Advertise Where Your Customers are Looking for You
Recently Nielsen Online & Webvisible conducted a survey polling nearly 4,000 people in the U.S. asking about their habits and methods in finding local businesses. Their results revealed a considerable disconnect between the way consumers look for local business and the way business owners are advertising. Because of this, local businesses miss a significant opportunity. We hope the research here shows you the absolute importance of search engine marketing. We also hope you enjoy numbers as much as we do!
You already know that an incredible 82% of consumers today use search engines to find local business.
But Did You Know?
With advertising coming from every direction, consumers today feel inundated with all the advertising and they value control and relevance. Search engines allow the consumer to control their advertising via their search queries and 73% would prefer to find products and services using search engines than have an advertisement sent to them.
Because an advertiser's ad only appears to interested consumers searching for their products or services, search marketing provides the highest quality leads to business owners. When consumers want to find a local business, they use clearly defined search terms. 40% use a location specific term in their search, such as "dentist in New York". Less than 10% search by business name.
Meanwhile, 63% of consumers turn to the internet FIRST when looking for local products or services.
Impact on Traditional Advertising
The use of search to find local businesses, products or services grew 58% in 2008 to reach an annual total of 15.7 billion searches. Source: comScore
As search engine marketing continues to dramatically increase its market share, consumers have heavily decreased their usage in other traditional forms of marketing when searching for local businesses.
Over the last 2 years, local newspaper usage has declined by 15%, direct mail by 18%, and radio by 14%.
Consumer searches for “Yellow Pages” is also quickly becoming obsolete:
Search Consumers Satisfied, Ready to Buy
Of those surveyed:- 92% were happy with search engine results
- 70% Would call the phone number on a website
- 60% Have referred a business they found on the internet to a friend
- 52% Always or often use the internet to research, then purchase offline from a local business
- 39% searched for medical services
- 33% searched for automotive services
- 27% searched for home or office repair services
- 25% searched for financial services
- 12% searched for legal services
- 9% searched for landscaping services
An average 83% of those that clicked a sponsored link, also called the vendor.
An average 75% of those that clicked and called the vendor, also made a purchase.
Today's Consumers
Turn to the Web First!
"I own a small recording studio in Manhattan that was only receiving business through word of mouth. I was looking to advertise online, but knew little about local search. Last month I invested $1000, which turned into 503 website visits, 92 calls and 14 emails. Our studio is always booked!"
- Owner, SweetSounds Recording Studio, New York
In July, a local Maryland restaurant spent $600 and received 961 visits, 159 calls and 32 website leads.
"Our chartered boat tours only run in the summer so we wanted to advertise online for just a few months out of the year. LocalConnex allowed us to run only over the summer months and had our campaign up and running the next day."
- Owner, Chartered Boat Tours, New Jersey
A Topeka, Kansas dentist in April invested $1500, which turned into 282 visits, 32 calls and 11 website leads.
A local Texas physician targeting only a 30 mile radius received 752 visits, 98 calls and 5 website leads from investing just $3000.
"With tons of orders coming in daily it's easy to miss the minor details of a call. With LocalConnex call tracking we can replay every conversation over and over, never missing one detail."
- Owner, Florist, Maryland
A family owned landscaping business in New Jersey spent $1000 in the month of May. They received 929 visits, 87 calls and 13 website leads.
An Irvine, California family owned plumbing company invested $2100 in their first month with LocalConnex, as result they received 663 visits, 132 calls and 9 website leads.
"Advertising in print was no longer paying off for us. We knew we needed to be advertising on the internet, but we were afraid of the expense. In the first week alone we received 30 inquires, 11 of which turned into bookings and only spent $230."
- Owner, Catering Company, New Jersey
