There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about The Local Web — and the theoretical opportunity to make money out of online advertising servicing the needs of local businesses. Of course, there is the minor problem that there isn’t necessarily enough potential revenue to support the cost of selling and servicing localised online advertising, except in the largest towns and cities …

Enter Google with its newest offering, Local Listing Ads, currently on beta-test in San Francisco and San Diego. It’s a really significant marketing development, especially for small businesses and local retailers.

What’s Unique About “Local Listing Ads”?

1. They’re flat rate, unlike most other Google ad offerings. Greg Sterling of Search Engine Land reports that “The ads are priced on a flat-fee basis (but prices vary by market and category). Google would not disclose the range, but I believe they begin at $20 per month and may go up to $200 or more dollars. But they’re experimenting with pricing. The first month is free”.
   This is a massive departure from Google — a whole new online marketing idea that removes the largest barrier for small business! The “science” required to master Google AdWords has been a game-killer for many entrepreneurs and business owners. In the real world — especially in tough economic times — who has the luxury of spending hours trawling through keywords and trying to make sense of the AdWords processes?
2. Pricing Courtesy You. PPC Blog picks up on an AdAge report that the Local Listing Ads fee is “set by Google and based on the average that similar businesses are paying for a given keyword in that market”. In other words, notes PPC, “Google is using your keywords and your bid prices to automate setting up accounts for competing businesses”.
3. They’re Self-Service. No need to invest in a hyperlocal sales force. The customer does all the work. But, actually, not much effort is required. Can you cope with typing up your name, address and credit card details?
4. No creative required. The Local Listing Ads will not carry any creative, just business name and contact details — and a web address. No need to worry about all that tiresome testing stuff.
5. Heck, no website required either. The URL in the ad can be directed to Google Place Pages. A Place Page is a webpage for every place in the world, organizing all the relevant information about it. By every place, Google really mean *every* place — there are Place Pages for businesses, points of interest, transit stations, neighborhoods, landmarks and cities all over the world.
6. The traffic numbers look really, really good. Over 80% of people already look to Google for local information, according to the search giant’s stats. It’s a compelling story for local businesses (and a substantial competitive advantage over other local online advertising resources).
7. They’re a whole new revenue stream for Google. These are new ad units that will appear both on Google.com in local results and in Google Maps. They’ll be in addition to, not in place of, AdWords. Check out the examples below.

As noted, Local Listing Ads are currently only available in San Diego and San Francisco. But expect them to roll out everywhere, sooner rather than later. If you’re a small business operator, this is a must-have addition to your marketing arsenal!

We cover Local Listing Ads (the implications, the opportunities and the competitive threat) in detail in the upcoming (November) issue of Marketing Rag — check out the story Google: Yellow Peril? [If you're not already receiving Michael Carney's Marketing Rag, subscribe here].

Want some free publicity? Donate your product or service to a Charity Auction (a live one, not an eBay event. That’s a topic for another day).

Tremendous, you say. Now the 3 organisers and the 25 people actually at the auction know about your product.

Well, guess what — your job doesn’t actually stop with the donation. Now you put some marketing grunt to work. Don’t rely on the organisers to do that task – believe us, they’ll welcome the help.

First, start well ahead of time, so you can make the various deadlines of the media you intend to approach.

Find yourself a tame commercial photographer – or an obliging local newspaper photographer – and get snapped handing over the widget.

Whatever your product, there’s a marketing angle that can be used – you’ve just got to find it.

• “Chemist donates cosmetics to spruce up Asthma Appeal”
• “Does 4 hours on a luxury boat sound tough?”
• “One fully-decorated Christmas tree, available to a good home. Presents not included.”

Now write some copy, identifying WHO, HOW, WHAT, WHEN and WHERE – focus on the charity, but get in some good licks for your product (and your organisation, if others sell the same product). This sort of thing:

“Next week’s Charity Auction for the Green Elephant Trust is going to be a blast, thanks to this replica Louis Armstrong BlueNote Trumpet donated by the KindHeart Music Store. The Auction, scheduled for 8pm at the etc etc etc ..”

OK. Job partly done. Now identify all the possible recipients of this press release – traditional and online versions of daily papers, community papers, local shoppers, local radio, local TV, what’s on guides, women’s mags, mall or library noticeboards, newsletters for affiliated charities, etc, etc. The magazines will have the longest deadlines, so approach them first.

If you have the time (& the skill), create different angles for different media. Make yourself available for interviews, if you can – just remember, it’s an interview about the Auction, not about your product.

Phone, fax, email, snailmail – get the press release in front of their eyes. Some will buckle under and print the thing, spelling your product name right.

Job done, for little cost (except your time). Then turn up at the Auction and pay silly money to buy your product back!

People from other cultures don’t necessarily see and do things the same way you do. That doesn’t make their customs, and ways of thinking, interacting, and doing business superior or inferior – just different.

Doing your homework is critical to selling your services in a new market, especially in today’s online environment – whether that market is around the globe or just elsewhere in your own country.

This means more than gathering competitive intelligence, establishing pricing, or determining client preferences. A solid knowledge of religion, politics, history, gender roles, business ethics, social institutions, humor and values will help you determine the value and role of your product or service in another culture. This creates an opportunity to more effectively market the benefits of your product/service, and to build rapport with potential clients. It can also help you avoid cultural blunders which may mean the difference between your success and failure.

Some of the cross-cultural issues you need to study:

• Know the ethnic, social, and class differences of your target market.
• Learn about the history, geography, and politics of your target market.
• Understand and develop a respect for religious differences.
• Learn about regional distinctions and disparities.
• Read/subscribe to international sources of news and info on your target market.
• Develop an understanding of your target market’s education system.
• Identify local resource people or cultural interpreters who can help familiarise you with the deep culture of your target market.
• Familiarise yourself with the popular culture of your target market.
• Compare what you’ve learned to your cultural perspectives.

Take a good look at all the products and services you currently use. Stationery – computers – couriers – potted plants – accounting services – whatever.

Happy with the product? Satisfied with the service?

Tell the suppliers.

But don’t just tell them on the phone or on email.

Write the most sizzlingly sensational testimonial you’ve ever given. Like this:

= / / =

“Dear Mr Black

“We are absolutely blown away by the service you folks gave us last Saturday. When we needed color copies produced urgently, for a major Widget Marketing presentation, your team came through big-time!

“For a business like ours, which is focussed on delivering top-drawer Widget Marketing Services, quality is essential. And, when it came to the crunch, your organization was up to the challenge.

“Thanks heaps.”

= / / =

Send the letter, unsolicited. And give them permission to use your testimonial in their advertising and  promotional efforts.

Why? Because every time they use your testimonial to endorse their products, they’re also putting your name in front of their customers or prospects.

Of course, you wrote the letter on your letterhead.

And, of course, your letterhead has enough compelling sales sizzle to promote your business on its own, right?

If not, it will. Right?

One of New Zealand’s leading luxury boat builders has taken advantage of the internet to help its customers “pop in” on the assembly line on a regular basis.

International customers obviously can’t just drop by and see how the boat-building is coming along – so photos of their boat are posted to the internet on a very regular basis, for them to take a look at progress. In at least one case, mistakes were detected and fixed thanks to this process. But the real advantage is the sense of ownership that the customers gain as a result. “That’s my boat, there’s Charlie, he’s working on the stern, he’s really good.” And, of course, they show the site to their friends, leading to referral sales.

How can you adapt this idea to your business? Even if you’re not doing custom-builds, perhaps you could make your resellers, agents and retailers feel part of the  process, by featuring your production facility in online photographs and videos, updated on a regular basis. “That’s Anna, and here she is putting together the order for Seattle, see?” They may be thousands of miles away, but you can bring them much closer through the world wide web …

We’re great believers in the philosophy that Ideas Are Everywhere — you just have to be open to them. We’ve long held to the theory that any publication, TV programme, website or direct mail piece can inspire your business, just with a little lateral thinking.

To put our theory to the test, we’ve grabbed the nearest media inspiration — in this case, a recent issue of the Central Property Press, a local real estate newspaper — and will start to go through it as you watch, identifying ideas and opportunities that come to us as a result.

1. The Front Cover features a stunning picture of a “For Sale” property, and lists the agent.
   *  Could you sponsor the front page of a trade magazine targeting your customers, and feature a sizzling shot of a benefit delivered by your product?
2. Actually, the publication has two front covers, one on the front and one (flipped over) on the back.
   *  Sponsor the Outside Back Cover of the magazine, and provide your own flipped-over Front Cover look.
3. The very first page of the publication – just inside the front cover – features a number of properties (naturally), one with a big SOLD BY WARREN FLEMING label over it.
   *  Tell your customers your success stories! In your next ad, pick a product and cover it over with a label which proclaims “We’ve SOLD more than 10,000 of these widgets in the last X months! Thanks everyone!”
4. Some of the properties have a web address, and an ID number to help you find them online.
   *  Does your website help or hinder your customers’ efforts to learn about your products? Consider creating a separate landing page for each product, and listing the page name in each product brochure or advertisement.
5. One of the property descriptions is what used to be called a “reader ad” – an ad that’s plain text, and looks like editorial.
   *  Like all of us, customers have more faith in editorial than in advertising. Do your products lend themselves to long, leisurely text-based descriptions, which can be placed in newspapers or magazines as “reader ads”, with the word “Advertisement” placed unobtrusively, in very small print, near the top of the ad?“
6. Final Notice For Tender” advises an advertisement for a new townhouse being developed, ready for occupation in December. The accompanying tender closing date confirms that tenders are about to close.
   *  Can you provide a sense of urgency for your product sales? “Last widgets before the price increase”,”only 5 left”, “60% sold”, etc? Customers usually need motivating to “buy now”, for you to close the sale.
7. One real-estate agency ad, though conforming to the general style of the publication, also notes “Latest Bluebook out now”– the Bluebook, being their own publication and featuring their listings exclusively.
   *  Is your product range extensive enough to support your own publication? Don’t call it a catalog, call it a magazine, and provide enough free editorial (related to your business) to give the publication intrinsic value in its own right (of course, your “magazine” may be electronic, not printed, depending on the computer habits of your prospects).
8. 30 real-estate agency listings crammed into one page – just 2 (much larger) agency listings on another page. Not all listings are created equal.
   *  Of course, property owners pay for these listings, so some may have been willing to pay more than others. But it brings up another idea. Major household leaflet users always track the sales of specific products listed in their fliers, and thus are able to predict the likelyfuture sales of similar items. As a result, they can estimate the likely revenues from their fliers, with significant accuracy. Can you do likewise?
9. A little ad for Property Press itself (a filler) tells us that Property Press is rated the top source of information.
   *  This ad is aimed at real estate agents and property sellers, not the buyers who are the primary readers of this mag. Do you take the time to do a little reinforcement to your resellers, agents and retailers, so that they remain happy to represent your interests?
10. The ads that stood out most, in the first half of the publication, were those with impeccable photography and few words. The agent chose to demonstrate the property and its emotive benefits, rather than babble on.
    *  Don’t talk too much.

So – 10 inspirations, from the first half of a most unlikely source. Do the same, with any unrelated publication or even website, as often as you can.

Inspiration favours the prepared mind.

Does this sound familiar?

“Asked to outline the most significant challenges facing them in their role as marketing manager the most frequently mentioned included:

• Forecasting the economic trend due to the global economic downturn;
• Retention/growth of market share or to increase sales;
• Competition and the ability to differentiate products or services from competitors;
• Retention of marketing budgets/funding;
• Devising new market strategies to increase sales/market share;
• Achieving targets with the fluctuating currency and impact on interest rates and imports/exports.”

That’s what 100 Australian senior marketers indicated when asked for their views on the year ahead, in a survey conducted in November 2001 by ACA Research.

We suspect the answers would have been largely the same in 1991 or even in 1971. They remain as relevant as ever today.

Are YOU ready for a prosperous but tough 2010?

Take an hour out of your day today, and spend 10 minutes on each of the six challenges that have the Australians so worried:

1. What impact is the global meltdown already having on your business? What new strategies can you put in place to reduce its impact? With which non-competing companies can you team up, to reverse the trend?
2. List 10 actions you can take to retain or improve your market share. Implement the first action TODAY, and commit to one new action every week. Add a note in your diary to review those actions every 3 weeks.
3. If this was “Survivor:Business”, would your company be voted off first? Could your clients, blindfolded, tell the difference between your products/services and those of your competitors? Could you? You have 60 days to fix that, as of NOW. Start by reading “Differentiate or Die” by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin – from your library or bookstore or online.
4. Must your marketing budgets be approved by others? Then get ready to protect those budgets, even if it takes a slambang, no-holds-barred, WWF-sanctioned battle royale. Do whatever it takes to hold the line.
5. The old sales channels are off-limits. Find new ones. Be inventive, be creative, be off-the-wall, be cranky.  Never sold widgets through gas stations? Now you must. Ten minutes to new markets.
6. Guess what? Economic turmoil is here to stay. Deal with it. Six solutions before lunch.

Feeling a bit more ready for 2010 now? Then do the same exercise next week.

Winston Churchill set down five rules for successful speechwriting, which are also perfectly suited to writing advertising, or blogs, or any piece of communications:

1. Begin strongly.
2. Have one theme.
3. Use simple language.
4. Leave a picture in the listener’s/reader’s mind.
5. End dramatically.

You’ve probably come across those folks online offering Million Dollar Bills, as a giveaway gimmick.

This ain’t about that.

This is about providing personalized Billion Dollar Bills.

If you have a bit of artistic skill – or can pay someone else who does – then you start by creating a facsimile Billion Dollar bill. For our US viewers, that’s $1,000,000,000. Our British viewers would expect a bill with 12 zeroes – $1,000,000,000,000. Your mileage may vary.

Of course, you include your URL, probably where it says “THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”.

That space in the centre where you might expect to see a former President? Leave it blank, but keep the border.

Then, as an incentive/reward for those who give you $X amount of business, offer to give them some change – a billion dollars worth.

Ask them to supply a photo, scanned to the right size, and then – using your artistic skills and a liberal dose of PhotoShop – integrate Billion Dollar Bill and their Photo.

Hey presto – instant collectible – at least for them. Send it to them electronically, they can print it out, email it, share it with their friends. Everyone will ask “where did you get that?” Result: motivated traffic.

Yes, you could do it without the personalizing – but then, who’d share it with their friends?