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8 White-Hot Trends Lift Local Search in ‘08 - Search Engine Watch

Michael Boland has a very good post at Search Engine Land regarding trends in local online marketing for 2008.

He’s hit on several items that I agree with, particularly that local video will grow in importance. 

Check out how Weblistic is embedding video into business profile pages. 

Weblistic runs a header on top of the proxy version of the advertiser’s site and includes the video.

Here’s an example of Weblistic’s video profile page for a local auto repair facility.

I agree that sales will win the battle, and that Yellow Pages organizations have the leg up.

Like Mike, I am less enthusiastic about 3D mapping as it pertains to local online marketing.

Full disclosure:  I work at weblistic, and stand to reap significant rewards from the company’s success with local online marketing.

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I actually think that this was a newspaper ad. So sue me.

Folks, it’s Friday, and that means fun.

Here’s a little gem brought to you by the fine folks formerly known as Verizon Superpages.

Sometimes the simplest message is the most effective.

Note, this works because Mr. Clean has a well established brand.

Branding is more important than ever.

A recruitment firm in Denmark uses adhesive advertisements on ATMs (and other public vending machines) to capture attention for their website.

Very clever indeed.   It’s an inexpensive way to get people talking about you.
Plus, previously empty space becomes a powerful medium.

I’m a serious fan of the conferences put on by the Kelsey Group, and ahve attributed much of my success to connections that were made or strengthened by attending.

The programs are filled with top drawer speakers, but for me, the benefit is the networking time with the Presidents, CEOs and Senior VPs of the top companies in local media.

Check out the discount rates for early registration.

From a bus stop . . .

Don’t know the location or exactly what’s being advertised.  Some sort of music or radio appealing to urban youth.

The URL looks like it may be in Brazil.

Almost makes me want to take the bus.

“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”

This is from a New Yorker cartoon published July 5, 1993 created by Peter Steiner.

Perhaps that’s why the good old printed Yellow Pages still ranks as one of the most trusted sources of local advertising.

A report published by the Yellow Pages Association from Forrester Research found that Americans trust printed Yellow Pages above all other local media.

It also found that Yellow Pages advertising is nearly as trustworthy as user reviews.

I get asked all the time by clients if they should totally withdraw from the phone book. I always recommend that they DO NOT CANCEL their Yellow Pages advertising unless they’ve done the following:

1. Hire a great ad designer. Do not rely on the publisher’s art team to create your ad. Ad designers are increasingly stressed, and many of them work in India and Pakistan. A great Yellow Pages ad designer is worth ten times the cost of the ad production. I have links to several on my website, but I consider Robert Gould of ImageOne (a link to his children’s book site) to be without peer.

2. Track your ads using call measurement services. The cost is negligible and it’s the only way to truly tell how well your ads are performing. If you can’t find a call measurement service provider, email me, and I’ll hook you up. To learn more about these services, watch this free recorded webinar with CallSource.
3. Negotiate like hell. The Yellow Pages publishers are under extreme pressure to deliver revenue, and there has never been a better time to negotiate rates. For practice negotiating, stand in front of a mirror and say, “No” until your tongue bleeds. I think Harvey McKay came up with that line.

Here’s a great shot from an ad at the World Cup. Can’t help but think this might be photoshopped.

Levis’ is pretty conservative, but this is the type of guerrilla marketing that would get millions of dollars in free publicity.

Look, America’s Funniest Home Videos is a US TV show that has run for a decade showing people falling down and taking crotch shots. High brow? No. Ratings? You betcha!

Elephants use urine as Yellow Pages : US World

Earth Times reports that Scottish researchers have found that elephants leave trails of urine which create a “directory” so that friends and relatives can keep track of each other.

They are able to track up to 30 “friends” by smelling trails of urine.

I suppose that it’s a pachyderm version  MySpace and FaceBook.

Let your fingers do the walking (but wash your hands after)
 

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