WebVisible says its platform will give McClatchy’s local advertisers a better way to get found in newspaper listings, newspaper websites, search engines, or via mobile phones or navigation devices.

The McClatchy Company has been testing the platform with local businesses in several markets, including Kansas City, Mo., Tacoma, Wash., and Fresno, Calif. Advertising sales in those markets in March were five times higher than the previous month. McClatchy and WebVisible are planning to add new markets every month through the end of the year.

Consumers use at least seven different media sources when looking for a local product or service, according to a study from BIA/Kelsey and ConStat.

"If a local advertiser’s marketing doesn’t make it visible in every one of those searches, the business is losing potential customers," said Kirsten Mangers, CEO of WebVisible.  "Online marketing is more than just showing up in search engine results, and McClatchy understands that its advertisers want a full solution that gives them visibility across the board. 

"McClatchy has always been a forward-thinking partner for local advertisers, helping them grow their businesses by making sure they can be found where customers are looking."

McClatchy is the third largest newspaper company in the United States, with 30 daily newspapers and 43 non-dailies along with local websites in each of its markets. McClatchy-owned newspapers include "The Miami Herald," "The Sacramento Bee," and the "Lexington Herald-Leader."
 

Other key (non-mobile-related) findings:

• 56% “only get ads they want or need” from the Internet; television, 53%.
• 80% researched a product online and bought it at a brick-and-mortar.
• 74% use search engines to find local businesses in retail and services (versus paper yellow pages, 65%; Internet yellow pages, 50%; newspapers, 44%; white pages, 33%; TV, 29%; and consumer review sites, 18%).

My favorite findings, however, were that almost 75% of the 2000 people surveyed felt they are overexposed to advertising already. And participants agreed that having ads sent to them is only slightly more preferable than using search engines to find businesses.

Um, what? The vast majority of people think we’re overexposed to ads, but the same people still prefer advertising to finding businesses and products themselves? Are we going to be eating our cake and having it, too, now?

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Service trades ranging from physicians to plumbers have enjoyed greater exposure and traffic thanks to local search. WebVisible, a local online ad product company, and Nielsen//NetRatings released a study about local search and its impact on offline businesses.

“Consumers searching Google for a local service vendor shop very differently from those in e-retail on Amazon or eBay where a transaction occurs online,” said WebVisible CEO, Kirsten Mangers. “It’s targeted advertising driving traffic to a quality website that is the recipe for getting my phone to ring if I’m a carpet cleaner, attorney or dentist.”

Three factors have made their impact on local search; data comes from “A Nielsen//NetRatings and WebVisible survey, 2006″ of some 2,800 US Internet users, conducted in August 2006.

First, people find search reliable: 70% of Internet users report using search engines to find a local service; 46% in the last 90 days.

Search is responsive: When searching for a local service website, searchers find what they want quickly – averaging less than 3 searches.

And the results prove highly relevant: Nearly 90% are happy with the results they get when they search locally for services.

Although people will use multiple methods of contacting an offline business discovered online, phone numbers still drive two-thirds of searchers to get in touch with the business. This should affirm the click-to-call initiatives being pursued by major Internet players, both on desktop and mobile search, will be potent features for them.

Further affirmation of that viewpoint comes from customer behavior after making additional contacts with the offline vendor. The study found 35 percent of respondents saved the phone number for later use.

Local search also built awareness through word-of-mouth, as 59 percent of searchers told friends or family about the service they found. Also, 38 percent sent an email link to the service to family or friends.

The search companies will be pleased to know that sponsored links prove very effective in local search. Half of the respondents were likely to click a paid search link. 72 percent of them followed that with a call to the vendor.

Here’s the sweet part – 70 percent of the clickers who called also made a purchase.

Those vendors who advertise in local search should keep geo-targeted advertising in mind. Nearly half of the searchers in the survey queried for general search terms coupled with a regional term. Such geo-targeting also makes better use of the marketer’s advertising budget.

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E-commerce companies working in the local market and offline brick-and-mortar businesses in the Miami area will have another option for online advertising competing for their dollars.

WebVisible announced its SearchMax product will be available for Miami Herald clients. The company discussed more about SearchMax and its run in Miami/Dade and Broward County in South Florida:

SearchMax takes over the task of self-provisioning ads across search networks. E-commerce and other sites working with the service can have their ads appear on a variety of search engines, including major sites like Google, Yahoo, MSN/Live.com, and Ask.com.

As we have noted many times, local online advertising promises to be a growing, multi-billion dollar arena that all of the ad companies want to join. Borrell Associates forecasted a $7.7 billion market in 2007 for online local advertising.

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In the wake of its purchase of Knight Ridder, McClatchy made another move by agreeing to a deal with WebVisible to capitalize on web-based advertising. Sales should begin later this year.

WebVisible’s “Geneva” software will act as an exchange between the sales force reselling local search advertising, and search engines like Google and Yahoo. Advertisers would buy contracts to place their ads in sponsored searches for a period as agreed upon by them and the reseller.

“The McClatchy Company is looking to take the complexity out of offering local search on a large, guaranteed scale to their customers,” said WebVisible’s Marketing VP, Christopher Tippie. “As an exchange, WebVisible is designed to do just that.”

Borrell Associates believes local sponsored search will be a $4 billion market itself by 2010. Overall spending on local online ads could reach $8.6 billion in total by that time.

Gordon Borrell said in September 2005 that Google and Yahoo accounted for 32 percent of the local online ad market.

Instead of fighting them, Mcclatchy appears to have decided to work with them through the WebVisible partnership.

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