Archive for the ‘local advertising’ Category
Monday, March 14th, 2011
For years, AOL was a punchline. The once was of the Internet. You made fun of people who still had AOL addresses. “You’ve got mail” was a stale joke of struggling comedians.
Well, get ready for the comeback. AOL has been moving. Recently, they bought Outside.In, a hyper-local news aggregate where you can type in your home address and see the news that literally hits home for you. Combine that with their rapidly growing Patch.com local presence, and AOL has cornered the market on hyper-local news, the seemingly next big thing.
If AOL ends up back as an industry leader again, they will become the new posterchild of perseverance in the Web 2.Woah world!
Tags: aol, hyper-local-news, local-business-advertising, outside.in, patch.com
Posted in aol, local advertising | Comments Off
Friday, March 11th, 2011
You’ve been hearing all the gurus talk about it for a year now. “Things are moving local.” They’re using the phrase “hyper-local” in ways you don’t understand.
So, what’s it all mean? Simply that in an increasingly mobile world, your company being indexed in local searches is a must if you rely on local traffic. Ok. So, there are a lot of local indexes. And a lot of people calling me telling me to work with them in order to get listed in Google Maps, Mapquest, Yelp and more.
Here’s the reality. You need to be in those indexes. But you probably don’t need “them” to do it. Because this isn’t secret society stuff. You have control over your information in the indexes that matter. So just go check out your listing in the following 10 places and make sure they’re accurate. And if they don’t have you listed, add yourself. Now there are search engine optimization efforts that can maximize your local business success. But step 1 you can do all on your own.
Google local business listings. Foursquare. Yelp. Mapquest. Facebook Places. Citysearch. Navteq. Where. And Truvo.
Tags: Citysearch, facebook-places, Foursquare, Google, local-business-advertising, local-searches, mapquest, Navteq, Search-Engine-Optimization, Truvo, Where, yelp
Posted in facebook, Google, GPS, local advertising, mobile-marketing, Search-Engine-Optimization, Smartphones, Social Media | Comments Off
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
Groupon. Living Social. Those are the only names we’ve really talked about in the daily deals, group-couponing, groupvertising battle. Even though there are thousands of others.
So what makes me want to bring up a possible competitor? Because these guys could change everything. And their name is Bing.
That’s right. Bing Deals is here for the mobile device and coming to the desktop. Why do I think this is a game changer? We now have an aggregate for location-based deals. You don’t have to rely on your daily e-mails from each provider anymore. Now you can see the top daily deals in your area. The very best offers. By category. Or keyword.
Who cares who its from anymore? And that’s what could be the Groupon killer, or at least, the group-couponing democratizer.
Tags: bing-deals, groupon, living-social, local-business-advertising
Posted in bing, local advertising | Comments Off
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
I came to an odd conclusion the other day. The first time I used Groupon, I was thrilled. It was fun. It was social. It was, by nature, viral. And I was happy with my purchase.
And as I was raving about Groupon to all my friends, I realized that the next 50 daily Groupon Deals I received in my inbox were completely irrelevant to me. Spas. Facials. Restaurants far away from me. I just want golf coupons!
And that’s the reality. I need to be able to specify the kinds of deals I’m looking for, and you need to alert me only when those local deals arise. This isn’t to say that Groupon is going to lose out to any other Deals site. Just that the evolution isn’t over yet.
Tags: group-couponing, groupon, groupon-deals, local-business-advertising
Posted in local advertising, Social Media | Comments Off
Friday, February 18th, 2011
Google just released a case study of how InterContinental Hotels Group has been utilizing mobile PPC ads to gain 20% increases in reservations – month over month over month.
Exciting? Absolutely. Realistic for your business? Let’s talk about it.
Instantaneous mobile advertising ROI is based solely on geo-proximity. A person looking to make dinner reservations for tonight. A person looking for a place to spend the night, as in the case of InterContinental Hotels Group. If you’re selling widgets, that aren’t typically bought and used up in a single day, mobile advertising probably won’t provide you with this sort of return. But if you’re in the hospitality industry, jump on board.
Tags: intercontinental-hotels-group, mobile-advertising, mobile-ppc-ads, pay-per-click-campaign-management
Posted in Google, Google AdWords, local advertising, mobile-marketing | Comments Off
Monday, February 7th, 2011
Maybe you’ve seen an advertisement on Facebook that says “Your friend Joe Smith liked X”. Using your personal network to establish familiarity. It’s not just a random local business trying to get my attention. My friend Joe must like their smoothies.
This is a powerful tactic. And it’s spreading. But so are the cries for privacy this technology may be breaching. Google and Mozilla have recently introduced ways to exclude yourself from this sort of advertising, a “do not track” feature similar to what cookies do on your browser. Bravo to these companies for stepping up and giving customers looking for privacy to ability to find it online.
However, for the rest of us, the power of social may be more helpful than scary. Using my friend’s behavior I trust to help make my local online decisions? That’s valuable. I’m keeping it.
Tags: "do-not-track", facebook, Google, local-business-advertising, mozilla
Posted in facebook, firefox, Google, local advertising, Social Media | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
As local results become increasingly more important in search, how can you compete against other locations in neighboring areas? Well, according to Google’s Matt Cutts, you really can’t. But, that’s the point. That a local vendor would show up in a user’s search made from their hometown over yours in a neighboring area. But keep in mind, these local search results only prioritize Google Place results.
Claim your Google Places “place”. Optimize it. But then focus on standard search optimization methods and Google Adwords to gain the site traffic you want.
Of course, Cutts does make the disclaimer that if you are a mobile vendor – in a service industry that is constantly driving around making calls, you can specify a 50-mile radius of your “locality”.
Tags: adwords-management-company, Google, Google AdWords, google-places, local-business-advertising, matt-cutts
Posted in Google, Google AdWords, local advertising | Comments Off
Friday, January 28th, 2011
Living Social jumped into the spotlight last week with a $20 for $10 Amazon gift certificate group-coupon promotion that blew Groupon’s en masse GAP experiment last year out of the water.
Is Living Social a real Groupon threat, or a flash in the pan? Well, here’s one reason Living Social did so well with this promotion. They have a very specific sharing motivation. After you purchase the deal, and share the link to your friends via social media channels, if 3 of your friends purchase the deal via your link, your deal is free.
This is huge. Not only are the deals great, but the idea of getting it for free? Now, Groupon has been experimenting with this as well. Giving specific cash benefits for spreading the good news of good news. But the “share with 3, get 1 free” idea is so straightforward and do-able, Living Social might have found their way in the door.
And Groupon may be sweating giving up that $6 billion deal.
Tags: Amazon, GAP, groupon, living-social, local-business-advertising, social-media-marketing
Posted in Amazon, local advertising, Social Media | Comments Off
Thursday, January 27th, 2011
Starbucks has introduced mobile payments throughout their U.S. stores. This means that, as of today, you can pay for your morning coffee using your smartphone.
Now, first off, let me tip my hat to Starbucks. Because they are the perfect retailer to toe the water with this new technology. Think about it. The person willing to pay $3 or more for coffee in the morning is much more likely to have a smartphone than the rest of the population. In fact, with no data to back me up, I bet Starbucks customers have a greater percentage of smart phones than nearly any other mass retailer or eatery.
But, these mobile payments may not be exactly what you think. Because you pay using your Starbucks Card via mobile app. You can’t pay with your standard credit card yet. You have to transfer funds to your Starbucks Card. And that’s one step too many in the future.
But for now, it’s pretty cool.
Tags: local-business-advertising, mobile-marketing, mobile-payments, starbucks
Posted in local advertising, mobile-marketing, Smartphones | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
All the tech superheroes want to get into China. It’s the biggest potential economy in the world – by a landslide. But, it’s a tough one. Incredibly regulated by the controlling Chinese government.
Yet, that hasn’t stopped Groupon for wanting to see if they can mimic their U.S. local domination in China’s local cities. After their acquisition of local competitors in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Groupon has chosen a different method in Mainland China. Building from scratch, and aggressively hiring at every position. In fact, insider reports claim that they hope to be a 1,000 employee organization by March, starting off as 10 Groupon executives.
Groupon has the money. They obviously have the ambition. But can they do what so many American tech companies have tried to do and failed? We’ll see.
Tags: china, groupon, local-business-advertising
Posted in local advertising | Comments Off
