6 Steps For Selling Local Search Products To Businesses

Step 1. Choose The Right Prospects:

Search engine marketing (paying for keywords) is not for every business. With effective small business packages ranging from $150 to $2000 per month, the cost is significant for small businesses. You have to ask the ROI question when approaching a small business. How much revenue does the average sale generate? If you’re a flower shop or a dry cleaner and your average sale is $25, it’s going to take a lot more clicks to get a return on your investment. Use a 2% conversion rate to determine if an advertiser will make enough money to cover the cost of the campaign. If it costs $150 for 50 clicks ($3 per click) and you are getting a 2% conversion, each customer costs $150. It’s true that repeat business might result in future payback but prepared to explain that when selling to business owners with small ticket items. Paid local search campaigns are better suited to businesses that are selling high ticket items or service organizations such as home improvement services, legal services etc. Here’s a list of industries that tend to have a higher ROI on local search campaigns. Pick a category and go after it.

Step 2. Lead In With The Major Players:

Forget the name of your product, program or SEM company. Businesses have never heard of you. Lead in with “Google” and “Yahoo”. Remember, as an SEM salesperson,  you’ve “partnered” with these companies. Let your prospects know that first and you’ll be more likely to get the appointment. Try cold calling 10 businesses by telephone and you’ll see that there’s a genuine interest in marketing on Yahoo and Google. Most businesses may not know what “SEM” or “SEO” stands for but they use the major search engines every day.

Step 3. Print Search Results Before The Appointment:

Conduct a local search for the business you’re going to see and print out the results. Try searching for at least two keywords or phrases for the business. For example, if its a flooring company in Los Angeles, search for “carpets Los Angeles” and “tile floors Los Angeles”. It’s also good idea to run searches in surrounding cities, especially if the prospect comes up high in the organic (free) results when you run the first search. Put the printed results in a folder to take with you on the appointment.

Step 4. Prepare Sample Keywords & Geotargets:

This is a “suggested” list of keywords and geotargets (cities, areas etc.) that the client can use to start the campaign. 10 to 20 keywords and 5 cities would be ideal. The easiest way is to think of words that consumers might search for when looking for the clients products or services. There are also some on-line tools where you can pay anywhere from $269 to $599 per year to find effective keywords see Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery .  It’s a significant investment, but for the seasoned salesperson it’s well worth the cost to ensure the success of a campaign that can result in repeat business. The search engines themselves also offer free alternatives. Check out Google Suggest or Overture’s keyword selector tool (currently under construction). Once you have the list print it out and put in the same folder with the search results generated in step 3.

Step 5. The Presentation:

Don’t forget the folder! Take your time educating the client about local search. It’s helpful to show a generic search results page while explaining the difference between “Paid” or “Sponsored” results and “Organic” or “Free” results. Don’t be afraid to explain to the client that they can go directly to the search engines themselves and engage in the bidding and tracking process that your service provides. After they realize how much work and time is involved, they’ll appreciate the service your solution provides. Even if they’ll be paying $1 to $2 more per click, the hands on service and attention they receive will be well worth the investment. Lead into your search results pages (from step 3) by explaining that there could be local consumers right now searching for their products or services without knowing that the client exists. Hand the search results pages to them. You’ll find that most clients will take their time perusing the list for their competitors. After you’ve gone over your packages and pricing you can close the presentation and open the relationship with your suggested list of keywords to kick off the campaign.

Step 6. Follow Up:

Most sales executives will drop the ball here. Local search programs provide detailed reports, including keywords searched and clicks generated  on at least a monthly basis. The best programs will include customized landing pages with unique call in numbers which allow the campaign to be tracked from the click through to a call from the consumer. If these are not available you need to insist that the client track the source of incoming calls and sales. After 30 days of data you can make adjustments to the campaign, fine tuning the keywords and geotargets for better results. Effective campaigns will run for at least 90 days so you’ve got plenty of time to make adjustments if the campaign seems to be under-performing initially. If everything goes well you’ll be increasing the package at the end of the first 90 day run.

Here’s some other documents that might be helpful in your efforts to sell local search:

Nielsen Report On Local Search

Local Search Advertiser FAQ

“The Word Is Alive”

Entrepreneurs Redefine News With Hyper Local Data.

“Whats Happening In My Neighborhood?”

While local newspapers are scrambling for a foothold in their region, entrepreneurs are stepping in and aggregating “hyper” local data at the neighborhood level. Backed by a two year grant from The Knight foundation, EveryBlock.com launched today with neighborhood data and news from San Francisco, New York City and Chicago. The site provides up to date information  by Zip Code, Neighborhood, even Street Address. 

There was vandalism on the 1000 block of S. State Street in Chicago at 6PM today. I can also view data on what businesses make up the 21 liquor license applicants in my city this month. The site is easy to navigate and and delivers three types of information: local news and blogs, civic information and user generated local content (eg. reviews from Yelp, photos from Flickr, postings on Craigslist).

Redefining “news” is what venture is all about. While EveryBlock may still pick up the story of the day covered by national newspapers, it’s delivered right along side the review of a new Italian restaurant on Yelp, or a “cool” photo taken of a house down the street that has just been posted in Flickr. The company will be adding data types in the coming months, providing more information for each of the three launch cities.

Local newspapers should be quick to jump on this model.  The EveryBlock team of 4 is led by Adrian Holovaty, a veteran  journalist and web developer whose worked at the washingtonpost.com, lawrence.com and LJWorld.com. While the team promises to work feverishly to obtain more data from city officials and civic resources, local newspapers should already have these relationships in place. 

 Perhaps there’s an opportunity for a partnership here. Local newspapers can have a hyper-local research center “powered by” EveryBlock. Whatever the move, local newspapers need to keep embracing the technology, hiring the staff and pick up the pace on the on-line database development  to establish themselves as the “source” for local information.

“The Word Is Alive”

Newspaper Next Idea Brainstorming Session I

We held our first Newspaper Next brainstorming workshop this morning.

Kudos to our Marketing Director extraordinaire who spearheaded the effort. We were all surprised when over 50 employees showed up to this voluntary event, including department heads from circulation and production. We were even more surprised to notice that nobody showed up from our editorial department. We sat through a brief overview of the N2 initiative including a handout on “Using the N2 Method” and then the real fun began.

As you’ll see from the summary below, many people used the exercise as an opportunity to suggest improvements in the current operations of the company. This, in my opinion, was one of the biggest takeaways from the workshop. It’s apparent that our own employees are concerned with the integrity of the company and the product, an issue we should be addressing first.

We were divided into 8 teams of 6 people and were given the task of completing a blank Newspaper Next Idea Resume. Each team had approximately 15 minutes to come up with an “idea” for the newspaper. We’ll be meeting with our teams throughout the month to flush out our ideas using the N2 tools before the next meeting. At the very least it was a great team building exercise and you could sense some of the excitement in the room as the ideas were explained. The workshop is voluntary so we’ll see who shows up next month.

The following is a summary of the ideas presented:

Team 1 Idea: Improve Delivery and Distribution:

This idea focused on improving existing circulation and distribution systems. Having relocated our press production department to another city, we’ve been dealing with circulation challenges on a regular basis. Team 1 took the opportunity to bring these challenges to light and suggested we focus our efforts on improving circulation above all else.

Team 2 Idea: Create a Local Hispanic Print Product:

Recognizing that we have one of the largest Hispanic populations in the LA area, Team 2 suggested we develop a more local product catering to the Hispanic market in the San Gabriel Valley. The product would be home delivered and would earn income by selling advertising to businesses targeting the Hispanic market.

Team 3 Idea: Improve Communications and Customer Service:

Once again the focus was on “fixing” things that are currently broken. This team brought to light the many basic customer service and communications issues the company has on a daily basis. Although the examples given were borderline sarcastic, some good points were made about how important customer service is before anything else.

Team 4 Idea: Create an On-line Everything Local Guide:

This team discussed the creation of a free on-line guide with hyper-local information for consumers and local residents. This is kind of a community resource center with contact information and resources aside from news stories which are are running currently on the main news site. Again, the project would create revenue from local advertisers.

Team 5 Idea: Create A Topper Coupon Spadea on Sunday:

The idea was to publish a spadea to top the paper each sunday. The spadea itself would feature full color coupon space sold to local advertisers. Examples were given of success of such spadeas and coupons in other markets.

Team 6 Idea: Publish More Alternative News:

This team suggested that news in general had become somewhat “controlled” in the aggregate, and that there was a genuine demand by the public for “alternative” news perspectives on key issues. The newspaper should focus on becoming a conduit to other information sources, without being so concerned with sources and etiquette. As a result the paper would make more money as a better product.

Team 7 Idea: Organize And Host Local Events Tied To Publications:

An example of a “Travel Expo” was given. The newspaper could organize and host a local expo much like the job fairs that have been put on by newspapers in past. The paper could target a specific industry and sell booths along with advertising in an accompanying print publication promoting the event.

Team 8 idea: Create A Product To Target Younger Audiences:

The notion here was that we need to hook them on the paper at a young age. This team discussed the creation of a section or sections in the paper that provided activities, resources and information for kids age 4-12 and their families. The paper could create educational content along with schools and team up with local chambers, community centers, Boy Scouts, YMCA etc. to offer information in print an on-line to this demographic. Advertising sales again would provide the revenue to support the effort.

“The Word Is Alive”

Three Ideas For Newspapers in 2008

Having spent just under 500 days in the industry, I’m not really qualified to comment on where newspapers are going or what they should do in the coming years but I have seen enough to form some entertaining ideas on new business models that might work. 

Along with the ideas outlined here, newspapers have a number of challenges to overcome which I feel are limiting their growth  and future success. The most limiting of these being the ability to activate new ideas often and quickly. In my estimation, newspapers have a 18-24 month window to move on these ideas to maximize their revenue opportunities.

Here’s three business ideas for newspapers in 2008 that may help them capitalize on their position in the local marketplace and acquire new customers over the next 18 to 24 months:

1. Web Development & Hosting For Businesses.

As part of the API’s Newspaper Next initiative, seven local news organizations were selected to launch N2 pilot projects over a 4 month period. Local market research was conducted to determine what “jobs” businesses needed done. One of the prominent discoveries among non-advertising small businesses was that they needed  help developing an effective web presence. Local newspapers are in a great position to develop and promote web sites for small businesses.

Whether it’s a shopping site profile page or a full blown 15 page site, local newspapers can capture the market for local web development and on-line promotion. Local newspapers have creative services departments in place churning out print ads 24 hours a day in many cases. With the proliferation of easy to use web development tools and templates, web ads are much easier to develop than print ads. Most layout and design software including Adobe’s Creative Suite come with “save for web” features built in.

“That’s a completely different business model”, a colleague of mine argued. “How can we maintain the servers and all the programming”. Newspapers may not realize it, but they are already in the hosting and design business. Each section of the newspaper site is its own “mini” web site. Servers are already co-located and there are no real technology barriers to hosting and maintaining web sites today. Newspapers also have the layout, design staff and systems in place which local businesses need.

“But most businesses already have web sites.” it might be argued. While this may be true, I’d challenge any newspaper to take a random sample of 10 local business websites to see what you’re up against. In my estimation 6 out of 10 sites are outdated, poorly designed and generally ineffective as an advertising vehicle. The average local newspaper  has been designing advertisements for businesses for over a 100 years. They know how to write effective copy and turn customer ideas into action generating advertisements. The WWW can be thought of as nothing more than a giant newspaper or yellowpage directory.

Business models and pricing still need to be worked out, but the real value here is in relationship building. There are over 200, 000 businesses in the average metropolitan marketplace, there might be 2000 to 3000 who have been “touched” by the average print sales executive.  Providing these new services expands the prospect base and opens up new opportunities to market products to non-customers who might not ever advertise in the local news paper. Special print/on-line bundles can be created to market a web presence along with additional on-line or print exposure.

Becoming the web presence provider for local businesses is like owning their telephone, fax machine or front door.  Newspapers are effectively locking in a relationship with that business. Whether it’s facilitating domain name registrations, providing self-service web creation tools or complete web services, newspapers are helping businesses attach themselves to their local newspaper, a brand they’ve trusted for years.

2. Renting Mobile CSC Codes to Businesses

Whereas the technology and price barriers to web site development have come down, these barriers are still very much in place for mobile advertising. The cost and price of mobile devices are dropping but the processes by which advertisers can start using mobile advertising are still too complicated and expensive for business owners. There are many applications and ideas for mobile advertising within an industry or vertical market. The basic ability to communicate with customers via text messaging is something businesses will find invaluable for local promotions. 

 The most common mobile programs and easiest to employ are based on CSC (Common Short Code) text messaging. A CSC is a 5 or 6 digit number or letter combination, similar to a phone number which mobile phone users can text messages to interact with businesses.  The CSC itself costs from $500 to $1000 per month, and requires a somewhat lengthy and detailed application process. Newspapers can setup a master CSC for their business community and rent the keyword phrases to local businesses. For example, mobile users might text the phrase “Free Pizza” to  LANEWS (526397) and receive information on a free pizza deal in town. Newspapers can earn monthly fees for renting the phrase and CPA (Cost Per Action) fees for each response received. Because this type of marketing is in its early stages, newspapers can become the front runners in providing local mobile advertising services to businesses. Again, the strong brand and reputation that local newspapers enjoy will help them in acquiring new revenues from advertisers who are currently non-customers.

3. Email Marketing For Businesses

If they don’t have one already, every business should have an email list of all their local customers. Newspaper’s can create programs to help businesses collect email addresses and send emails with promotional information. Newspapers should already be actively collecting email addresses from visitors to the news site and creating opt-in lists of users who are open to receiving information on deals from local advertisers.

With the increase in behavioral targeting capabilites and the proliferation of personalization features on local news websites, newspapers can create databases of consumer information. Local businesses can then be matched up with consumers by interest.  Email marketing can also be bundled with local direct mail campaigns providing for “Total Audience” direct marketing programs.

The Work Factor: 

Henry Ford once said “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Recognizing that the strength of newspapers lies in their strong LOCAL brand, ad production systems, and local sales forces, these ideas are in no way “easy” to implement.  In fact, I think newspapers and especially their sales forces will have to work harder and more consistently than they ever have to succeed in todays marketplace, but the results will be worth the effort.

 ”The Word Is Alive”