Local listing management is one of the hottest topics within Internet marketing; yet it confuses and overwhelms many business owners. In this blog, we’ll help clear up the confusion and provide some useful tips to help business owners make informed decisions to harness the power of Local Listing Management. Why are Local Listings so important? There are more people conducting online searches for local businesses than ever before. In fact, the Kelsey Group has identified 70% of US households now use the internet when shopping locally for products and services. It’s never been more important to ensure your business is accurately listed in as many online directories as possible. Supplying information about your business to these touch points, or local listings, is crucial to your business being found in an online search by a potential customer.  Establishing and maintaining a strong local listing presence helps businesses rank higher in organic results when potential customers search for your business. Plus, local listings are more important to consumers than you might think. Research by comScore has identified online searchers find local and organic results to be 7 times more relevant and 8 times more trustworthy than paid results!   Why do businesses outsource the management of their Local Listings? It takes a substantial commitment of time, manpower and dedication in order for a business to manage its own local listings. There are literally hundreds of digital touch points and online directories, but some companies like to manage the process internally. The basic steps of the process are outlined below:   Claim listings at multiple local listing websites – such as Google, Yahoo Bing, Ask, CitySearch, etc. Update listings with your business marketing information – and include text for web and mobile searches, as well as categories, photos, coupons, videos, images, etc.  Clean-up inconsistent data – Since local listing websites obtain data from multiple sources there could be multiple listings for a single business address. Delete or merge any duplicate listings to avoid confusion. Monitor consumer reviews – on all local listing websites. Monitoring, managing and responding to reviews is an important process and doing so will help you retain and acquire new customers.   How can Berry Network help? We know businesses often spend countless hours researching, distributing and manually updating their business listings – only to achieve lackluster results. That’s why Berry Network has introduced a new Local Listing Management (LLM) solution. Our experts will manage your local listings and do all the work for you! Berry Network has developed a one-stop identity management service for local businesses, which provides access to virtually all of the search sites consumers use to find information. Our LLM solutions are bundled into easy-to-use packages that include a combination of claiming services, list distribution, monitoring services, updating services, content enhancement development and reporting. You pick the package that best fits your needs and your budget and we’ll deliver results.   Local Listing Management is critical step to ensure your business information is listed correctly in search results so customers can find accurate information about your business when they’re searching.  At its core, our Local Listing Management solution provides a single point of entry for the creation and distribution of enhanced business profiles that are distributed to all major outlets, including: Google, Yahoo, Bing Data Providers – Localeze, Infogroup, Acxiom Online Yellow Pages – Superpages, YP.com, Yellowbook Social networks – Yelp, Foursquare, Facebook Portals and guides – AOL, Mapquest, Cityearch Cell phones and mobile apps – Blackberry, iPhone, Android 411 directory assistance GPS navigation and telematic services – OnStar What should you do? Local listings are far too valuable to be ignored, so don’t leave them to chance. Simply decide if you want to invest the time and resources to manage the process in-house or utilize Berry Network’s LLM solution. Remember, the goal is to accurately list your business, monitor your presence and enhance your online profile! To get more information about Local Listings Management, please contact Berry Network today at 800-366-1264. 

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A new partnership between Devon Security and Berry Network, Inc. is particularly important to Devcon’s massive nationwide expansion efforts.   By leveraging Berry Network’s strength and expertise in local search advertising, the new alliance will help Devon Security build brand awareness and increase advertising presence in new market areas.    “We chose to partner with Berry Network because of the strategic value they bring to the table,” said Kristin Clark, Devcon Security’s Vice President of Marketing. “The team at Berry Network excels at implementing our advertising programs, but more importantly, they’re willing to develop and explore unconventional strategies to help us achieve our goals.”   “Devcon is a perfect fit for our agency,” according to Sherri Kavanaugh, Berry Network’s Vice President of Client Strategy.  “We’re at our best when we’re working with clients that desire a true strategic partner. Devcon is strong, expanding rapidly and there are lots of opportunities for us to utilize our expertise, tools and proprietary technology to support and accelerate their growth.”   About Devcon: Devcon Security is one of the fastest growing security companies in the nation. Founded in 2004, the Devcon brand is composed of local security companies rooted in the security business since 1968. Devcon is run by a management team with more than 100 years of security experience and employs nearly 1100 people in offices across the nation. Utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, Devcon maintains two monitoring centers and offers superior customer service. The company offers residential home security systems, as well as small and large business security solutions – including commercial alarms and video surveillance systems. Devcon is proud to be among a small percentage of security companies to have a 5-Diamond certification from the Central Station Alarm Association.

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In my last blog post I wrote about why I thought 2011 would be the year mobile marketing went mainstream. After finishing the post, I found myself thinking about how to define mobile marketing and how you would categorize the many forms of mobile marketing. After reading many definitions of what mobile marketing is, I found this definition from The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), which defines mobile marketing as “a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.” What makes mobile marketing unique is the engagement factor. The MMA defines engagement to mean, “to start relationships, acquire, generate activity, stimulate social interaction with organization and community members, [and] be present at time of consumers expressed need.” It is this engagement factor that makes mobile marketing so attractive. Engagement in the mobile word can take place in serveral ways, such as a consumer by opting into a text messaging, viewing a mobile website, or accessing an application. Here is a synopsis of the major forms of mobile marketing. SMS (short message service): Also known as ‘texting’, advertisers can send relevant marketing messages (coupons and sales offers) directly into the hands of consumers via of text messages. MMS messages are limited to 160 characters in length. SMS is the oldest, yet still most popular form of mobile marketing. MMS (multi-media message service): Similar to SMS, but with the addition of multimedia content such as pictures, video, and audio. Mobile Websites/Landing Pages: Have you ever tried to look at a standard website on a mobile screen? It’s not pretty. A mobile website is a website or page specifically designed for the small screens of mobile devices. Queries to a website include the type of browser being used, and when a request comes from a mobile browser is made, it is redirected to the mobile version for a significantly better user experience. A quality mobile website is quickly becoming a “must have” for many businesses. They also serve as the foundation that makes many of the remaining mobile marketing opportunities possible. Mobile Paid Search: Mobile paid search works in a similar way to traditional paid search. Image and text ads are displayed in search engine results and the advertiser pays when an ad is clicked. Google AdWords has made it easy to opt-in to mobile search by simply checking a box to enable your ads to be shown on mobile devices. However, most mobile marketers suggest creating a separate, stand-alone mobile search campaign. This is because people search differently on mobile devices. Mobile users tend to use shorter search terms, and a majority of mobile searches are local in nature. A separate mobile paid search program will also provide better reporting on the effectiveness of your program. Mobile Banner Ads: Like standard banner ads for desktop web pages, but smaller to fit on mobile screens and run on the mobile websites. In some cases, animated mobile web ad banners may be available used to convey a richer experience. Paid Mobile Local Search Directories: There are a host of local search directories such as YP.com, Superpages.com, CityGrid, and Yelp. While a paid listing on their standard internet directories will appear in mobile search results. many offer mobile specific ad units (banners) that provide advertiser’s prominent top of page placement for increased exposure. QR Codes (quick-response barcodes): Similar to barcodes, QR codes allow customers to quickly learn more about a product or business. Users that scan a QR code with a mobile device are linked to digital content (special offers, brochures event information) on the web. Mobile Navigation/Location-Based Marketing: Delivers multi-media advertising directly to the user of a mobile device based upon their current location via GPS technology. Mobile Applications: Software that runs on a mobile device and performs certain tasks for the user. Since the introduction of the iPhone and the Apple App Store, thousands of companies have developed their own custom application to interact with their customers. With mobile marketing in its infancy, this list will undoubtedly expand over time. With mobile it is best to take a crawl, walk, run approach. Start small (SMS messaging, mobile websites) and then expand into other areas as you build your knowledge and confidence. Ask yourself “what am I trying to accomplish with mobile marketing and who am I trying to reach? But don’t wait too long, because the mobile marketing train is leaving the station.

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