What do SMBs in today's digital marketing landscape need to know in order to succeed and grow their business? ReachLocal CEO Sharon Rowlands discusses the core concepts ReachLocal practices in order to elevate digital marketing for local SMBs in this 2014 BIA/Kelsey keynote presentation.

1. Elevating the SMB
DIGITAL MARKETING
INDUSTRY
Sharon Rowlands
CEO, ReachLocal
New Orleans, LA
1 ©ReachLocal, Inc.

2. SMBs Don’t Trust Digital Marketing Companies
Advertisers Unhappy with AdWords’
Enhanced Campaigns’ Update
2 ©ReachLocal, Inc.
Why Most Marketing
Doesn’t Work
September 9, 2014
Stop Wasting Your Time on
These Online Marketing Tactics
August 4, 2014
February 12, 2013

3. Copyrig©hRt e2a01c4h,L Roecaacl,h InLocc. al, Inc.
1%
IMPROVEMENT IN
CUSTOMER ATTRITION
=
INCREASE
IN REVENUE

4. Churn Rates in Digital Marketing Range From
50% TO 90%
©ReachLocal, Inc.

5. WHAT DRIVES CHURN?
Copyrig©hRt e2a01c4h,L Roecaacl,h InLocc. al, Inc.
OPTION 1
©ReachLocal, Inc.
Bad sales experience
Selling the wrong product
Poor customer service
Results perceived as
expensive with poor ROI

6. What the Reviews Say About Digital Marketing Companies
"MISTAKE! Big Time.
From the day they
got my money I
was dropped. I
spent hours upon
hours trying to get a hold
of my representative with
no success."
©ReachLocal, Inc.
“COMPANY is the
definition of Rip Off. The
service sounds great in
theory, but I lost 4 weeks
of legitimate advertising
to find this out. DO NOT
USE THIS COMPANY!”
"Don't fall for this phony
software company
scam!!!!”
"Do not ever use COMPANY if
you are a business owner. The
sales reps intentionally lie to you
promising that their marketing
will result in 20+ calls minimum
per month and when they write
up the contract if you’re not
careful they leave that out but
tell you to give it about 2 months
at most before it really starts
happening. "
"The sales people
are all liars. My sales
rep signed me up
using lies and empty
promises then promptly signed
up all my competitors in the
area by telling them I was
using their service and having
great results. “
“COMPANY ”sucks.” Horrible
customer service. Was never
given disclosed terms of the
initial offer. The people I
talked to couldn’t remember
my name and I could never
get a clear answer from
anyone. Sent several emails
with no reply.”

7. We Can Elevate Our Industry
USE DATA EDUCATE
SCIENCE
©ReachLocal, Inc.
BE
TRANSPARENT

8. We Can Elevate Our Industry
USE DATA EDUCATE
SCIENCE
©ReachLocal, Inc.
BE
TRANSPARENT

9. “At ReachLocal, I am putting a lot
of focus on this issue. Identifying a
way to give transparency into REAL
leads, not just contacts. And
helping the SMB convert leads and
be able to evaluate performance
based on real customers.”
©ReachLocal, Inc.

10. We Can Elevate Our Industry
USE DATA EDUCATE
SCIENCE
©ReachLocal, Inc.
BE
TRANSPARENT

11. Leveraging Data Science to be More Transparent
©ReachLocal, Inc.
43%

12. We Can Elevate Our Industry
USE DATA EDUCATE
SCIENCE
©ReachLocal, Inc.
BE
TRANSPARENT

13. ©ReachLocal, Inc.
Transparency
Embedded
Into Solutions

14. LET’S TALK ABOUT
sales education…
©ReachLocal, Inc.

15. GETTING SALES RIGHT
©ReachLocal, Inc.
Train sales people better
Use analytics to establish a baseline
Prepare a joint marketing plan
Be prepared to say no to
a customer

16. Digital Marketing is Complex & Growing
©ReachLocal, Inc.
SEO

17. ©ReachLocal, Inc.
1 ReachLocal Client Survey (June 2014)
WORK WITH
multiple marketing
partners1
UTILIZING
over 10 different
media types2
73%
LOCAL SMBS
2 BIA Kelsey research 2014

18. We All Have the Same Message – Time to Differentiate
“total digital marketing system”
“we’re you’re
one stop shop”
©ReachLocal, Inc.
“all in one marketing software”
“Automated all
in one sales and
marketing built
exclusively for
small businesses”
“all in one marketing solution
for busy small business owners”

19. ©ReachLocal, Inc.
CUSTOMER BENEFITS
Local business owners understand
what they are getting
Vendors take on quality business
they can service
Churn reduces
Overall industry reputation
improves

20. ©ReachLocal, Inc.
What a
happy
customer
looks like
I’ve experienced a double digit percentage
increase in site visits and calls.”
Our call handling has improved with the
use of call tracking.”
I’ve been able to increase my online presence,
including being found on Google more often.”
My business has a 200% increase in leads
from my digital campaigns.”
“
“
“
“

21. Thank You
©ReachLocal, Inc.