Selling National Accounts for Local Targeting
Travis Arthur, VP of Partner and Strategic Accounts, ReachLocal
Rick Hanna, CEO, Mspark
Corey O’Donnell, VP Marketing, Brand Networks, Yodle
National accounts seem out of reach for many local channels. What are the best ways to reach into them, and sell services? What are they especially looking for from local channels? We’ll discuss best practices for selling — and satisfying — national accounts during this critical session. Today at BIA/Kelsey’s National conference in Dallas, three execs leading national to local sales efforts shared some of the challenges involved in selling local inventory to national accounts.
Here are some key soundbites from the session.
Yodle’s O’Donnell said, “The big challenge for network businesses is to get rock stars to act like choir boys.” O’Donnell was referring to the challenge of getting individual dealer or franchise locations to cooperate with national marketing efforts.
Reach Local’s Arthur positions the company as a variation on SaaS. It’s Software with a service, he says, with a heavy emphasis on the service part: “A platform is table stakes. Consistency is a key point of difference.”
Mspark’s Hanna: “Some players have brands strictly controlled at corporate. Others give more leeway to franchisees.”
Arthur: “ReachLocal is launching in-app mobile advertising for our customers. I think there is a play for the services space to serve up coupons, etc.”
Hanna: “When you are calling on your customers, don’t be surprised they are not anywhere near where they should be.”
O’Donnell: “The term mobile is a misnomer. The print to digital shift is a large formula. It’s like a meal, you need an entree, appetizer and drinks. Mobile is just part of part of that formula… “I also have a distaste for the word ‘national.’ There is a 100:1 ration between searches for small discreet hearing aid v searches for miracle ear. Most spend happens locally.”
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