Written By Reprise Media | September 27, 2005 | Share This |

Let’s face it: local search rocks. So why isn’t it catching on?
The OMMA Conference Track I just attended attempted to provide some explanation as to why local continues to lag (say that three times fast).
David Berkowitz, Director of Marketing for Unicast was the Moderator. Other panel members in attendance included Bill Wise, CEO, Did-it.com; Ross […]

Let’s face it: local search rocks. So why isn’t it catching on?

The OMMA Conference Track I just attended attempted to provide some explanation as to why local continues to lag (say that three times fast).

David Berkowitz, Director of Marketing for Unicast was the Moderator. Other panel members in attendance included Bill Wise, CEO, Did-it.com; Ross Weinstein, Senior Business Development Manager, Ingenio; Neg Norton, President, Yellow Pages Association; and Susie Kang, SVP, Whitepages.com Network.

The panel opened with each member giving what they view as the chief barriers to local search adoption:

Bill Wise, CEO, Did-it.com was up first. He believes search marketers have been trained to focus on a sort of inverted pyramid, whereby 86% of the market exists within the top 5 listings. The local market is much more fragmented and this makes it harder for the little guy to compete. SEMs must figure out how to monetize the local market more effectively.

Ross Weinstein, Senior Business Development Manager, Ingenio spoke next. He agrees with Bill on the need for an approach that takes into account the fragmented nature of the local market. Finding the right types of sites to support local advertisers is also key. National advertisers are most often the early adopters, whereas local advertisers have more of an internal resistance and are looking for a trusted source.

Neg Norton, President, Yellow Pages Association knows a lot about trusted sources, being from an advertising staple like the Big Yellow Book. Neg said that an increased focus on leveraging and maintaining local relationships is what makes the Yellow Pages so relevant right now and what’s ultimately going to help local succeed.

Susie Kang, SVP, Whitepages.com Network spoke last. She reminded the audience that local is important but it’s also a good idea to look beyond the traditional paradigm to other opportunities. For instance, her company is also looking at residential opportunities, including geotargeting via zip code, DMA, and IP address.

The panel closed with a brief Q&A and a look at where local’s going next (in a word - mobile).

All in all a great session with some smart questions from the audience. Way to go, guys.

Topics: Conferences & Events |