'Net Features : local advertising

Digital Ad Revenues Highlight Local Media Forecast

Linc Wonham — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:00:00 GMT

According to the BIA/Kelsey’s newly released U.S. Local Media Forecast, local online/interactive/digital advertising revenues – including mobile – will climb from $21.2 billion in 2011 to $38.5 billion by 2016, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.7 percent.

The growth in the digital segment will offset slower than anticipated growth in total local media advertising revenues.

A variety of factors including concerns about the European economic crisis, continued high unemployment and the housing market’s lack of recovery led to consumers and businesses “holding back” in their spending, the report concluded. The weaker-than-expected level of economic activity resulted in a lower level of local advertising revenues.

“In October, we projected the total of the U.S. local media market to be $135.9 billion in 2011,” says Mark Fratrik, vice president and chief economist, BIA/Kelsey. “But we now expect it to be $132.8 billion. Based on the changes in our estimates going forward, we expect the overall local media market will grow a bit more slowly over the next five years.”

BIA/Kelsey forecasts total local media ad revenues to grow from $132.8 billion in 2011 to $151.3 billion in 2016 for a CAGR of 2.6 percent. The firm expects traditional local media revenues to grow from $111.5 billion in 2011 to $112.7 billion in 2016, a 0.2-percent CAGR.

Predictably, traditional media revenues experience a bump during election years from political advertising, which appears as a drop in revenues in odd-numbered years. Despite the year-over-year political advertising seesaw effect, traditional media revenues remain remarkably steady throughout the forecast period.

Local Online Ad Revenues to Hit $42.5 Billion

Linc Wonham — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:00:00 GMT

The rise of social media, mobile commerce and the daily deals platform are driving significant growth in online local advertising, reports BIA/Kelsey’s U.S. Local Media Annual Forecast.

Online ad revenues are estimated to reach $42.5 billion by 2015, nearly twice the $21.7 billion reported in 2010. That increase represents a compound annual growth rate of 14.4 percent.

As local advertisers increasingly rely on the Web and mobile devices to reach consumers, BIA/Kelsey predicts that digital media will represent 23.6 percent of all local ad spending by 2015. Local advertising is defined in the report as local spending by small and medium-sized businesses and national and regional advertisers making local buys.

Key drivers of local online ad spending indicated in the forecast include the following:

•    The increased number of smartphones and tablets
•    Continued significant newspaper revenue erosion
•    The rapid growth of new formats such as social and mobile
•    Consumer spending on daily deals offers will grow to $3.9 billion by 2015

This year’s forecast presents a comprehensive view of the local media landscape, consisting of 12 key segments: newspapers, direct mail, television, radio, print Yellow Pages, out of home (non-digital), cable television, magazines, online/interactive, mobile, Internet Yellow Pages and other interactive revenues generated by traditional media players.

Overall, local ad spending is expected to reach $153.5 billion in 2015, up from $136.3 billion in 2010 and representing a 2.1 percent growth rate.

PlaceLocal's Impressive Local Advertising Solution

Mike Phillips — Mon, 24 May 2010 19:20:00 GMT

PlaceLocal is a new service from PaperG, an advertising technology company in New Haven, Connecticut. The service aims to help local businesses create engaging ads with the utmost ease and provide targeted opportunities with a few simple clicks of a mouse.

Advertisers start by entering the business name and location. PlaceLocal will then search for the exact business address, website, industry, logos (or any other images) and user reviews across the Internet. The advertiser can then begin building the ad by choosing an appropriate logo or image, and confirming details such as addresses, phone numbers and websites. Then, you will see a preview of the ad -- including logo, scrolling photos and user reviews, physical location for the business and a phone number (see example below.) The advertiser can choose different ad sizes and formats, as well as specify the linked URL for a user click. Further customization is possible after the ad preview, including uploading your own photos or the option to use stock photos, choosing specific user reviews, adding any awards and including any custom text.

Finally, ad plans are chosen. Some options include:

Basic Plan -- 20,000 approximate ad views, unlimited ad updates and reporting, $300 per month
Plus Plan -- 46,000 approximate ad views, unlimited ad updates and reporting, $700 per month
Premium Plan -- 66,000 approximate ad views, unlimited ad updates and reporting, $1,000 per month

Plans will auto-renew but cancellation is an option at any time.

Currently, PlaceLocal ads appear on a network of more than 32 local media websites (including Time Out New York and Chicago) and 29 network TV affiliates from Hearst Publishing. Some other partners include a series of newspaper websites (New York Times Regional Group, Boston Globe, Newsday, etc.) and MTV College Media Network. The list is also to include more locally-targeted websites, such as ESPN New York or ESPN Chicago.

Publishers can use PlaceLocal as well, to create targeted ads for interested businesses for placement on their websites.

In all, the test we ran was quite impressive. An ad for a local pizza restaurant was created in under two minutes, with vibrant, appropriate images, correct business listing information and positive user reviews from sites like Yelp.com. PlaceLocal might not be for every local business, but it's worth a look. And, if anything, it proves that online ad creation can be a painless experience no matter the level of technical savvy from the advertiser. It's a very slick interface and a very accessible link to the online advertising world for just about any local business owner.

Visit PlaceLocal's website.

Mobile Couponing the Next Wave of Local Advertising

Linc Wonham — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:18:00 GMT

In its new report, The 2010 U.S. Local Mobile Advertising & Promotions Forecast, leading research firm Borrell Associates Inc. calls mobile “the new disruptor” that has emerged on the local advertising scene faster than anything seen to date, and that mobile couponing is the category for local businesses to watch the closest.

Redemption rates for mobile coupons are 10 times that of mail- or newspaper-distributed coupons, said CEO Gordon Borrell, adding that text-based coupons will be the fastest-growing application in the emergence of mobile marketing. The report details how local mobile advertising is set to reach dominant penetration levels faster than any medium before it, easily outdistancing marketers’ adoption of the Internet during the 1990s. By comparison, 80 percent of the population has cell phones today, 31 percent (and rising fast) already converted to smart phones, while only 8 percent of households had modem-enabled computers in the mid-nineties.

Local mobile advertising, according to the report, hit $285 million in 2009 and is expected to double this year to $586 million, then spike upward to $4.7 billion by 2014.

CityGrid Complete Gives Local Advertisers New Options

Mike Phillips — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:51:00 GMT

It seems the more the Web grows, the smaller it becomes. "Local" is all the rage right now, and Citysearch is one of the premier directories and resources for local businesses. Now they have added more features to the mix, giving local advertisers deeper insight and more opportunities to target local consumers.

The new features are built around an offering called CityGrid Complete, and in conjunction with OrangeSoda - providing small business Internet marketing services since 2006. Local businesses can create custom content ads that are then placed on their network of partner websites and mobile sites. CityGrid Complete offers:

A pay-per-performance advertising platform, where publishers build out business' profiles and get paid to drive quality traffic to those businesses. Tracking and reporting is inlcluded.
Local SEO, including targeted keyword optimization, conversation tracking and trending.
Local listings optimization, including phone call tracking and reporting

"Whether it's driving new customers to our advertisers from major search sites or mobile applications, CityGrid Complete is about delivering local businesses the highest quality leads for the best value," said Jay Herratti, CEO of Citysearch. "By combining the distribution power of CityGrid with OrangeSoda's platform, every small business in America now has access to a one-stop local advertising solution with SEO strategies and tactics that historically required a large dedicated team of experts."

For more information on CityGrid Complete, local businesses can call 1-866-649-1055.

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Consumers Trust Advertising on Local Newspaper Websites

Mike Phillips — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:21:00 GMT

Local newspapers are trusted by consumers more than any other local resource, according to a new study by comScore for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). Of the 3,050 respondents, 57 percent identified local newspaper websites as the top online source for local information, more than any other media. That's good news for the struggling newspaper industry but there is even better news for online advertisers.

Not only did these sites rank first among all sources for trustworthiness and credibility but also the leading source for local content of all types, including classified advertising. Also according to consumers, local newspaper sites are seen as "...the most trusted source of online advertising, with ads that are perceived to be more current, credible and relevant to them," according to the survey. More than one-third (36 percent) selected local newspaper websites for trustworthy advertising compared to less than one-fourth (23 percent) for local television websites and less than one-in-eight (12 percent) for online portals.

“This survey reinforces the notion that consumers value and trust the premium-quality content found at newspaper Web sites as well as the advertising on those sites,” said Randy Bennett, NAA’s senior vice president of Business Development.

Another interesting finding from the survey is that four in ten adults "...agreed that their opinion of online advertising is influenced by the type of website on which the ad appears." That's something for advertisers to keep in mind when placing ads on any website. It's not just the creative or specific offer that validates an online ad, but where that ad is located -- a good argument for highly-taregted advertising buys.

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Local, Geo-Targeted Ads on the Rise

Mike Phillips — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:37:00 GMT

According to digital media consulting firm BIA/Kelsey, geo-targeted ads will more than double in the coming years - from spending of $897 million in 2008 to more than $1.9 billion in 2013. According to the firm, geo-targeted ads currently represent about 10.2 percent of the market for display ad units, which will grow to 15 percent in 2013.

"Resellers like AT&T and the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium...are going to start to sell these geotargeted display products because the search CPCs are really high," said Matt Booth, SVP and program director at BIA/Kelsey. "If you're a reseller, you're buying a search click for $2 and you can get 1,000 impressions for 45 cents, the economics are in favor of shifting to this market."

Booth also says that small and mid-size businesses will be the ones taking advantage of geo-targeted ads, because these businesses tend to serve smaller, local markets. But there is certainly room for geo-targeting areas for any size company, brick-and-mortar or pure play online. Naturally, particular products will sell better in some regions than others. Of course, to take advantage of these opportunities you must look into your analytics.

We ask: Is your business involved in geo-targeted ads? If so, how has it impacted sales or brand awareness in those regions? Please comment below!

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Leaders of Local Advertising

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Borrell Associates has named Yodle.com, Local.com and Yellowbook.com as the fastest-growing local online advertising companies for 2009. Did you ever hear the phrase – hitch your wagon to a star? If you’re not already, that’s exactly what you should be doing with these local advertising providers.

"These companies have defied gravity and are on track to secure the top three spots this year," said Peter Conti Jr., executive vice president of Borrell Associates. "They're the new darlings of Main Street."

Conti might be a little bullish but the proof that advertisers are exploring these channels is the revenue.

Yodle is on track to triple its revenues, to roughly $75 million this year, according to Borrell, while Yellowbook.com is expected to nearly double its revenues to about $390 million. Local.com is expected to grow its revenues by more than one-third, surpassing $50 million.

While I’m definitely positive on the outlook for local online advertising, there are a lot more resources/services available online that can provide a competitive return on investment than those cited by Borrel. So what other channels have you explored?

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Yahoo! Local Shortcuts Enhanced

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:18:00 GMT

About 20 percent of online searches have a local intent, where users are looking for businesses, organizations, events, and other information in a specific geographic area.

Yahoo! has taken some pages from the Bing and Google search playbooks and enhanced the Yahoo! Shortcut for local businesses to include links to information user’s care most about (reviews, an overview, photos, and directions) and an overlay that displays that content directly on the search results page.

For example, we took a few of our sales staff out to lunch at Carlucci’s in Rosemont to celebrate their birthday’s yesterday. If we had searched for that restaurant on Yahoo! today we would have seen the following search result:

Yahoo! also enhanced its category searches. Say for example we had had not known about this restaurant but still wanted to go to an Italian restaurant, we could have searched for “Italian food in Rosemont IL” and been presented with the following:

If you haven’t added your business to Yahoo! Local (or any of the other local search resources, it is apparent now that you’ll need to start if you want to remain competitive as search engines provide deeper exposure to businesses within local results.

Reaching into Local with ReachLocal

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:15:00 GMT

One of the challenges in the local advertising and local Web publishing spaces is that there has not been an ad exchange or network which has worked effectively on that often micro level. That's all about to change with the release of a new platform from ReachLocal (the ReachLocal Xchange) that enables Internet publishers a way to "tap the advertising budgets" of local advertisers and offers local marketers access reach to local consumers.

"The local online advertising market is extremely fragmented and chaotic with tens of millions of local businesses, hundreds of thousands of online publishers, and thousands of solutions providers," said Zorik Gordon, co-founder and CEO of ReachLocal. "The ReachLocal Xchange brings order to that chaos by providing a single platform for these groups to connect."

For media publishers (website owners) integrating directly into the ReachLocal Xchange, it is easy to create custom ad inventory offers that will be displayed and promoted to local advertisers via ReachLocal's global feet-on-the-street Internet Marketing Consultants or IMCs. Some 500 IMCs currently manage local, regional and national advertisers out of more than 35 offices in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

This access allows publishers to generate more revenue and higher overall yield for their inventory; to enhance ad content with locally and regionally focused advertisers; and to create custom ad offers across different ad formats, sizes and types.

Greg Sterling has a great Q&A about the platform with ReachLocal co-founder Rob Wright that is worth a read.

Local Back on the Map?

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:00:00 GMT

When the going gets tough, the tough (or smart) get out and buy some lists.

Local search site and advertising network Local.com today announced the acquisition of approximately 14,000 local business advertisers from LiveDeal, Inc. for up to $3.1 million in cash. Details were quite sparse on how advertisers and Local.com would be connected, and how these advertisers will be integrated into the Local.com network - or if they even want to.

This acquisition moves the company closer to its stated goal of 50,000 small business customers by the end of 2009. The total of small business customers currently using the platform is 30,000 - including the 14,000 just acquired - and expanding it increases the potential to more quickly monetize the Local.com site and its broader network. You have to wonder about the quality of those advertisers and their interest in participating in the Local.com network.

The acquired customers will pay approximately $33 per month (that's $396/year for the mathematically challenged) for a Local Promote™ listing (the company's entry-level advertising product) on Local.com and select sites.

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Video Advertising Affiliate Program

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:56:00 GMT

Video advertising service Jivox announced an online video advertising affiliate program. I've seen thousands of affiliate programs for publishers interested in reselling advertising, but this may be the first I've seen for video advertising.

The program provides three tiers of participation for online publishers and marketing agencies. Publisher partners will receive a co-branded version of the Jivox video ad service to market the services to their advertisers, agency partners will receive a "master" account to offer the same services to their clients and referral partners (much like a traditional affiliate program) will refer advertisers directly to the Jivox site.

"The Jivox affiliate program allows all our partners to participate in the fast-growing online video advertising category by providing three levels of integration into our online video platform," said Jim Gustke, vice president of marketing and product management at Jivox. "The Jivox online video service is a modular platform that includes ad creation, online hosting and targeting, and access to the online publisher network, which allows our partners to offer all or some of its components. No matter how our partners choose to integrate, by signing up as a Jivox online affiliate, they can give their customers access to highly effective, locally targeted video advertising."

Related information and stories on Jivox:

SuperPages Adds Krillion Real-Time Price and Inventory Information

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Local shopping search information provider Krillion will provide Superpages.com (through the Verizon Yellow Pages network) a means to research and buy products on the Web for pickup at a local retailer.

Consumers searching on Superpages.com will now be able to find in-store deals from large retailers like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target. Select business profiles on Superpages.com now feature a link, “Check Local Inventory for Great Deals,” which leads shoppers to up-to-the-minute product inventory and pricing information from over 40,000 retail locations across the country.

“Krillion makes it possible for consumers searching on Superpages.com to answer the question ‘where can I buy it now and pick it up today?’ ” said Joel Toledano, CEO of Krillion. “Our localized product search results and Superpages.com’s quality consumer traffic connect more ready-to-buy consumers with retailers that provide in-store product availability nationwide.”

Merchants interested in appearing in SuperPages with real-time price and inventory information through Krillion will certainly be attracted to the company's lead generation programs. Krillion offers PPC programs, CPL programs and even Click-to-Call programs.

Early Holiday Gift from Jivox

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Online video advertising service Jivox announced a promotion for small and medium-sized businesses for holiday ad campaigns. Between today and December 31, 2008, advertisers that spend $500 with Jivox will receive a $500 credit for additional Jivox online video advertising.

Jivox has also added a new library of holiday-themed videos, images and audio for the video ads. "The holidays are a critical time of year for many small businesses. As consumers tighten their belts in a sagging economy, companies need to be more creative than ever to get people in the door," said Diaz Nesamoney, CEO of Jivox. "Taking advantage of services like Jivox to create and distribute locally targeted online video ads can help main street businesses to be competitive this holiday season."

Local Online Advertising Tips

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:15:00 GMT

As small business owners become aware of the cost-effectiveness and other benefits of local online advertising over advertising in traditional media outlets, their curiosity is often tempered by their unfamiliarity with this form of marketing. Achieving success with local online advertising is not that difficult once you’ve learned a few techniques.

The hard part is getting started, finding out what works, and using this type of marketing to drive local business to your website and your door. This article will outline some local online advertising tips that you can use to get started and maximize the effectiveness of each ad.

Tips that Save Time, Money, and Help You Connect with your Customers:

- Successful local online advertising solves a problem – No matter what goods and services are provided by your business, pique your readers’ interest and get them to click on your ad by helping them solve a problem.

- Consider your target audience – This should be uppermost in your mind at all times. What demographic do you want to reach? What are their needs? What is the best way to connect with them? Determining your target audience is the foundation for success of any local online advertising.

- Start slowly and keep it simple – Start with a few online ads and chart their conversion rates to see what works and what doesn’t. Avoid ads that are too flashy and distracting. Colorful animations can turn off more people than they attract and simple, straightforward text ads often produce better results.

- Write clearly – In the copy of the ad and the landing page, write in a lean style that gets right to the point. Remember that most people scan ads and web content rather than read it word-for-word.

- Make every word count – You have a finite amount of space for your ad copy so choose your words carefully and make every one count. Eliminate unnecessary words like ‘in’, ‘of’, ‘on’, ‘or’, etc.

These local online advertising tips will help get you started promoting your business and connecting with the people who are looking for the goods and services offered by your business online every day!

About the Author: Nick Stamoulis is the President of the Web Site Marketing Company, Brick Marketing and Brick Marketing who is the “Local Thursdays” weekly contributor and blogger of the Social Marketing Journal.