Hyper-local Marketingby Geoff Samek

Founder, The Sacramento Press

•Use #BOLO2010 hashtag

•Follow me on Twitter @gsamek

what I’m not talking about . . .

Google AdSense

AOL

national networks

targeting by zip code

what I’m talking about

hyper-local online efforts

grass-roots

usually small staff

community focused

digital native

this is a diverse group

blogs

forums

custom platforms

varied business models

examples

Geoff• ranchocordovapost.c

om

• custom wordpress

• audience > community newspaper

• reports on neighborhood news where he lives

The Rancho Cordova Post

Kristy• cakegrrl.com

• uses blogger

•writes about local food issues

• small, loyal audience

• catering business

John•MyFolsom.com and

Tomato Pages Network

• proprietary forums

• been around for a long time

• communities of trust

• lots of pageviews

MyFolsom.com

Reynolds Journalism Institute

Survey

19 top hyper-local sites

top journalism school study

better than TV/newspapers

> trust and satisfaction

bottom line

connect deeply

authentic voices

loyal, local audiences

much like the arts and crafts movement

handcrafted

why should we care?

reach tastemakers

we call them mavens or hubs

audience have great multiplier

effects on -

social media

word of mouth - in real life!

challenges

solutions

get used to small buys < $300

invite many locals in for one meeting and

make negotiate a clustered buy

diverse and weak reporting methods

ask for screen shots

use compete and quantcast

serve ads through your own ad server

and ad tags for consistent reporting

non-standard ad sizes

educate publishers on the importance of certain ad sizes

not usually sold by CPM or CPC

the publisher sees this as a

relationship not a transaction, so . . .

huge opportunities

willing to go the extra mile

meeting face to face with your

clients

advertorials and special requests

welcome

often willing to trade

ask for mentions on twitter and

facebook

round out your portfolio with unique opportunities other

agencies can’t access

how do I find these hyper-locals?

placeblogger.com

write it down!placeblogger.com

kcnn.com

so this is kinda difficult to pull off

right now

trends are helping out

trend #1Patch

hyper-local owned by AOL

solves many mechanical issues

- reporting, ad sizes, etc.

opened up about 500 sites by now

trend #2ad networks

solves mechnical problems and have

huge reach

one point of contact

one point of contact

SLOANsacad.net

TBD

growthspur

projects starting in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia

if you work with one don’t forget to ask for the advertorials and

extras

speaking of Philly:Technically Philly

trend #3services not sites

growth in foursquare

gowalla

groupon

living social

these are not websites

they are services to users across many platforms

like iPhones

and computers

and tablets

advertising on them doesn’t work

but they offer marketing services

that DO

special offers

using the services for free works too -

like The Sacramento Kings

on L

rent a vacant retail space

hold events during festivals

people who check in on foursquare

get a prize

brings more people to the

brand

pull rather than push marketing

not advertising on a site but using

marketing services to reach locals

questions?#BOLO 2010

@gsamek