Building and Executing Online Localized Marketing Strategy

By Nina Hale

December is a bonanza of business for local shops, gyms, grocery stores, and other businesses. Marketing to your customers at their location can be a challenge, but doing it successfully can bring huge rewards. The opportunity is certainly out there. Consider the following factoids:

• 11% of searches include a local intent, but 28% of searches on mobile phones have a local intent.
• Over 60% of consumers go online first when searching for local businesses. Search engines are the #1 information source used. However, it is still a local world: 96% of products are still purchased offline.
• 15% of iPhone apps are related to local destinations.
• By 2011, search rates on smart phones are expected to reach the same level of searches from PC's in 2007.
• There are 3.3B active mobile devices vs. 1B active PC's. And 270 million of those mobile subscribers are in the US. 40% of new mobile devices sold are smart phones. Nielsen predicts this number to grow to 50% by 2011.

Advertising to potential customers at a local level is the place where the small store can undercut the national chain. But there are also some advantages for chains that the small business can't take advantage of. Nina is looking forward to her opportunity to speak more on local advertising on January 19th and hope that people can come to this lunch session.

Information compiled from the following sources: the Kelsey Group, Brian Buchwald, ComScore/ TMP, VP of Local Integrated Media at NBC, and Google.

Nina Hale is the President & CEO if Nina Hale Consulting. She founded her agency in 2005 after specializing in internet marketing since 2000 and new media since 1989. Nina holds an MBA from the Carlson School of Management and a B.A. from Brown University.