How To Get National To Think Local

Though local ads may have big payoffs, it’s up to sales teams and agencies to convince national advertisers that tapping local sites is a move worth making -- an idea that still may be a tough sell, a panel of industry experts said Tuesday.

“It’s about creating a different mindset,” John Halvorson, Starcom MediaVestGroup’s VP-global digital director, said at Borrell Associates’ Local Online Advertising Conference in New York.

Though national advertisers may still need convincing, locally targeted sites offer advertisers important venues to reach consumers market-by-market, an important step in garnering an overall larger audience, he said.

“For any client who doesn’t see local as important, go talk to a politician,” Halvorson said. “They realize they can win elections by local, grass-roots efforts.”

Panelists such as Jay Livingston, SVP, Bank of America, said local advertising might indeed have a role in national advertisers’ campaigns. However, he added, advertisers need to be convinced that locally targeted ads do indeed have value before reallocating ad dollars that would have been spent elsewhere.

“I think the smartest thing individual agencies can do is pitch clients on how this fits with the bigger picture,” Livingston said. “Tell me about how it would work or why I should move money away” from other advertising, he said.

For large advertisers that rely on data to drive marketing decisions, backing up pitches to go local with concrete stats and information is also key to convincing decision makers that it’s the right move, said Carrie Frolich, managing director, digital media, of Mediaedge:CIA.

“We need people to bring insight,” Frolich said. “They need data showing how influential content is and how it’s used.”

Frolich said she would support research that backed up advertising choices. Halvorson, however, said successful marketing is actually an endeavor of much larger scope than placing ads or other content online or using other media.

The value of digital advertising, he said, cannot be weighed without factoring in other efforts -- be they print, broadcast or otherwise.

There also are other platforms -- mobile in particular -- that pose challenges to local sites, he said, adding that the advertising landscape will continue to morph with new media. The transformative powers of other technology, like e-readers and the new iPad, for example, have yet to be realized as well.

Nonetheless, really good marketing campaigns strive to convey their messages across platforms, communities and venues, he said.

“The challenge for every marketer is really to tell your client’s or brand’s story in the context of your consumer’s life,” Halvorson said. “It’s a compelling story.” And, he emphasized: “The story is not ending when someone clicks.”