With mobile maps, location based social networks and group buying sites on the rise, brands can no longer avboid the power of local advertising online. But what does this mean for search marketing? Karl Knights, Director of New Business, Kenshoo Europe, takes a closer look…
Recent product development and adoption in the social media space of applications such as Foursquare, Groupon and Facebook Places have brought the concept of local back into the spotlight. As a result, participating in a community has never been more important or beneficial to a brand or business, whether they are the grocer round the corner or a global multi-national. The key behind the successful use of a community is for advertisers to acknowledge and capitalise on the value of consumer connection with their brand.
The growing fashion for consumers to tend towards what can be perceived as local business or those that have a local presence stems from two main reasons: convenience and a desire to invest in their local community. The first involves a physical local presence; enabling consumers’ easy access to a product at an outlet that is convenient to them is key. The second is a result of galvanizing a community around the product or service; the sense of ‘belonging’ encourages brand loyalty and thanks to ‘local’ search capabilities can now be achieved by global companies, as well as those stores that are physically local.
The challenge to all this however, is that by nature ‘search marketing’ is a narrow and deep discipline with a complex set of algorithms and analysis behind it that are specific to each business and its requirements. Throw in the added element of ‘local’ search and although achievable for genuinely local brands, creating a local presence for a global brand increases the complexity dramatically. What franchises, networks and even small businesses that are based in multiple locations need, is a platform that allows them to effectively implement the ‘local’ technology available in a manner that is meaningful to their own campaigns. This means being able to select relevant keywords for each location, create bespoke ad copy, and use targeted landing pages so that each consumer gets a truly ‘local’ experience.
The key is leveraging technology to quickly set-up and manage high volumes of individual local campaigns. Important features to look for are campaign templates, automated budget reallocation across locations based on business rules, and reports that can be easily rolled up at the corporate level or broken down for a local store owner to use. Lastly, choose a technology platform that can incorporate engagement metrics that go beyond the web such as phone calls and coupon redemption.
By Karl Knights
Director of New Business
Kenshoo Europe
http://www.kenshoo.com
