTSThe ollowing matrix provides a highlevel view o the impact each element o the Local Web can have on improving local marketing. It also

provides insight on what it will take or national brands to implement and manage Local Web elements nearterm and longterm.

LOCALWEB

CHANNELELEMENTS

IMPACTON

SUCCESSFULLOCALMARKETING

INVOLVEMENT

NEEDEDBYNATIONALBRANDS

AUTOMATED

ORMANUAL?

WHOMANAGES? HOWQUICKLYITNEEDS

TOBEADDRESSED?


13/17


SECTION 4: HOW THREE NATIONAL BRANDS ARE EMBRACING THE LOCAL WEB

CASE STUDY #1: NATIONAL MANUFACTURER CLOSES THE G AP BETWEEN THEIR BRAND & LOCAL DEALE RS

Situation

A national product manufacturer with an extremely well-known brand determined its brand and products

were not well-represented online by local dealers despite a compelling, well-funded national advertising

campaign and a strong manufacturer website with a nd-a-dealer function that drove referrals to over 1,000dealer websites every month. The manufacturer felt the lack of retailer eort in terms of providing online

information about their brand and products was negatively impacting their national marketing eorts. They

felt they were losing sales in the last mile of marketing when consumers were going online to research

products and make decisions about where to purchase them in their local area.

Solution

The manufacturer turned to Balihoo for help closing the sales loop in the critical last mile. By investigating

the manufacturers local retailer websites, Balihoo identied that these sites poorly represented the

manufacturer because they provided too little information about the brand and products and did not

highlight them in a way that stood out from low-cost competitive products that were featured on these

sites. The dealer sites also were not well-positioned in local search results and were rarely optimized for lead

generation.

To resolve the problems, Balihoo implemented the following Local Web programs to increase the visibility of

the manufacturers brand and product information among consumers in local markets:

Built local websites for every dealer represented in the manufacturers dealer locator, using data providedby the manufacturer. Once the data was input, all of the sites were automatically generated and rolledout simultaneously. Each dealer was given the ability to co-brand and customize elements of theirindividual sites so they would feel comfortable that their local brand was also represented.

Fully registered local dealers businesses and websites across all major search engines and directories forthose dealers who chose to use co-op funds provided by the national brand for this purpose.

Created and executed online advertising to drive trac and leads to local websites for dealers who chose

to participate in this program using manufacturer co-op funds.

Results

Each location for every one of the manufacturers dealers now has a high-quality, co-branded websiteoptimized for lead-generation and search.

More than 70% of the dealers chose to apply the co-op funds provided by the manufacturer for localbusiness and website registrations and local online advertising. Because of this, the national brand nowhas easy-to-access visibility into the results generated from these co-op investments.

Thanks to the integration of the Local Web elements implemented through the program and the abilityto track their results, the manufacturer has determined that more than 25% of the trac to the localdealer sites is now being driven by organic search results. These are leads/visitors the brand and localaliates were not capturing previously.


14/17


CASE STUDY #2: NATIONAL MEDIC AL ORGANIZ ATION INCREASES PATIENT LEADS

Situation

A national medical organization needed to drive patients into their network of doctors across multiple cities

in one of the countrys largest DMAs (Designated Market Areas). Because healthcare is fundamentally a local

decision, they recognized they would need a solution specialized for geographic targeting to achieve the

results they needed.

Solution

To solve the medical organizations unique challenge, Balihoo developed a custom solution consisting of the

following Local Web elements:

A series of city-specic and medical-specialty specic local websites that enable potential patients to ndthe medical organizations doctors regardless of whether they search for doctors based on the city theylive in or the specialty they require (e.g. family practitioner, dermatologist, surgeon, etc.). In total, morethan 2000 combinations were created for the single market area.

An integrated ad campaign that crossed online, traditional and mobile media to drive trac and patientreferrals to the new highly targeted local websites.

ResultsThrough the combination of the local websites and integrated ad campaign driving trac to them, the

medical organization has seen a 6:1 ROI in the rst 3 months of the campaign. This was three times higher

than the 2:1 ROI the organization expected.


15/17


CASE STUDY #3: NATIONAL INSURANCE PROVIDER ENSU RES LOCAL AGENTS ARE COVERED

Situation

A national insurance provider had invested signicant time and resources into their web presence at the

brand level, including PPC ads, SEO and registration. By all accounts, they were performing well they

ranked highly across the board for both branded and category-level terms. However, Balihoo ran a local web

assessment which quickly identied a major issue if a consumer searching on the insurance providers

category added any geographic modier to their search terms (e.g. city name, zip code, state), the insuranceprovider no longer showed up in the search results.

Solution

To solve their problem of being invisible in local search results, the insurance provider hired Balihoo to

execute the following Local Web ecosystem elements on behalf of their aliate agents across the country:

Create local city sites for each city in which they operate, as well as co-branded local websites (microsites)for each aliate agent. These sites address the insurance providers key business focuses in each marketand center on driving leads into the local oces/agents. Balihoos technology automated the roll-out ofthe local websites, which are customized for each city and agent.

Claim business listings and maps in major search engine directories Google, Yahoo and Bing, along withother online directories, such as Yellow Pages and CitySearch.

Execute local online advertising (PPC, Facebook, and LinkedIn) to drive targeted local consumers to the

local city and agent websites.

Results

Implementation for this program is still underway, the insurance provider felt the need to move quickly to:

Implement a Local Web pilot program that will take place in the fall of 2011, with over 100 customizedwebsites being activated during the pilot phase.

Once the pilot program is completed, the insurance provider expects to roll-out more than 200 additional

city web sites to cover all geographies in the U.S., and up to 70,000 local agent sites to cover their entirebase of agents.


16/17


17/17


ABOUT BALIHOO

Balihoo is the premier provider o local marketing automation technology and services to national brands with local marketing

needs.

Balihoo enables enterprise-class marketing at the local level and gives national brands full visibility into all

local marketing activities and results.

Providing a combination of web-based software and services, Balihoo enables national brands to dramatically

reduce marketing expenses and immediately increase local sales revenue. For local aliates, Balihoo takes

the complexity out of local marketingmaking it easy to quickly implement an expert, integrated marketing

strategy that is consistent with the national brand.

Let Balihoo help your brand assess its online local marketing eectiveness.

www.balihoo.com

866-466-9914

[email protected]

Balihoo.com

@Balihoo

Local Marketing. Automated.

2011 Balihoo, Inc.All rights reserved.
http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://twitter.com/#!/balihoohttp://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/http://twitter.com/#!/balihoohttp://www.balihoo.com/http://www.balihoo.com/

the local web: the linchpin to successful local marketing

Documents