Brand Automation for Local Activation

Connecting Customer Engagement Into Measureable Local Strategies

Program Details

Overview
Background
Research
Resources

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Overview

Leveraging technologies and applying a comprehensive, connected localization strategy is critical for businesses spread across large distributed networks, those with complex channel distribution networks and for any organization that must make the customer experience span both online, mobile, social and brick and mortar engagements.

Consider the latest data on the impact of localization strategies on business, behavior and outcomes. According to the US State Department, US firms loose $50 billion in potential sales because of problems with translation and localization. ComScore states that 90 percent of online commercial searches result in an offline purchase. Data from Google indicates that 61 percent of local searches on a mobile phone result in a phone call. And according to the DMA, 80 percent of household budgets are spent within 50 miles of the home.

So it is even more confusing that in the CMO Council’s study, “Localize to Optimize”, that as nearly one out of four marketers is spending over 50 percent of budgets on local programs and promotions, a staggering 61 percent are not tracking the impact of national advertising on a local level. And as 49 percent of the respondents agree that localized marketing is critical to business growth, only 30 percent have embraced localization automation tools or platforms.

Most telling of the localization shortcomings emerge in the CMO Council’s study, “Greater Gains From Digital Campaigns”, in which 49 percent of marketers admit that, on average, localized marketing campaigns are deployed between 4 – 20 days after the deployment of the initial global campaign. A staggering 20 percent of the marketers surveyed have launch cycles in excess of 30 days.

Marketers are struggling to maintain brand image and consistency across complex networks, challenged to roll out global campaigns across multi-national or multi-lingual localized campaigns, and are at a loss as to how to measure the impact and effectiveness of these campaigns. Those who have adopted content management programs in an effort to standardize materials often find that the stringent guidelines do not allow for the level of personalization and localization needed to most effectively impact a local market. These systems have also fallen short in effectively measuring and monitoring spend, adoption, value and reach.

So how can marketers more effectively activate local customers to either engage with a local store, vendor, partner or even individual agent? What are the required channels, measures and resources that combine to create a comprehensive strategy to optimize customer activation?

Research: Reports

Report

Feb 20, 2013

Brand Automation for Local Activation

This in-depth analysis reveals that even in the face of constrained budgets and overly taxed resources, marketers are optimistic that through improved targeting, relevance and measurement, optimization is possible, even at the most local, one-to-one customer level. However, to maintain brand image and effectively impact the bottom line, marketers will need to rethink the people and processes that connect local sales activation across their often vast and complex sales networks. ... More

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Facts & Stats

Location-enabled mobile devices have changed the definition of local marketing for national brands looking to be more locally relevant in 2013. However, at the moment, mobile is very much underutilized by national brands for local marketing. Digiday

National brands are betting big on local marketing, with 91 percent of those surveyed expecting to up their investment on digital local marketing in 2013. Digiday

50 percent of mobile users look up the location of a business using their device. 39 percent of these people will move on to click-to-call the business and 48 percent download driving directorions to visit the store. Digiday

Companies that focus on integrated processes for local marketing enablement will increase revenue by 15-20% by 2015. Chief Marketer

Only 22.6% of respondents are currently using local search registration and only 19.5% ranked it as a priority for 2013. Larger national brands are using a wider mix of digital tactics than smaller national brands. Chief Marketer

The local industry is projected to grow from $2.7 billion in 2011 to over $42.5 billion in 2015. Huffington Post

LocalVox, a local, social, and mobile marketing platform, just announced an impressive $7.4 million raised in Series A funding, meaning investors aren't blind to the opportunities presented by the local marketing industry. Huffington Post

Consumers see between 300 and 5,000 messages a day, depending on whose numbers you believe. bluewater

94% - The number of Smartphone users who have searched for local information. 70% - The number of Smartphone users who called businesses after searching. Marketing Pilgrim

Mobile applications are driving the bulk of engagement. 81.5% - The number of smartphone users who spend time using mobile apps. 18.5% - The number of smartphone users who spend time using mobile Web browsers. If it's in your power to build a useful app around your business, do it because that app percentage isn't going to get any smaller. Marketing Pilgrim

The Showrooming Effect: 50% of Smartphone users have used their phones to "assist" while shopping in-store. 37% of smartphone users have researched a product or pricing before purchasing in-store. 35% of smartphone users intentionally bring their devices to research prices and reviews while shopping. Marketing Land

Only 48% of retailers have mobile-optimized websites. Marketing Land

Mobile payments are about the extra value that can create a direct link between brands and consumers. That's the direction being taken by Passbook, which sidestepped payments to start with coupons, loyalty rewards, and ticketing. Business Insider

Commerce has always struggled with two basic challenges - increasing consumer traffic and influencing shopping decisions just as the consumer's about to buy. With location targeting, shoppers can be enticed into stores for items they're in the market for. With in-store mobile marketing, an indecisive consumer can be nudged towards a specific brand or product. Business Insider

The vast majority of national brands (88%) in North America are investing some portion of their budgets in local marketing. Balihoo

Larger national brands ($1 billion+ revenue) are 49% more likely to invest in local marketing than smaller national brands ($100-250 million revenue). Balihoo

We will see 1 billion smartphones sold in 2015, with a further 350 million media tablets sold by that time (as a point of comparison it looks like worldwide PC sales will be under 400 million units this year). Gartner

Facebook says that 40% of its active users, or 400 million people, currently use mobile devices to access the site; Twitter says that half of all usage of its site comes from smartphones. Gartner

Location-based services will be generating revenues of $13.5 billion by 2015, driven by navigation and location search, as well as friend-finding apps that link into social networking features. Gartner

By 2015 mobile ads will account for only 4% of all ad expenditures — although that’s still good compared to less than 1% today. That works out to a value of $20.6 billion — a 12-fold increase compared to today. Gartner

55% of people use their mobile phone to access social networks. Most of those on Facebook. Forbes

82.2 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending July 2011, up 10 percent from the preceding three-month period. Fry Hammond Barr

The combination of utility, portability and increasingly social connectivity is reflected in the intensely personal relationship that we have with our mobile devices. Fry Hammond Barr