Going LOCO for Local

Author:
George Assimakopoulos
Managing Director

Media buyers and planners reported spending 18 percent of their clients' online display ad budgets on local media, including Web sites of local TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers. In the first two quarters of 2006, executives said they spent just 13 percent of display budgets at local sites.

Jupiter Research recently announced that U.S. spending for online local advertising grew 26% to $3.2 billion in 2005, and will continue to grow 11% compounded annually, to $5.3 billion in 2010. The report, "U.S. Local Online Advertising Forecast, 2005 to 2010," points out that classifieds will continue to comprise almost 70% of that total throughout the forecast period.

Jupiter Research Senior Analyst, Gary Stein, said "Local, service-based companies will lead the second wave of online local spending... if they are offered ad models that make sense for them. Pay-per-click doesn't make a lot of sense if you don't value your site as a source of leads."

Rule To Remember: Small to Mid-size companies will look to deepen their competitive footprint in their respective markets by focusing their advertising dollars locally. Site properties that embrace this early - and offer a suite of PPC campaign support tools such as metrics and behavioral targeting options - will be considered as pioneers in local marketing channels. Soon, it will not matter how big or small a site's traffic volume is. What will matter is how "engaged" are the eyeballs on that site.