For one education client, Geary came to the table with a cost-per-lead that was double that of its rivals. And yet, a strategy involving individual campus micro-sites, and a combination of local and national search-engine marketing and optimization executions, produced superior results. "We generated a 12 percent lead-to-student conversion, while others were driving 2 to 3 percent," Roell says, adding, "It's not just driving initial goals, but ultimate results."
Local search will have its day when it ventures off the desktop, he argues. "It will reach its full potential if it expands to less browser-oriented formats like cell phones and car navigational activities."