Clearly, SMB marketing is no longer just about local search and directory listings. While search remains as important piece of the pie, display is emerging in its own right. Marchex, AdReady, Cobalt’s Admission, MediaTraks, Mixpo and Jivox are among those companies that have been targeting SMBs and others for display (and rich media) solutions.
Now, ReachLocal, the independent sales company that pitches local SMBs on alternatives to Yellow Pages advertising, says it is going into selling display ads as well. The company has sales offices in 30 U.S. cities. It also has operating units in U.K., Canada and Australia.
The launch of ReachDisplay “employs remarketing and optimization to make customer acquisition for local advertisers a better value,” notes the company’s press release. That’s a lot of jargon, but it means two things: it is cookie-ing consumers who have previously visited a website; and using the knowledge about consumers to create ad hoc local networks.
AlmondNet actually pioneered the practice several years ago, sharing high CPMs from highly targeted advertising with media providers that allow it to take an ad and place it on a network that features similar content.
I get why ReachLocal wants to leverage its sales force — but making this move, at this point also means they probably are running out of SEM steam.
There simply are not infinite Google clicks to re-sell, especially when you and other re-sellers are essentially bidding each other up (so much for margins).
Good luck to Reach on this effort. They enter a very crowded sales field — and offering one order, one bill “ease” is not as much of an advantage here or all the existing local sales networks would be doing better.