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5 TRENDS
REDEFINING
LOCAL MARKETING
INSIDER TIPS TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL 2015
5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
1
Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 3
TREND 1
Content Tells Local
Stories Traditional
Media Can’t
4
TREND 2
CMO Morphs
Into Customer
Experience Officer
TREND 3
Mobile & Social
Trigger Offline Sales
5
6
TREND 4
Personalization
Maximizes Impact
of Digital Video
7
TREND 5
Local Is More
Than Its Location
8
Bonus Insights ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Brands Must Use Keywords To Attract Local Traffic......................................................................................... 9
Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
Mobile & Social Ad Creative Influences Purchase Intent ................................................................................ 9
Greg Sterling, VP Strategy & Insights, Local Search Association
Physical & Digital Worlds Become Fast Friends .................................................................................................. 9
Jeff Fagel, CMO, G/O Digital, A Gannett Company
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 10
About Us ................................................................................................................................................... 11
Contact Us ............................................................................................................................................... 11
5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
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INTRODUCTION
In 2014, G/O Digital set out to change the way retail and consumer
packaged goods brands think about and execute local marketing. In the
process, we realized that the marketing and advertising community’s
understanding of “local” is oftentimes limited in scope or just flat out
inaccurate — both in definition and delivery.
And as much as they’re dependent on the convenience, control and
choices provided by digital tools and technology, physical experiences
still hold clout and value in consumers’ lives. There’s something to be
said for the tactile experiences and immediate satisfaction people get
when they shop in a brick-and-mortar store.
The realities of consumers’ daily lives and their interactions with digital
content are completely different from what they were just five years ago.
Smartphones, for example, have morphed from a luxury into a daily
necessity — especially with their integration of cameras, videos, lifestyle
apps and even mobile payment capabilities. Digital is no longer just a
word — it’s a way of life.
Today’s advertisers face a multifaceted dilemma. How can you create the
types of personal, relevant messages, offers, content, ads and
experiences that connect to a mother in Atlanta while reaching a millennial
in Seattle in a way that feels uniquely tailored and personal to each of
them? How do you then increase ROI and revenue for the entire
business? What’s more, how do you do this both online and offline?
For most people nowadays, just 10 minutes without access to the
Internet or a smartphone feels like eternity. Digital devices offer many
benefits, but they have also made consumers impatient and intolerant of
subpar experiences, no matter where they may be. So marketers have
no other choice but to deliver on these promises – to give them what
they want, when they want it, where they want it and how they want it.
The good news is there is $4.9 trillion in retail sales up for grabs in
2015. And you don’t have to blow your budget on a flashy Super Bowl ad
that’s over in 30 seconds to make a lasting impression and convert
viewers into buyers. The key to capturing those dollars will only happen if
marketers shed their presumptions of what they believe local marketing is.
In this eBook, industry experts outline 5 key trends
that will redefine local marketing in 2015.
5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
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TREND 1
Content Tells Local Stories
That Traditional Media Can’t
Rebecca Lieb, Analyst, Altimeter Group
Content is the marketing of attraction. Whether it’s
informative, educational, entertaining or practical,
content is there for consumers who need it, want it
and are seeking it out. Traditional mass marketing
media can be interruptive — acting like a push
strategy, rather than pulling them in.
Local content is all the more compelling for a target
audience because it can deliver context and
relevance based on factors like seasonality, events and even
weather — things immediately relevant to a consumer’s personal life.
As more brands evolve into publishers, the content they create can
be anything from an email newsletter to a mobile coupon to a podcast
or a mobile game. However, most brands rightfully consider their
most important content to be their weekly promotional offers – better
known as their product information and the brand value they want to
communicate to their consumers. These are the things that move
consumers closer to a sales transaction.
In 2015, marketers should optimize that content to entice consumers
by offering answers to consumers’ immediate needs and wants in
personalized ways, regardless of their distribution channel.
5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
Missing the opportunity to address a local
audience on their terms is the difference
between corporate and commodified
messaging and authentic communication.
KEY TIPS TO DELIVER LOCAL BRAND STORIES
AND PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCES IN 2015:
Programmatically scale and target your existing
content to serve local versions of offers that move
shoppers from their screens back into storefronts.
Make content viewable across any device so
consumers see and engage with your offers in their
preferred shopping environments.
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TREND 2
CMO Morphs Into Customer Experience Officer
John Gregory, Retail Business Development Consultant
The media landscape has been entirely up-ended in recent years,
and the manner in which marketers reach a target audience has been
forever changed. Aside from having multiple media channels and
device screens to manage, marketers face the challenge of ensuring
their brand creates the appropriate creative and content for each.
The disruption in the chain of consumer communications has
redefined the meaning of advertising “locally.” Location is no longer
about a particular geography, rather the proximity of a digital device
to a consumer. Make no mistake – the contemporary consumer may
have a shorter attention span, but they are “always on” whether it’s
with their smartphone on the way to work, sitting with their desktop
at the office or playing Words With Friends on their tablet while
watching television.
The CXO must be able to…
Think about consumers first in terms of
their behavior.
Understand the inner workings of existing and
new technology, and optimize content accordingly.
Manage multiple media budgets and eliminate
wasted spend.
Retail Business
Development
Consultant
Gauge the appropriate success metrics for each tactic and
campaign type.
Break down the internal silos so teams can be more creative,
collaborative and effective.
• Put qualified staff in place both internally and externally
to manage the overlap in channel strategy for traditional
and digital media.
KEY TIPS TO PRIORITIZE THE
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN 2015:
5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
• Cater messaging to consumers who jump in and out of
the marketing funnel with content that informs, engages
and drives bottom-line sales.
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TREND 3
Mobile & Social Trigger Offline Sales
Joe Laszlo, Senior Director, Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, IAB
Using mobile and social advertising to spark in-store
sales is a huge advantage that marketers are only just
beginning to realize and track. Embracing locationaware advertising is an important step because it helps
campaign messages reach those customers most likely
to be interested in the ads. That can work both at the
broad (regional or city) level and down to “geo-fences”
around specific store locations.
KEY TIPS TO CASH IN ON MOBILE
AND SOCIAL ADOPTION IN 2015:
Another important step for marketers is finding
advertising partners adept at tailoring ad creative to
reflect local information in social and mobile channels — making advertising
vastly more relevant to viewers and prompting store visits.
Offer immediate value to consumers by localizing
content and helping them connect to the wants
and needs they have in the now.
Finally, the use of location for campaign effectiveness and attribution is
growing rapidly. Retailers deploying in-store beacons and other mobile
technologies can start to understand how many people exposed to an ad
actually walked into a store. These technologies can also help marketers
assess the effectiveness of in-store social media campaigns or calls to
action. Tailoring mobile and social ad campaigns to drive local store sales
is great, but being able to measure how many visits those campaigns
generated — and ultimately how many sales transactions occurred as a
result — will really cement the value of local relevancy for marketers.
The
Opportunity:
145.9 million
U.S. mobile users
Look at how consumers are interacting with
existing marketing experiences and solve for their
concerns and challenges.
How To
• Offer easier checkout
Convert Them: • Serve relevant products & offers
173.2 million
social media users
• Secure personal information
• Keep purchases private
• Provide clear, high-resolution images
• Render experiences quickly
• Offer low prices
• Integrate “Buy Now” features
Source: eMarketer
5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
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TREND 4
Personalization Maximizes Impact of Digital Video
Brian Pozesky, CMO, Eyeview Digital
According to Business Insider, online video ads
will drive nearly $5 billion in revenue by 2016,
and it’s only getting easier for brands to execute
multiple video campaigns simultaneously as well
as ongoing video ad programming.
Great, affordable local video is not just for
broadcast anymore. Local value in digital video advertising now
comes through product movement within individual retailers.
In the coming year, brands should make video work harder for them
by delivering customized messages that include up-to-date, targeted
offers and tie directly back to offline sales. By doing this, they’ll be
able to go into their Board of Directors meetings with the types of
actionable results and ROI that grow the bottom line – well beyond
brand awareness and recall.
5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
KEY TIPS TO MAXIMIZE THE IMPACT
OF DIGITAL VIDEO IN 2015:
Now that personalized digital video
and programmatic audience buying
deliver stronger performance at lower
costs, reprogram your brain to use
digital video ads to power offline sales.
Delivery-focused metrics like
impressions and completion rates
do not illustrate the effectiveness
of advertising. Instead, consider
simple A/B or match-market testing
to track actual lifts in sales and
brand metrics.
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TREND 5
Local Is More Than Its Location
Mark Marinacci, EVP, Sales, G/O Digital
Marketers limit their success when they think that local isn’t a
fundamental part of how customers experience brands today. When
they do this, they’re actually self-selecting their brands and their
products/services right out of consumers’ lives — whether they’re
hoping to connect with them online or off.
Some brands have leaned into a new understanding of local a little
bit, but most are only halfway. They still think of local as an element
that informs targeting or as a way to optimize standard, homogenous
messages — a geo-spatial signal for mobile phones or other locationbased tactics.
A mass message is still vanilla — it doesn’t
take full advantage of what local can deliver.
Because reaching someone on their phone is intimate, the stakes of
personalization get raised even higher. You can’t just say something
you’d say to everyone. A local message doesn’t negate a national
value proposition, but instead it considers the consumer’s real-life
needs and experiences. If I know what experience I want to deliver and
what need to address, then I can think about what channels to reach
them through — mobile, social, display, search and beyond. But first I
have to understand my brand in that primary local way.
The understanding of a right time and place may be changing, but the
advances in targeting and delivery technology are keeping pace with
consumer expectations. It’s just up to marketers to grapple with the
logistics and decide if they are going to provide them with a generic
message or a meaningful one.
KEY TIPS TO PUSH THE BOUNDARIES OF YOUR LOCAL MARKETING IN 2015:
Define “local” as something more than a consideration of media or channel — think of it as being
connected to consumers’ real-time wants and needs.
Remember that consumers think of national brands in terms of the stores in their local
community, so local offers can’t just be for mom-and-pop shops anymore.
5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
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Because listening and learning are key to success, we asked a few
more trusted experts in the media and marketing industry to share
their perspectives. Here’s what they had to say.
BONUS INSIGHTS
TRUSTED CONTENT PRO
MEDIA INFLUENCER
Greg Sterling
VP Strategy & Insights,
Local Search Association
Ann Handley
Chief Content Officer,
MarketingProfs
BRAND VETERAN
Jeff Fagel
CMO,
G/O Digital
Brands Must Use Keywords To
Attract Local Traffic
Mobile & Social Ad Creative
Influences Purchase Intent
Physical & Digital Worlds
Become Fast Friends
Brands must use keywords to attract
local traffic. At a minimum, your site
should have your physical address and
phone number. Don’t smirk – you’d be
surprised how many marketers overlook
this and fail to include geographicallyspecific keywords in various
combinations.
There are numerous variables at play in a
consumer purchase decision, including the
immediacy of the consumer need, price and
degree of consideration typical in the product
category. Brands must produce great ad
creative, generate a compelling offer, show it
to the right audience and let them know
where they can buy the product locally.
Also, pay special attention to converting
visitors into buyers. A “contact us” form is
a nice way to give the public a way to
reach you online. But how do you juice
up your efforts to convert visitors into
leads? One way is to offer free,
downloadable how-to kits, guides or
worksheets with an eye toward becoming
a resource — a trusted advisor who can
help potential customers as they inch
toward a purchase decision.
In mobile and social, you’re talking about two
channels that overlap, but are also distinct
and used in different contexts. So your ad
creative needs to be both imaginative and
executed with precision. General principles of
reach and frequency apply to both channels,
but the ads must be worthy of attention and
engagement. Video is a great option too
because you can modify TV spots and push
them across social and mobile landing pages.
One of the biggest challenges within large
brand organizations is breaking down silos.
Macy’s has the right approach to the
omnichannel challenge by building seamless
shopping experiences for customers. As
marketers, we need to realize that
regardless of the product, consumers are
now in control and have more choices than
ever before.
5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
It’s the norm, not the exception, for huge
amounts of promotional content to pour in
across all channels. That’s reframed the
purchase path from a linear shape to more
of a pretzel, where the digital and physical
retail worlds intertwine.
Remember, shoppers don’t
have a channel strategy;
they’re just shopping.
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CONCLUSION
There is a huge opportunity to connect with consumers in 2015
through local marketing. In truth, that’s probably said at the
beginning of every year, but the difference about what you have at
your disposal as marketers right now is the ability to move away
from mass messaging toward more refined, hyper-personal
relevant messages — across channels and devices. With the rise
of programmatic buying and content, which drive down costs and
increase efficiencies, local marketing will become the norm.
That requires thinking first about how consumers interact with your
brand locally. Most consumers have a smartphone within arm’s
reach at all times and a thousand rival offers are just one click
away. This means that from the top down and across your
organization — whether you’re a CMO or a UX designer — you
should consider real-life shopping behaviors when deciding how to
connect with your audiences in the most meaningful ways.
Think differently about the definition of “local.” It’s more than a
component of geography. It’s the seamless execution between
multiple environments and then back again. It’s engaging online
and then tracking that behavior to the sales transactions at a
brick-and-mortar store. These truths will emerge more prominently
in the coming months as you continue to make the customer
experience the central component of every single marketing
decision you make.
The opportunity for brands at this moment is a
chance to beat the competition and drive steady
streams of revenue at every touch point.
5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
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THE G/O DIGITAL VISION: To Transform Local Marketing and #WinLocal
For Local Businesses, G/O Digital, a Gannett company, is a one-stop shop for local businesses looking to connect with consumers through digital
marketing, from search to social and everything in between. For National Brands and Agencies, G/O Digital delivers local digital activation at
national scale with push-button simplicity powered by G/O Digital brands Shoplocal, BLiNQ Media and Key Ring.
G/O Digital partners with more than 5,000 of the nation’s top brands and retailers, including P&G, Target, Walmart and Walgreens and leads digital
marketing programs with thousands of local businesses across more than 110 local markets.
For more information, visit: www.godigitalmarketing.com
For Corporate Communications & PR:
For Product/Brand Marketing:
Ragini Bhalla
Donna August
Director of Public Relations & Content
G/O Digital, A Gannett Company (GCI)
T: (312) 216-1423 | E: [email protected]
Senior Director, Product & Brand Marketing
G/O Digital, A Gannett Company (GCI)
T: (312) 768-7501 | E: [email protected]
CONNECT WITH US:
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5 Trends Redefining Local Marketing
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