Digital disconnect: local web buys don’t always keep up with online marketing plan

The if-you-build-it-they-will-come cliché may be true, eventually, for local radio’s digital properties. At least if advertisers follow their own thinking. Three-quarters of national marketers say local websites are “very important or essential” to their marketing plans, yet only 22% of them say they also make buying local websites a priority. That digital disconnect is uncovered by the online marketing firm Balihoo, which also finds that most national brands are ramping up their local online buys in 2014. “Research shows that consumers prefer buying products and services in their local markets,” Balihoo VP of marketing Susan Tormollen says. Even more critically, she says the research shows that buying digital locally “leads to increased returns on a national brand’s ability to capture consumers and direct them to a desired place of purchase.” Balihoo’s self-described “micro-study” of 185 of its corporate clients found that 34% expect to spend more on local marketing this year, while 48% will hold budgets steady. It also showed that the smaller national brands tend to leave more marketing up to local partners than larger brands. Asked which tactics they’re most interested in, advertisers said email, followed by website display advertising.