ReachLocal Blog: Online Marketing to Reach Local Customers

ReachLocal Reviews: Online Marketing Drives Results for Schools and Universities [Videos]

At ReachLocal, we’re proud and excited to help local businesses of all types, and recently, we’ve seen many successes from the education industry – from universities, to financial training companies, to cosmetology schools.   Watch some of our latest video testimonials to discover results these clients have achieved with ReachLocal online marketing.

Business college uses Web marketing to reach out to student community.

"I would definitely recommend ReachLocal to another business, and I already have, because the results have been tremendous. To have our leads double in just a year's time; those results are undeniable." -Amanda Artim, Director of Admissions

University gets more prospective students through online advertising.

"Right now we're running display, we're running Facebook ads, we're doing keyword search, and all those things together, we're seeing huge results. They have a great product, and I have great support." -David Matayoshi, Communications & Marketing

Financial training company sees increase in sales from search engine advertising.

“Using ReachSearch has helped us acquire more students online, mainly through the more effective use of our dollars. As we’ve grown our campaign, we’ve been able to expand it into some other metro areas, which has resulted in an increase in sales.” – Al Riddick, Business Development and Client Services

Cosmetic school receives calls, walk-ins, and form submissions from search engine advertising.

"We have several walk-ins per day saying that they found us online for make-up schools on Google. We actually monitor the amount of forms that are submitted through our online advertising. We have several new phone calls throughout the day, students saying they found us online. We're very happy about that."  -Ruby Polanco, Owner

To see what other clients are saying about ReachLocal, visit reachlocal.com/reviews or our check out our ReachLocal reviews playlist on YouTube.

Tamara Weintraub helps equip small business owners with information about local online advertising, social media, and content marketing as a writer for the ReachLocal blog.

The Facebook Timeline Switch: A Checklist for Small Business Brands

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Well, not exactly, but it is the end of how small businesses have come to know their Facebook brand pages. On March 30, Facebook will automatically update all brand pages to the new “Timeline” layout, whether the brand page is optimized for transition or not. But, unlike the anticipation for Y2K (what a bust!), preparing a Facebook page for the Timeline switch can be done in just a few steps with our Facebook Timeline Checklist.

• A Guide to Facebook Timeline for Small Business Brands
• 7 Ways to Reward Your Facebook & Twitter Followers
• Facebook Facts: What's An Average Day on Facebook?

Interactive Marketing Insights from SXSW 2012

At this year’s South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, TX, thousands of marketers, developers, and digital strategists met for a marathon of learning sessions, networking opportunities, and glimpses into what brands from large to small are doing in the digital realm.

On Saturday, we were excited to kick off the week with ReachLocal’s own Mike Merrill and Tiffany Monhollon speaking to a standing-room only crowd about local marketing. The session, titled “Your Marketing Sucks: Why You Need to Think Local,” offered 10 practical tips that marketers – from independent local businesses to large, national brands – can use to incorporate local into their online marketing strategy. Here are some of the top tweets and highlights that attendees shared from the session:  

• “So simple - we are all local. We live somewhere, so #market to us there w/ an integrated strategy.” – Amy Daniels, amedaniels
   
•  “Search engines are the number 1 source of online information on local businesses for local consumers. Requires strategy.” – Evan Schmidt, @e_sosh
   
•  “45% of marketers not geo-modifying their paid search = local fail.” – Steve Agganis, @sagganis
   
•  “88% of those who look for local info on a smartphone take action within a day.” – LindsayVaughn, @lindsayvaughn
   
•  “More and more search has local intent. Are you thinking about that in your marketing?” – Victoria Harres, @victoriaharres
   
•  “67% consumers would not purchase a product/service after reading 1-3 negative reviews” – Elysa Rice, @elysa
   
•  “Host events to invite local influencers and get to know them”  – Andrea Dunbeck, @acdunbeck
   
•  “Local marketing includes local reputation management/monitoring” – Andrea Dunbeck, @acdunbeck
   
•  “100% of all people live somewhere! Quote from #sxlocalchat . Obvious but shows the importance of local brand identity!” – Wayne Edmiston, @wayneedmiston 

You can download the session handout from SlideShare to learn more.

SXSW Soundbytes

With hundreds of sessions packed into the five days of the Interactive portion of SXSW, there was a little something for everyone – and a diverse array of topics and speakers from across the globe. Some of our favorite topics focused on social media insights, mobile marketing and innovations, and how the future of technology may impact user experience, customer expectations, and marketing. So, here are few of our favorite soundbytes from the week.

Social Media Insights
Many sessions offered insights into social media tools, direct from company experts, as well as practical applications from industry thought leaders. Here are some social media insights that attendees shared on Twitter:

•  “Over 50% of Google+ conversations are private #sxgoogle+” –Mariam Shahab, @mshahab
   
• “Google views search as the moment of commercial intent." That's my ah-ha moment.  #Sxgoogle+” – @marlajono
   
• “Google has no intent to inject ads into Google+ photo albums like Facebook does. This isn't a time for commercial intent #sxgoogle+” – Mariam Shahab, @mshahab
   
• “The art of social marketing is the art of making your customer do the marketing for you! #sxecommerce” – Erik Eskedal, @eskedal 
   
• “Tweets are not copyrightable, and that's because of length - 140 characters isn't enough to fully express an idea. #SXipsm”  –  Catherine K. Nodurft, @catherinekaram

Social Media & Customer Service
In one panel focused on social media and customer service, experts shared insights and advice on using the social media tools to connect with your audience beyond just broadcasting messages on another digital channel.

•  “In 2011, 79% of consumers sharing poor customer experiences online were ignored: http://t.co/579XsMWY” – Bryan Person, @bryanperson 
   
• “Fundamental social question: Do you just want to sell stuff or do you want to own the culture & conversation of your category? #sxcustserv” – John Harris, @netharris
   
•  “Try not to delete content from users, unless it is incredibly offensive or illegal. Otherwise it adds fuel to the fire #SXCustServ” – Luis Benitez, @lbenitez
   
•  “Tremendous power in posting answer on page. The rest of community sees transparency and into brand culture” #sxcustserv” – Alina Cowden, @alicowden

Mobile Marketing
The future of mobile was a huge topic that many different sessions touched on, from how new technological advances will help innovation in the space to the different implications these changes will have in users’ lives. Here are a few quotes from one popular session on mobile:

• “Instead of me telling Foursquare what I'm doing, Foursquare is now telling me what I SHOULD be doing” #SXsmartpush” – BonnieSashin, @bsashin 
   
• “Users make systems what they are. Create apps to inspire & then let them drive it. Solve real problems #sxsmartpush” – @hy_connect 
   
•  “Defining battle in the next few years on where data lives, what you can do w it, how can it be accessed #SXsmartpush” – Dan Nieves, @dannieves

Future Technology & Innovation
Many thinkers and thought leaders shared their ideas on the future of technology, offering a glimpse into interesting applications for the future.

•  “What's next? Interfaces disappear & your actions are reduced. Technology runs in the background letting you get back to life. #SXAmberCase” – @firehouseagency
   
•  “Your  phone will become a remote control for reality #SXAmberCase” – Niketa Patel, @niketa
   
• “The companies that are not willing to let people fail are not going to innovate #sxunc”  – Elysa Rice, @elysa

These tweets are just a small portion of the SXSW Interactive experience this year. To learn more about all the sessions, check out the online schedule.

Did you have the chance to make it to Austin for Interactive this year or follow along with what attendees were sharing online? If so, tell us about your experience in a comment!

Introducing the ReachSearch Video: Get Leads from Search Engine Advertising

Getting more leads is a top priority for any local business – yours included – and it’s that much more challenging now that consumers are searching for local products and services online. ReachSearch, our leading search engine advertising solution, helps you capture consumers at the exact time they’re searching for your products and services, whether on the Web or on their mobile devices.

In the latest ReachLocal video, we provide an in-depth look at ReachSearch. Take a look to discover how our technology and service team work together to bring you more customers.

Here are a few key takeaways:

• ReachSearch is a unique combination of technology and service experts certified in search engine advertising that build and execute your custom plan
• ReachSearch reaches consumers on 98% of the places they search, including Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Ask, and local directories like Superpages, Citysearch, and more
• Our Conversion Based Optimization technology works behind-the-scenes, 24/7 to drive more performance for your budget
• ReachLocal is a Google AdWords™ Premier SMB Partner with experience running hundreds of thousands of campaigns for businesses just like yours

But that’s not all. Watch the video for yourself to discover exactly how ReachSearch works, and what all it can do for your local business. 

Tamara Weintraub helps equip small business owners with information about local online advertising, social media marketing, and more as a blogger for ReachCast and ReachLocal. 

ReachLocal Welcomes Microsoft and Nero Veteran as Chief Product Officer

Today, we’re pleased to announce that product development veteran Kris Barton has joined the ReachLocal family as our new Chief Product Officer. Kris will be responsible for the development of our new products as well as the ongoing optimization of our core online marketing products, including ReachSearch™, ReachCast™, and ReachDisplay™. Also, as we expand internationally, Kris will oversee the deployment of our product suite in different markets.

Kris comes to us from Nero, where he served as Chief Operating Officer of the multimedia software company. Prior to Nero, Barton held key product positions at Microsoft, overseeing the product development efforts for the MSN online properties including MSN.com and MSN network channels. In addition, he has experience in product at Omniture and Novell Corporation.

We’re proud to welcome Kris to the family, and we look forward to working with him on our product roadmap.