The Pied (Jaffray) Piper of LOCAL Search?
Almost a year to the date later, as the small business flies its marketing flag, we finally see something it might be able to mast itself to for support. Long-term riders of The Wagon will recall my carping back then concerning the crux of the LOCAL small business conundrum:
Many of these companies have as their only budgeted marketing item an annual ad in the (local) yellow pages. They've not only been doing it that way since the birth of their business but also cannot afford any external marketing on top of that.
I've always contended LOCAL was thusly an ultimate issue of replacement rather than augmentation of budget, and so the switch from trusted to unkown would require a really, really good, and easily understandable, REASON. Piper Jaffray may have delivered this first gift of the business holiday season, as reported by Marketing VOX:
The cost per acquisition for search is on average $8.50, according to the report, "The New eCommerce Decade: The Age of Micro Targeting," released earlier this month, reports Internet Retailer. Yellow Pages was the second-most efficient channel at $20 per customer acquisition, followed by online display ads at $50, email at $60, and direct mail at $70.
One doesn't need to be able to deconstruct a Mike Grehan article to understand 'tis a far, far better spend one makes than one had been making before if one switches to paying $8.50 per customer rather than $20. That's a business expanding difference.
Now it's up to the heralds to successfully sound the message of the Piper (Jaffray) LOCALLY.