National Brands Do Local Digital Marketing

by Jack Loechner, Nov 15, 2012, 6:15 AM

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According to the findings of the “National Brand Use of Digital in Local Marketing” study, a survey of national brand marketing executives in North America commissioned by Balihoo, national brands are betting big on local marketing with 91% surveyed expecting to spend more or the same on local marketing in 2013 as they did in 2012. 

Expected 2013 Marketing Spend (% of Respondents)
	Expected Market $ Spend
Market	More	Same	Less
Local	47.3%	44.0%	8.6%
National	47.4	41.2	11.1
Source: Balihoo, November 2012

Digital tactics will play an important role across the board for national brand marketing planning, with 67.5% surveyed reporting digital marketing as extremely or very important to national brand success. 

Importance of Digital Marketing For National Brand Success
Importance	% of Respondents	Revenue ≥ $500M	Revenue $100-250M
Extremely important	38.8%	45.0%	34.0%
Very important	28.65
Important	27.6
Unimportant	4.17
Source: Balihoo, November 2012

When asked about local digital tactics they’re currently using, national brands ranked Other Social Media (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), Facebook and SEO as their top priorities. National brand marketers were also asked about local digital tactics they’re not currently using but would like to begin using in 2013.  

Use of Local Digital Tactics (2012 & 2013; % of Marketers)
	% of Respondents
Digital Tactic	Used in 2012	Not in 2012; Possible 2013
SEO	66.15%	14.84%
Local search registration	22.66	19.53
Pay per click advertising	44.27	19.01
Digital display advertising	50.26	14.06
Mobile marketing	32.03	35.42
Facebook	69.27	12.24
Other social media	75.52	14.58
Online customer reviews	22.14	30.99
Local websites	46.35	16.15
Local blogs	26.04	31.51
Source: Balihoo, November 2012

 Additional local digital priority findings:

• 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 ($500M+) are using a wider mix of digital tactics than smaller national brands ($100M - $250M)
• A larger percentage of smaller national brands ($100M - $250M) are using Facebook and Other Social Media (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) than the larger national brands ($500M+)

Pete Gombert, Balihoo’s CEO “...particularly interesting is how national brands are prioritizing their local marketing tactics... there is a lot of opportunity for national brands to better lead and support their local channel partners...”

The study probed into the digital marketing trends for national brands that rely on local affiliates (dealers, agents, resellers, channel partners, retailers, and franchisees).  Only 4% of this sub-segment ranked their affiliates as excellent at marketing, with the majority (47%) ranking affiliates as moderately effective.

 87% surveyed said that their national brand is not well represented on affiliate web sites.  When asked in what areas their local affiliates lack expertise and the ability to execute effectively, respondents identified as top weaknesses:

• Mobile marketing (53.4%)
• SEO (49.4%)
• PPC (46.6%)   

 To obtain the free PDF study from Balihoo, please visit here. 

 

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1 comment on "National Brands Do Local Digital Marketing".

1. timo platt from PoKos
   

   commented on: November 15, 2012 at 7:49 a.m.
   Local digital signage for national brands begins with click-through content on the only universal digital screen: #mobile http://bit.ly/KDVEn4

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