Local Search Marketing, Research and Studies:
Leading the Way
In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing local search marketing landscape, staying abreast of print, online and mobile media can be a challenging, time-consuming venture for businesses to handle on their own. To help you stay ahead of the competition, our marketing team scours the search industry on your behalf, reporting the latest media news and trends on our marketing blog.
In addition to our blog, we produce white papers on industry-leading proprietary research, as well as point-of-view papers on major trends and developments in search marketing. You can access these resources below, or read more about our annual local search usage study that explores year-over-year changes in consumer behaviors and media-usage trends.
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Local Search Marketing: Targeting Consumers in a Diverse Media Landscape | September 2009
Consumers today are scattered across a wide variety of media channels and are more selective of how they receive advertising, creating challenges for marketers to reach target audiences and receive positive returns on investment. Inundated by media and business choices, consumers search for local company information when specific needs arise or when they’re ready to make purchase decisions. How are consumers searching for local business information? Our annual local search study for 2009 looks at recent media usage trends across print, online and mobile platforms. The objectives of our study are to monitor the shifts in both consumer behavior and media selection within the framework of local search.
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POV: Monitoring Your Brand Through Social Media | September 2009
Social media usage continues to increase at staggering rates, causing many businesses to take notice and delve into this flourishing sector of digital marketing. If companies are on the fence about adopting social media marketing, they need to understand that not every platform works for every company. Each social media tool is unique in its own way, and businesses can be matched to the best solution to meet their specific needs. Even less-participatory platforms exist that can help create a better online presence, monitor brand perception, build brand awareness and promote consumer engagement.
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Yahoo! and Bing Search Marketing Partnership: The Paid Search Perspective | August 2009
In July 2009, a long-awaited partnership between Yahoo! and Microsoft was announced. The two companies will join their search engine platforms to better compete against market share leader Google. Under this partnership, Yahoo! is projected to become the media sales and marketing arm of the organization. Yahoo! will also continue to build its advertising networks, including paid search, local and mobile properties. Microsoft’s Bing is projected to lead the technology division and become the search functionality within Yahoo! TMP Directional Marketing provides a local search marketing perspective on this business partnership to help clients assess how the changes will affect them.
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POV: National/Local IYP Strategies | May 2009
Companies that embark upon both national and local Internet Yellow Pages strategies generally reap the greatest rewards. National placements ensure complete brand coverage and recognition for a positive ROI, yet local placements can complement a national campaign. Market-specific IYP strategies allow consumers to find the most relevant information for their area and increase the potential for customers to contact their local service providers without jeopardizing competition for the brand at the national level.
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POV: Google Trademark Changes | May 2009
Search engine leader Google adjusted its trademark policy, effective May 18, 2009. At that time, looser policies made it unnecessary to seek permission to use trademarked text from certain advertisements, regardless of the holders’ policies. This means that companies can use and bid on competitors’ brand names for their online ads to draw business within the trademarked space. Download this market research study for more information.
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POV: Yellow Pages Directory Usage | April 2009
TMPDM analyzed the top three Yellow Pages directory usage studies — M/A/R/C Research, Knowledge Network/SRI’s Yellow Pages Market Reporter (YPMR) and Directory Share Ratings (DSR). Based on DSR’s usage methodology, TMPDM has developed a proprietary model called Directory Overall Value Estimator (DOVE) to coincide with quarterly updates by DSR. DOVE utilizes DSR’s ZIP-code-level data, along with population-data analyses, to ensure usage numbers are accurately represented across directory types.
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POV: Advertising in a Down Economy | April 2009
In 2009, advertising revenues from nearly every sector are projected to decline, compared to statistics from 2008. Print media (newspapers, magazines and Yellow Pages) and radio are expected to decrease by at least nine percent each; however, online marketing should show growth. In 2009, the online sector will improve by 2.7 percent, with most of that growth coming from search and display. Read this market study to learn how these projections could affect your future search marketing strategies.
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Local Search Mediums: The Need for an Integrated Media Mix | December 2008
In 1966, only six media platforms existed; by 1986, there were 12 different ones. Today’s consumers have more options than ever before, as more than 30 different sources comprise the media landscape. It is crucial for businesses today to implement a truly relevant and integrated media mix, yet a multiple-media approach can leave companies wondering how consumers are searching for them. TMP Directional Marketing released this market research to provide a local search marketing perspective on integrated media solutions.
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Local Search Marketing in a Multi-Tasking World | November 2008
Over the past five years, reaching and engaging target audiences have become complicated tasks for advertisers. Consumers are more distracted, less engaged and more in control of their media choices than ever before. Gone are the days of buying one ad to garner 80 percent consumer reach, so marketers today need a balanced mix of media. They also require media strategies that will focus their marketing message on a highly specific audience within a target market to achieve a positive ROI. This annual local search study explains how companies can benefit from a multi-media approach to local search marketing.
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POV: Say Goodbye to Yellow Pages? Or Maybe Not. | August 2008
Recently published articles and reports continue to question the stability of the Yellow Pages industry. Research firms and analysts have released varying forecasts regarding the decline in print Yellow Pages revenue. In this market study, TMP Directional Marketing compares the most recent forecasts to our perspective on the changing media landscape.
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POV: Yellow Pages Directory Usage Studies | July 2008
Just as television relies on Nielsen ratings as a measurement system, the Yellow Pages industry has its own measurement standards for determining usage. Directory Share Ratings by DSR and Yellow Pages Market Reporter by Knowledge Networks/SRI currently provide usage data to Yellow Pages industry subscribers. As a subscriber to these Yellow Pages directory usage reports, TMP Directional Marketing examines each methodology with the goal of determining the most credible, complete and comparable source, compared to other mass media research within the industry today.
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Paid Inclusion | July 2008
Paid inclusion programs can be a component of an overall search marketing strategy matrix. Paid inclusion programs allow sites to submit specific pages directly into online properties for immediate inclusion consideration (as opposed to waiting for specific site pages to be crawled by an engine’s spider). Inclusion within an engine’s index or database can take some time if the site is not properly optimized or frequently crawled. This option is a means to guarantee that a particular site page will be indexed.
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Local Search Ad Supported Directory Assistance | June 2008
Consumers are more mobile than ever before. In fact, an estimated 12 million households currently have mobile-only phone connections, and that number is projected to double to 26 million by 2012. Along with this shift toward mobile media has come an increase in the use of services such as directory assistance from mobile phones. In fact, according to Nielsen Mobile, directory assistance was the most popular mobile search format used among mobile users by the end of 2007. This market research suggests that mobile marketing is a prominent player in the local search marketing arena.
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Paid Search Marketing Quality Score Index | May 2008
In the past, paid search marketing was an environment in which advertisers placed bids based on the results positioning they wanted to achieve. As a result, concern mounted over the relevancy of listings, particularly paid listings. In an effort to build a more relevant experience for users and to reward advertisers for highly relevant keywords, search engines took action. On a frequent basis, TMP Directional Marketing provides in-depth analysis on the quality score index and its impact on paid search marketing.
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Local Search Ratings & Reviews | December 2007
The Internet has transformed how consumers share information about their experiences with business products and services. What was once communicated through face-to-face interaction is now broadcast through various Web-based, social media channels such as consumer-generated content: ratings and reviews. User-generated content is impacting local search marketing strategies by causing businesses to adopt social marketing for the monitoring of brand perception.
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Branded Keyword Placements through SEM | September 2007
As a local search agency, the issue of branded keyword placement is one that we often face from our clients. Our position is that branded terms absolutely need to be a part of the SEM mix. They form an integral part of the search purchase process and a branding component of SEM. This market study explains TMP Directional Marketing’s approach to branded keyword placement as affecting search marketing.
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Utilizing Social Media for Link Building | June 2007
Links from social media properties are relatively easy to obtain, fairly easy to manage, highly customizable and followed by many search engines. This means that social sites provide great opportunities for building the type of links that search engines desire, which is a major component in improving off-site, organic search engine optimization.
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POV: The Pros and Cons of Sub Domains | June 2007
In this market study, TMP Directional Marketing’s SEO team analyzed market studies to determine when and why you should use multiple sub domains for your website.
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Local Search — Wondering What’s Below the Surface? | June 2007
Businesses need consumers who want their products and services, while consumers are interested in finding a business that suits their needs. This cycle of give and take can be smooth and flawless if a business understands where and how consumers are searching. What sources do consumers consult first? What are the different reasons for consumers starting the shopping process offline versus online, or via a search engine compared to a print Yellow Pages directory? Do the sources consumers turn to change depending on their needs? This study has the answers.
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