Archive for April, 2010

Search By Voice Improves Local Mobile Map Search

Friday, April 30th, 2010

So Google Maps has now made use of the phone part of the smartphone. When your customers are looking for somewhere local to stop and pick something up, they can find you quickly and easily.

They can just use the Search by Voice for maps and directions on the Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones. Google’s Search by Voice has been in use in various and sundry Google functions for the past two years. Now it’s good for safer directions.

Search by Voice for Maps just made local advertising that much more local. Google Maps 4.1 has a voice search that lets certain mobile phone users call up a company’s location map by business category or name, place and addresses. For the true map hound, you can even search by latitude and longitude.

If it sounds like the same type of mobile map search your customers have been using, you’re right. But now they can use it to find your business while they’re driving around town and speaking out loud.

Now, some people struggle with voice software because they have a bit of an accent. This is where the preference menu comes in handy. It allows for different languages, including various English accents.

So for businesses in the South, where it is sometimes difficult for people in the same town to understand each other, voice searches for maps will probably still work. Although drivers still need to manually bring up the mobile search voice menu, it reduces the amount of time and lack of attention spent on mobile search. In time, other smartphones will be capable of the same technology. Until then, keep in mind that mobile search – by voice or by hand – is the up-and-coming means of finding your local business for people on the go.

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Advertising an Advertising Conference on TV: Why Not?

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

When we think of television ads, we usually think of advertisements for products like food, clothing, hair care products or the ever-popular pharmaceuticals. For local spots, the restaurants and car dealerships tend to throw their hats in the ring to drum up business. But when was the last time you saw an ad on TV for a New York Ad conference? Ever?

Hats off to Affiliate Summit East 2010 for hitting the airwaves with its August 15-17 summer affiliate marketing conference commercial. It shows the effectiveness of local advertising in the New York area, one of the cities where it airs overnight. What better way for a marketing company to sell the concept of TV ad campaigns than to run one of their own? It even gives a discount code at the end of the spot so they can track just how effective their commercial is – or isn’t.

It can’t be too off the mark. In 2003 they had 200 people show up. Last count was more than 4,000. On a more local level, it might be time for those who are not in the normal TV niche market to give it a try.

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When Does Local Stop Being Local?

Friday, April 16th, 2010

How does a newspaper’s location affect local advertising? Just ask The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As of next week, it will no longer be in Atlanta. The newspaper is moving to Dunwoody, Ga. not at its Marietta Street location where it has been since the Civil War. The newspaper is moving out beyond what any self-respecting Atlantan calls Atlanta. They refer to it as OTP, outside the perimeter. It’s not in the city anymore.

No, the newspaper is not changing its name to The Dunwoody Journal-Constitution. But it begs the question advertisers must ask. Will this move affect their local advertising campaigns? Will the newspaper lose readership because it has moved to suburbia and is no longer in the city? The newspaper has made several changes in the past few years. This is just one more.

The newspaper’s line is that it will not have any change in its news coverage, only in publishing and operating costs. While the news staff has been cut dramatically over the past year, the newspaper’s owner, Cox Newspapers, may be simply making its advertising dollars stretch even more.

For the local advertiser, the only change that should be seen is if the readership drops. Will anyone really notice, or much less care about where the employees drive to every day? Not likely, but still debatable.

Newspaper advertising works well in many industries, despite the forum’s slow decline in readership over the years. It is still successful, especially for coupons and local marketing. Although it will be interesting to see the statistics at the end of the year, as long as people are still getting their news – and their newspapers – they will still get their advertisements. The practical thought is that the effect of local advertising in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will probably not change. If anything, its little boost in the news at moving might even bring it a little more business. And that’s got to be good for the local advertiser.

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Online Advertising Revenues Reach Record High

Friday, April 9th, 2010

The possibilities of marketing on the internet are certainly global, and the potential audiences are unlimited. However, with the increasing amount of resources available online and the increasing amount of time people are spending online, even local businesses are finding that and online marketing presence is absolutely crucial. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau’s recent report, online advertising revenues reached a record quarterly high of $6.3 billion at the end of this past quarter.

While print advertisements and traditional media outlets are still important for local business marketing, businesses need to reach their customers where they are, and they are online. Compared to traditional broadcast and print media, 17% of ad budgets were allocated to the web, which has risen from 8% in 2008. This is a number that has been increasing over the past several years, proving that the Internet is a more significant part of ad budgets and marketing plans than ever before.

One of the most traditional fundamentals of online advertising is search, which garners 47% of the money spent towards ads online. Digital video advertising, however, saw the most growth between 2008 and 2009, climbing by almost 39%.  The report also suggested that local online advertising would grow by 31% and local paid search could increase by 86%. Whether the numbers prove to be that drastic or not, one thing is for sure – any business, whether local or otherwise, will find their customers most easily online.

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