MerchantCircle To Distribute Ads Via Quigo, Jingle

Small business directory and ad network MerchantCircle has forged partnerships with ad distribution companies Quigo and Jingle Networks to expand the ad inventory available to its roster of local merchants.

Contextual ad network Quigo will place pay-per-click links on the Web sites of local newspaper, TV, and radio stations for MerchantCircle members, while Jingle, which runs the ad-supported directory lookup 1-800-Free-411, will deliver the ads to telephone callers. The Jingle ads will run immediately before callers are given the phone number of the company they are seeking.

Ben Smith, chairman and founder of MerchantCircle, said the company intended to continue to increase ad distribution. "We are adding a series of different partners for advertising inventory, as our merchant base has grown pretty fast," Smith said. "Our strategy is to make sure that we deliver as dense a coverage on a local basis as we can."

John Roswech, senior vice president of sales for Jingle, added that MerchantCircle was especially appealing as a business partner because its network of small business advertisers is difficult to duplicate independently. "It's really attractive to us, because from a sales perspective, going out and calling local merchants is challenging," he said. "It'd be literally impossible, unless I want to hire 3,000 sales reps."

MerchantCircle officially launched its advertiser network last month with about 5,000 local merchants. The list of merchants includes mainly independent contractors and single-store businesses.

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