Believe it or not, there’s just over a month to go before the shopping season kicks into full swing?

Retailers are busily preparing their advertising campaigns, and National Retailers are showing the way in terms if integrating local search into the holiday season advertising mix.

A report out by Sterling Market Intelligence (sponsored by Marchex) highlights that more than 40% of National Advertisers are spending a quarter of their advertising budget on Local Search Engine Marketing.

“The data shows that national advertisers clearly understand the Internet drives in-store sales and they’ve begun to integrate local into their marketing mix,” said Principal of Sterling Market Intelligence, Greg Stirling.

Small business operators really need to follow the lead of national retailers. Unlike TV and radio, Local Search Marketing doesn’t have the same financial barrier to entry.

More importantly, if national retailers understand that buyers are using search engines to find local shops, then smaller retailers need to ensure they remain in the buyers’ consideration set. Not being in the search results eliminates you from the game!

One of the key findings from the report was that national retailers were struggling to quantify which of their online advertising campaigns are generating the results.

This is an important lesson for smaller operators.

It’s important to use measures to keep track of what’s working and what’s not. If you’re considering managing your own campaigns, then ensure you implement your own measurement mechanisms.

Measurement can be as primitive as asking customers when they come through the door, where they found you (it’s not pretty, but sometimes the only way with in-store sales). Ideally set up an integrated call tracking or lead tracking system also.

Anyway, as the holiday rush approaches, if you haven’t considered local search, follow the lead of the big players and stake a claim on buyers searching for retailers in your area!

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