- Half of ALL local marketing spending will be digital in 2016
Borrell Research is out with its 2016 forecast, and it’s a big one. According to the forecast, more than 50% of ALL local marketing budget will be devoted to digital. And online ad spending looks to jump by 37%! Are you ready?
Overall, SMB’s will be increasing their ad budgets in 2016. (If you are a media seller, are you hearing the same thing?) What digital channels are seeing the greatest interest? Social for one, more an more local businesses are seeing social as a lead-gen tool. What does this mean if you are an SMB? It means that half of your budget is likely going to be devoted to media that may not be locally grown, and you’ll need to invest this budget with some expertise. What does this mean to local marketing service providers? It means that you should be busier than ever focusing your consultancy skills in helping customers execute campaigns with emerging platforms. You must know emerging trends and media, and be ready to be the expert, (or bring in your local expert) to help local customers. Here’s more on the 2016 forecast @ MediaPost.com, Jan. 14.
- Good search results educate, communicate, as much as they sell stuff
Lawyers have to use the web to market their services, right? Or at least that is what we are hearing today in 2016. But if you are a lawyer, do you really expect an immediate response from a ready-to-pay client that wants to pay you NOW? You’ve used the web, you know how this works, those in the legal profession, just like many businesses, use digital channels because they reach so many people. But this doesn’t mean that everything on the web is designed to sell something, NOW!
Lawyers, again just like many other business categories, need to raise interest in the services they provide. They really want to generate interest and questions with their digital marketing. Getting the phone to ring to start a conversation is a key goal for these professions. So are conversations begun and supported via social media.
If you are a marketing services provider, make sure you know what your client is trying to achieve when he/she is engaging in a digital marketing campaign. And make sure the campaign supports the conversion goal. And if you are in the legal profession, make sure your marketing provider understands your expectations and your goals. Want to read more about what a real lawyer things about digital marketing? Check out BestTheNews.com, Jan. 16.
- Making search work for every-day, local businesses
In 2016, local businesses want to improve their visibility, and be found more often when people are looking. If you’re a marketing pro, you think, “that means I can sell more stuff to my local customers.” If you are a local business, however,, it really means that you’ve got to clean up your act and have a comprehensive strategy that will accomplish your goals. And top-level marketing pro’s know this as well. If you are really helping your local business, you’ll gladly help them identify things “they” can do while you are providing great media solutions. For a list of 10 things that local businesses should be doing in 2016, check out StreetFightMag, Jan. 1
- Are local businesses making the best use of their listings online?
The answer to that question, unfortunately, is no. In fact while 25% of businesses shift their hours of operation at times, only 1% of businesses go to the trouble of changing the hours on their Google+ listing. The holidays provided evidence of this to many of us. While a number of businesses expanded their hours of operation during the holidays to take advantage of shoppers, not many of the same businesses posted the expanded hours on their listing visible on Google search. As a result, searches might have included CLOSED when the business was actually open. Google did go to the trouble to let everyone know that holiday hours may be different, but local businesses have it in their power to be pro-active. As a marketing services provider, this is something you should be aware of and provide guidance. If you are an SMB, this is a great tool that will provide greater visibility and more information to online searchers. If you want to learn more of this tool that can help local businesses improve the value of their listings, you can find it @StreetFightMag, Jan. 13.
- Online display advertising surpasses search in 2016
This is a trend that has been coming for a while. And it’s fueled by sophisticated targeting, programmatic, social channels and video. What does this mean to local marketing service providers? It means that you need to know inventory and how to make best use of targeting for display. And if you’re a local business, it doesn’t mean you should kill your search campaign. It does mean that the targeting capabilities, video and social platforms offer new ways for you to aggregate and reach your audience. Here’s more @ eMarketer.com, Jan. 11.
The Local Strategist 