SuperForum II: Local Video/Out-of-Home Explosion - ILM 08
The second SuperForum dealt with local video. I learned a lot but at the same time came to the conclusion I had before-there are a ton of options and I do not know what is best yet.
The forum started with Brad Inman, Founder and CEO of TurnHere. He had a great presentation talking about “great ideas for the little guy” He went through a list of what and where local video is for video providers.
Video Production and Distribution: This section had four different video producers great samples of their product for one local dentist. It was cool is see how the different companies work, they different types of products that produce and how they distribute and promote videos online.
The companies represented were:
Jivox
Mixpo - the only one that does not work directly with small business
eLocalListing
Adfare
The pricing, products, distribution are really varied, so the small business will need to do some homework on what they want and how much they can pay. Will there be one ultimate winner? I do not think so, since each does something a bit different. Has anyone out there tried any of these services? Your thoughts?
Video Sales: This panel spoke about selling local video. Just like any sales, the ability to explain, demonstrate, and support the product will be critical. The main point I got out was that online local video is just like selling TV ads, takes some time but should be viewed as having the same value as TV ads.
Out-of-Home: The final panel was on a subject I really had not thought much about. Out-of-home Video is growing very quickly and there are business out there that help produce and distribute local video ads in places outside the home. Folks are on the go, why not have a video monitor up and run local ads while pumping gas, buying groceries or coffee, working out in the gym, at the student center, etc.
Peter Bowen, CEO, SeeSaw Networks said the vision is to “intercept people in their work, play and social routines.” They put up some numbers that showed ads running while pumping gas gas station, for example, had a 77% notice rate, weekly impressions of 5240, and a cpm of $15.00.
This is a multi-billion dollar industry and is all local and simple growing fast. Next time you are out and about take a look around you, there might be a Danoo or RippleTV screen near by.
Angie’s List and ServiceMagic - ILM 08
This was a nice panel discussion of with these two directories. It was a nice introduction for those not familiar with them. (I have not used them yet). I had a chance to speak with Angie Hicks of Angie’s List beforehand (this will appear in another post).
ServiceMagic works with the consumer and service provider and helps the two to connect. Right now they have 55,000 prescreened contractors nationwide, have matched 10 million homeowner request life to date and 500,000 reviews posted. Rodney commented that the future for them is going global, moving into job delivery in addition to lead delivery, and strengthening value proposition.
Rodney did conclude with the following comment. He believes business will seek the following:
- turnkey marketing solutions
- performance-based spend
- a trusted way to set my business apart (ratings, screening)
Angie’s List is a membership based directory with some ads. They began offline 13 years ago and an interesting point to it, is that a business cannot add themselves. A business must be reviewed by the consumer to get listed. Consumer set up an account (fee based) and can review and rate business. Angie’s List also develops content, has a local magazine produced for all cities it serves. Their future includes moving into the health care area and going global.
The ads they serve only come from top rated businesses in the list, all reviews are checked by a human and no one can leave an anonymous comment. Angie’s List seems to produce a cool service, but does cost money so it is something the consumer needs to be “dedicated” to get their money’s worth.
iPhone Apps - ILM 08
I do not have an iphone. Do I want one? They are pretty cool….I got to see one up close and play with the features. This panel discussion highlighted some nice applications (apps) that are available on the iphone. If you have a small business, I think you need to make sure you can be found on them.
Yellowpages.com app - allow users to find local businesses, they have partnered with Zvents to help promote events, it has the ability to set up favorites, of course you can search, review and share reviews with others. They stated that 30% of mobile searches are on the iphone.
Eventful app- they market their event based app to the consumer. Users log in and see what events are in their area. They can track events, search and one interesting feature is the demand where the user can indicate which performer they want to see in their town. Eventful will keep track of how many demand a certain performer and then will email you when they come into town
NowLocal app -this is news aggregator, and really is set up to use the geolocation of feature of the iphone.
TheFind app - is a search engine to find products and brands in store. With this app, you can compare pricing and see what others store have, list store, map, and call.
These are just the ones presented here. There are a lot more out there but these apps definitely help consumers find and connect with businesses.
SuperLocal Forum I Overview - ILM 08
The end of day one was a very interesting forum. I missed the opening remarks but here is what I took away:
The Web 2.0 Equation: Community and Viral Effects:
Mike Edelhart, CEO, LiveDeal; Matt Howard, CEO, SMBLive; Darren Waddell, VP, MerchantCircle
Do-it-yourselfers (diy) unite! These business believe that the diy is strong business model and the timing is right. Matt Howard said, the current economy with folks wanting to spend less and in addition to the rise of the social web, will definitely help move to the diy.
In addition to diy there is the building of communities online which MerchantCircle and many others are doing. Using the leverage relationship local business has with other local companies to bring them online. “Hey I use xyz site it is pretty cool, you should too” This can be a very powerful tool and it bringing a lot of people online.
Leveraging Print and Online:
Brian Kraff, CEO, Market Hardware; Paul Ryan, CEO, DoneRight; Josh Walker, CEO, CityVoter
Traditional media is not dead and still plays a large role in helping building online traffic and marketing avenues.
Sales Realities:
This last section was very interesting. There was a panel of three “real” small business and four companies (listed below). The small business spoke a little about what they were doing online and then the business were to try to sell their services to them.
The conclusions after the meeting was that the businesses on the panel did not do that great a job explaining or selling. Now in their defense they only had 7 minutes. The one business which seemed to speak the most was Rick Cook, Founder of Treasure Islands of Santa Cruz (here is a free link for you Rick!).
Rick is a real diy-he said spending 16 hours a day many times working online. His problem as with the other “real” business folks is that they did not understand all of the subtleties of online marketing, needed help, needed information, and a helping hand.
Rick was very money conscious and did most of the offline marketing himself. (I totally can relate to that). Rick said one thing that stood out to me:
“need to feel like there is hope for me”
This is critical. Small business need to be educated and empowered to know and somewhat control what or how their business is being marketed online. None of these “real” business folks really wanted to do the work themselves but wanted someone to work and talk WITH him, not AT them.
Marketing Business Panel: Todd Crandell, COO, Metrix4Media; Court Cunningham, CEO, Yodle; Travis Fore, Senior VP, Sales & Service, Network Solutions, LLC; John Keister, President and COO, Marchex
“Real” Business folks Panel: Rick Cook, Founder, Treasure Islands of Santa Cruz; Adam Simms, President and GM, Sunnyvale Toyota; Galen Workman, Marketing Director, Sterck Kulik O’Neill Accounting Group, Inc.
The Value of Interactive Local Media - ILM 08
Kara Nortman, from IAC spoke on where things are in the local media and where they think things are moving. First off she showed what is working and what is not.
| Successful in local: organic traffic
unique distribution self-service products direct access to merchant budge lost cost burn |
Struggling in local: SEM only traffic
another local website high cost of sales, high churn dependence on others models requiring large fund raises |
Kara definitely sees that opportunities are still around and remain large. One slide of some stats showed that US spent in 2008 $116 billion.
Wrapping up her presentation with what they see coming and that is the local market needs to consolidate, two ways this will happen are distribution & monetization will likely cause/effect consolidations and that clear leaders in verticals will likely emerge.
State of Interactive Local - ILM 08
Well ILM’08 has begun. Matt Booth began the conference by commenting on some numbers on local ad spending. Right now local is 32% of the total market in the US, representing $92 billion dollars!
From a survey of 1000 small businesses in the US, showed that their usage of online media was beginning to show some parity with traditional media. The percentages were 73%/74% respectively.
The survey also asked small business about their views on different medias, etc. Some conclusions show that smbs do not know how to track leads, understand ROI, etc. From my experiences, I would agree.
Matt concluded his talk about the future and said that it is a fertile ground for new marketing products/companies. For those new or revised ad products/services they will need to deal with the following for the small business:
- immediacy - need to show results quickly
- lead tracking - needs to be easy to understand
- pulsed ads - easy to turn on/off per season
- conversation & reputation management - tools for dialogue between consumers and smbs
- blend of content and advertising that work together
eStara Video Connect
Last Friday, I had nice chat and demo with Sheri Solis from ATG about their new venture that was announced earlier today. You can read the official press release here.
From the press release:
“eStara Video Connect is an ideal solution for local and vertical media, online directories, Internet Yellow Pages companies, and Internet video providers who are either looking to add video to their advertising packages, or who already offer video advertising but are looking to more effectively track and measure leads generated from video ads. Customers can choose between two flexible options to add eStara Video Connect to their sites or platforms.”
Got to see a demo and it looked pretty cool. The bottom line is, the more ways you can add to help potential customers connect to your business, the better. eStara Video Connect provides numerous ways for the viewer to connect to your business via the online video, while they are watching it! The system also provides the tools you need to measure effectiveness of your online video ads. They are helping find a way to quantify ROI of online videos.
You can click on the screenshot I have here to see what the option screen will look like when a viewer clicks to connect.
The options are:
- Call the advertiser’s business with a single click; viewers can opt to be called back by the advertiser on a mobile or land-line phone number, or can place a PC-to-phone call
- Go directly to the advertiser’s Web site and map its location using Google Maps
- Send the advertiser’s listing information to friends using SMS, email or fax or save it to a file, a contact list, or a Web bookmark
eStara Video Connect will be provided to you via the web publisher that lists your business in the near future, so keep an eye out for them. Thanks Sheri for your time, the demo, and good luck with the cool new service.
