'Net Features : local marketing

Circl Links Online Promotions to In-Store Traffic

Allison Howen — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 04:42:00 GMT

A new startup is helping local merchants link online promotions to in-store traffic.

Local business promotions platform Circl helps businesses convert Facebook fans, Twitter followers and email subscribers into measurable customers, which helps business owners make better marketing decisions by showing them which promotions and channels are the most effective at driving foot traffic.

“There are many companies providing marketing tools for local businesses, but very few actually close the loop and show businesses how many customers or sales are generated,” said Soso Sazesh, co-founder of Circl. “As someone coming from the online marketing world where metrics and ROI are critical, it’s clear there is a lot of catching up to do in terms of showing local businesses the results of their online marketing efforts. That’s exactly what Circl does, and we will continue to release new features focused on this problem.”

Circl tracks where customers come from by using the mobile browser of the customers’ smartphones. Similar to a Foursquare check-in, this allows the company to access the location of the customer. Moreover, Circl offers businesses a dashboard that enables them to distribute promotions and specials to Facebook, Twitter and through email. This same dashboard displays which promotions and channels are the most effective, and can even be leveraged to discover which days had the most activity. It is also important to note that based on customer visit data, Circl provides campaign recommendations that allow businesses to launch online promotions or sales with just a click.

Over the past three months more than 1,000 businesses, ranging from local businesses to large national retailers, have already requested beta access to the Circl platform. Additionally, the platform has received interest from a variety of businesses in the U.S. and abroad, including clothing stores, restaurants, cafés, auto dealerships, electronics retailers, and other walk-in businesses.

“Because Circl is not consumer-facing, our strategy is very different from other companies in the local space. We don’t need to expand one city at a time and we are able to target our sales and marketing efforts in a more effective manner because of this. We can work with a business in San Francisco just as easily as we can work with a business in Austin or London,” said Neej Gore, co-founder of Circl.

Five Hyperlocal Marketing Strategies

Allison Howen — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 19:30:00 GMT

Ever been hungry in an unfamiliar city?

Although the nearby fast food joint may be a tempting choice, nowadays most people will leverage their mobile device to find local restaurants through a simple search. And while this technology can be very helpful in bringing traffic to local businesses, it can also be harmful to merchants who haven’t yet left a digital footprint that will allow consumers to find their business in the endless abyss of the World Wide Web.

Visibility is one of the most important factors when it comes to running a successful business – both on and off of the Web. In fact, 20 percent of all searches on Google are related to location, while 97 percent of consumers search online to find local businesses, according to Google. This is why merchants must make sure that their business can easily be found on the 'Net – but aside from maintaining a website, there are many other ways merchants can increase their local visibility in order to obtain more traffic, both online and in-stores.

Check out this list of five hyperlocal marketing strategies below:

1. Listing Sites

One of the best ways to obtain visibility is by managing your business’s listing on online directories, such as Google Places, Yelp and Foursquare. This is because many times these are the first sites that pop up when someone conducts a local search. However, even if your business shows up in the results, it is important for merchants to claim their business and customize their listing – with photos, store hours, a telephone number, website URL and even promotions. This not only makes it easier for someone to find your business, but a customized listing will also make your business seem more legitimate, and can therefore improve trust among potential customers.

2. Social Media

Obtaining a presence on some of the most popular social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, can help consumers not only discover your business during searches on Google and Bing, but also help them discover your business in their newsfeed or through social network searches. However, while it is important to only bite off as much as you can chew when it comes to social networks (don’t try to manage more social networks than you can handle), it is valuable for all merchants to create a Google+ page. Although this network doesn’t have as large of a user base as Facebook yet, it still unsurprisingly ranks high in the search results. Additionally, the new Google+ Local feature enables merchants to manage and customize their business’s listing on the social network.

3. Daily Deals

Daily Deals may be a more rogue way to enhance visibility, but they definitely offer a great way to grab the attention of new customers – at least for merchants who don’t mind taking risks. Once a daily deal is launched, the promotion is sent out to local customers via email, and can also be found on the vendor’s website. This can be perfect for bringing in consumers who only happened to find your venue while browsing the local deals on websites like Yipit or DealsMagazine.

4. Advertisements

Targeting local customers can easily be done by launching a paid search campaign on advertising platforms like Facebook and Google. For example, Google AdWords Express enables merchants to promote their business when consumers conduct local searches for related products or services in a specific area. Most importantly, these advertisements show up during regular Web searches and during searches on mobile devices, so that your ads can target consumers who are on the go and more likely to make a conversion.

5. Website Localization

It is important for every retailer to include basic information, such as telephone number and address, on their website. However, merchants can take this a step further by adding other local elements, including maps and local ads, on their sites. For example, Sears recently added local ads to their websites, which enable consumers to find deals and specials at the brick-and-mortar location nearest them. Although this type of feature is more valuable to a merchant who is running multiple locations, merchants can also add other local elements to their websites, such as maps and in-store pick up promotions. While featuring a map on your site can help consumers pinpoint the exact location of your brick-and-mortar store, offering in-store pickup allows customers to purchase a product online and pick it up in-stores – so they can avoid long lines and shipping fees.

Two-thirds of National Brands Market Locally

Allison Howen — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 17:30:00 GMT

A new study reveals insights into the local marketing strategies of national brands.

Local marketing automation technology and services provider Balihoo conducted a study of 270 national brands regarding the role of local marketing and ROI metrics within their overall marketing strategy. The findings reveal that 66 percent of national brands invest some portion of their budgets into local marketing.

Further statistics show that 21 percent of national brands claim to invest a quarter or more of their total marketing budget into local marketing, while 29 percent only allocate 1 to 5 percent, followed by 14 percent who claim that 6 to 10 percent of their budgets go towards local marketing initiatives.

The study also shows a lack of ROI measurement by national brands for both national and local marketing campaigns. Fifty-eight percent of brands claim that they don’t use ROI as a marketing metric for local campaigns, while 44 percent report the same lack of ROI measurement for national marketing initiatives.

However, companies that use ROI metrics to measure national campaigns are also 35 percent more likely to invest in local marketing than companies that don’t use ROI as a marketing metric.

“It’s impressive that twenty-one percent of national brands are allocating a quarter or more of their total marketing budgets to local marketing, demonstrating the growing need for brands to engage with consumers closer to the point of purchase,” says Pete Gombert, CEO of Balihoo. “The survey also shows growing awareness of the important role local marketing plays in driving sales for national brands, especially for companies that use ROI to track marketing success.”

Living la Vida Local: Affiliate Marketing for Local Businesses

Michael Garrity — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:30:00 GMT

“Local” is one of the most popular buzzwords on the Web these days and it's easy to get swept up in all of the excitement, especially when you hear some of the numbers.

For instance, Google Places reports that nearly 97 percent of all consumers search for local businesses online, and BIA/Kelsey concludes that the same percentage uses online media to shop locally. And according to TMP Directional Marketing and comScore, about 83 percent of those using local search sites will take some type of offline action.

What these figures mean is that despite the global reach of the Web, many consumers are still using the Internet to efficiently shop locally, a desire that can hamper the productivity of online affiliate marketers.

The natural course of action, then, would be for affiliate marketers to pair up with local businesses to drive relevant local consumers to these offline businesses. But in a world where you make money getting users to do something as simple as clicking a link (or just viewing an ad), driving customers to actual brick-and-mortar locations could prove difficult. Because of this, one upside to trying your hand at local affiliate marketing is that commissions are generally higher.

As an affiliate, you have three tasks to concern yourself with to successfully market local businesses:

Find Good Partners
Because local affiliate marketing isn’t as cut-and-dried as traditional online marketing, it’s important to find a partnership that will be mutually beneficial to both parties. Initially, this means seeking partners in industries that have track records of success in local online marketing, which usually means products or services not available online for which users will likely be searching. These can include automotive repair, legal services, real estate, on-site event specialists (DJs, florists, caterers, etc.), health care professionals, hair and nail salons or spas, educational institutions, home services (heating/air conditioning repair, landscaping, etc.), tattoo artists and more.

Many affiliates also advise that you work with businesses that you trust and are comfortable working with, which could mean businesses that you personally patronize.

Money Matters
As a local affiliate marketer you have a few different options for how you can get paid, and part of selecting a good partner is determining which method is right for both of you.

One way to drive traffic to these local businesses is by having customers call a phone number that they see on your ads. If you go with this option, you can set up either a direct line or special code for receptionists to get from callers that lets the business know that these potential patrons were referred to the business by your site. You can simply determine the per-call-rate that the business will pay you based on how much they feel each caller is worth to them.

Or, you can try collecting user data yourself, via a sign-up form or something else, and then forwarding this information to the business and charging on a per-lead basis. Of course, this means that you also have to create a special landing page to go along with your website that advertises the business and directs users to their information.

Another less-popular option is to just charge a flat fee to cover your expenses, or just establishing an agreement that says all new business ensures you some kind of referral fee.

Tracking Referrals
The beauty of online affiliate marketing is that everything can be tracked, which makes the act of getting paid pretty simple. When you’re relying on person-to-person interactions, though, it’s not always as easy. Human error or even the simplest misunderstanding could keep you from getting paid for your lead, and it’s (partially) your responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen.

One way to do this is by establishing a special offer with your partner so that every referral you send can get some sort of discount, which lets the business know in their records that the customer came from you. This helps establish a traceable trail of data (not to mention, being an incentive that helps drive customers in the first place), and that provides you with some sort of security.

Setting up a separate telephone line or collecting lead information yourself are two other ways to ensure that almost every customer you drive is counted. Both of these are clear-cut methods to prove that you referred the customers, and the latter lets you have your own records of exactly how many visitors you signed up.

Once you work out the initial terms and conditions and determine how you want to conduct your campaign, advertising online for local businesses can be a lucrative and rewarding endeavor. And as most affiliates don’t dare dabble in local businesses, you’ll have little competition as you get started.

MySpace Local: Social Reviews

MaureenA — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:45:00 GMT

MySpace and Citysearch are teaming up to offer MySpace Local.

The new directory combines Citysearch's functionality of allowing users to search, review and rate businesses. And, it adds MySpace's flavor by allowing users to search friend reviews of businesses and share their favorite businesses with their friends and communities.

The first step of MySpace Local is to use a selected group of users to provide feedback and create reviews. The second step is a launch of it in Beta format next month to all users throughout the U.S. The first phase of MySpace Local will offer three categories: restaurants, bars and nightlife. Users can search for businesses on business pages or through "City Hubs" which is available only in major U.S. cities. City Hubs can be searched by neighborhood, small business categories or cuisine type.

MySpace Local is providing small businesses another opportunity to reach consumers - and this time it's leveraging the power of social media communities.

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Get Listed Locally at GetListed.org

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:44:00 GMT

There are millions of small businesses that still, despite the obvious benefits it can provide, have not leveraged the Internet for its sales and marketing potential. The arguments against local Web marketing escape me. It certainly can't be cost, as all major search engines generously provide free listings. And it certainly can't be too complicated, because with just an Internet connection and an hour, a local small business owner can do a world of good for the business.

Patrick Sexton and David Mihm launched GetListed.org, and if you're new to the Web, this resource should be one of your first stops. GetListed.org's flagship product, the LocalDashboard™, shows business owners simply and clearly where their businesses exist on major search engines like Google Maps and Yahoo! Local. The tool displays information like business name, address, phone number, and website address as they are indexed by these major engines.

Small business owners see immediately whether their business is listed properly by the search engines, and whether they have claimed their listings. The LocalDashboard provides easy links for business owners to claim and update their information directly at each individual search engine. Additional details such as photos and videos, along with customer reviews, and mentions of their business are displayed as well. These factors combine to form a "Listing Score," a simple percentage that indicates how effectively a business is taking advantage of the tools. A checklist is provided for business owners interested in taking specific steps to improve their listings.

"We hope this tool will help small business owners become aware of the free opportunities to market their companies online, and alleviate some of the confusion many of them feel when it comes to the search engines," commented Sexton.