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Neustar® Insights | Retail
Be Relevant. Go Local.
Local online marketing:
A smart way for retailers to target customers and lift sales
Like radio, air travel and television before it, the Internet seems to make the
world a smaller place, one where borders no longer exist and geography
becomes irrelevant. After all, if you can truly reach the entire world with your
news article, blog or ad—and distribute it in seconds—what difference does
location make?

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Table of Contents
Introduction: Location, Location, Location .............................................................................. 3
Trends in Local Online Marketing ................................................................................................. 3
Benefits of Localization ..................................................................................................................... 4
Your Website: Where Local Comes to Life ............................................................................... 5
How to Localize..................................................................................................................................... 6
Special Offers ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Relevant Products .................................................................................................................................. 6
Language and Currency........................................................................................................................ 6
Visuals...................................................................................................................................................... 7
Display Advertising................................................................................................................................. 8
Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 9
About Neustar® ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Neustar IP Intelligence: The Technology That Powers Local ........................................... 9
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Introduction: Location, Location, Location
Like radio, air travel and television before it, the Internet seems to make the world a smaller
place, one where borders no longer exist and geography becomes irrelevant. After all, if you can
truly reach the entire world with your news article, blog or ad—and distribute it in seconds—
what difference does location make?
A lot, as it turns out, especially in the world of marketing. The global nature of the Internet
doesn‟t erase the need for swimsuits in Orlando or snowsuits in Minneapolis. Retailers still need
to let buyers know where their closest stores are. And a hardware store in Topeka still wants to
be paid in dollars, not yen or rubles. In fact, even if you have no storefront you‟d better make
sure you comply with the regulations of all 50 states.
Yes, location still matters. If you “know where,” you can:
Analyze your Web traffic
Localize your marketing
Be more relevant
Increase conversions
Enhance your customer experience and elevate your brand
This white paper will examine trends in local retail online marketing, the benefits of localization,
some tried and true techniques using IP geo-targeting and the growing importance of localized
display advertising. Or, when you add it all up, how to become more relevant and lift sales.
Trends in Local Online Marketing
Like Internet traffic in general, local traffic is global and comes from every region of the world.
China accounts for nearly a quarter of all
global traffic, as much as the U.S., India,
Japan and Brazil combined. Your own
Web analytics may already show such
globalization. Internet Retailer reports that
global visitors spent $11 billion on U.S.
websites in 2011. Consider also: 50% of
local searches are conducted without a
specific business in mind. Retailers who
capitalize on these trends will position
themselves for growth. The key is not only
reaching international audiences, but
speaking to them as if they‟d come from
just around the corner.
Over 2 billion Internet users Worldwide
Source: Internet World Stats
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The following infographic further shows the growth and diversity of localized Web efforts.
One key take-away: Roughly 60% of searchers find local results more relevant and trustworthy.
Plus as you can see, local searching is growing across numerous devices and media.
Benefits of Localization
In the parlance of marketing, to localize is simply a way
to target audiences. Localization, or geo-targeting, builds
on what you know about your visitor‟s physical location.
In a sense, it bridges the physical distance between your
website and their homes (or offices, for all those quietly
shopping in their cubicles).
It also personalizes the relationship while keeping it
anonymous. If visitors feel special, they‟re more likely to
click through and become conversions. From dating to
weight loss and surveys, people respond when they
think you know them. JiWire*, which offers a location-
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based mobile media channel, reports that 8 out of 10 people respond more positively to ads with
local relevance.
Two Neustar customer examples clearly bear this out. An international airline boosted ticket
sales over 200% with localized messages, offers and pricing. Another customer lifted leads from
its online forms nearly 40% to accelerate software sales.
Something worth remembering: 90% of all purchases are made within 50 miles of where people
live or work (The Kelsey Group). And according to TMP/ComScore, 61% of local searches lead
to purchases. Marketing strategist Steven Cook, a member of the CMO Advisory Council, says
this: “During my 25-plus years as a global brand marketer at P&G, Coca-Cola and as
Samsung‟s CMO N.A., I‟ve witnessed marketing, advertising and consumer engagement
approaches transform from „push‟ to „pull,‟ especially in the past few years with rapidly changing
digital tools and consumer empowerment. During the pre-digital years, I saw it all — local
printed directories, ZIP code and segmented direct mail, billboards — any means possible to
reach an exact demographic and target audience. The common thread within those offline
strategies was location.”
Your Website: Where Local Comes to Life
Visitors to your website arrive from many paths. Among them: display advertising, paid search,
social media and daily deals. Since we don‟t have face-to-face contact on the Web, data is
crucial—the more granular, the better. As a marketer, you‟re able to mine a wealth of data when
consumers land on your site and you know their location. IP geo-location technologies are
especially useful in providing and analyzing data such as the following:
Geographic Data:
Continent and country
Region, state and city
Designated Market Area (DMA) and Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
Area code and postal code
Time zone and latitude/longitude
Technographic data
Connection speed and type
Carrier/Internet service provider
Top level domain and second level domain
Contextual data
Organization
Industry
All of this information can help you localize website content. For starters, you can feature geo-
specific offers using perhaps a printable coupon. Even more simply, you can make sure your
pages populate with the right language and currency, plus use the proper formats for dates,
addresses and phone numbers—all essential if you‟re marketing on a global scale. You can
also use graphics that make sense to buyers in targeted areas. Want to lure them into your
stores? You can automatically provide the closest locations, without your visitors having to input
their addresses.
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How to Localize
Special Offers
Check out the Special Offers page on Skype.com*. Note the differences between the American
and Swedish versions—we‟re talking more than a couple of umlauts. The offers are not only
different; they‟re expressed differently, one emphasizing actual prices, the other savings
percentages.
American Swedish
Relevant Products
Perhaps you sell lawn furniture. Normally your window of opportunity is during spring and early
summer. Once these warmer seasons are over, your campaign has little effect. Who needs
patio furniture during a snowstorm? However, with geo-targeting you can market your outdoor
furniture to people in warm-weather states and indoor furniture, if you carry it, to folks in colder
climes.
Language and Currency
Let‟s consider another example, yoox.com* as seen in USA and Italy.
New York Florida
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USA Italy
Again, the differences are dramatic—different languages, visuals and copy. Yet both pages are
on the same domain and root directory of yoox.com. If you have multiple websites targeting
various countries, you can simply redirect visitors to the appropriate site when they click on a
link or type an address into a browser. Or when a foreign visitor arrives at your site, you can
inform him or her of the appropriate nationalized site.
It‟s a good idea to test general approaches, along with specific web page elements. Think
through what will work better: showing your traffic from Spain pages in either Spanish or in
English? Will you quote euros or dollars? You can‟t always assume.
Visuals
Visuals too are ripe for testing. See how Marriott.com* looks in France as compared to Japan.
France Japan
As you can see, the colors, images and designs differ a great deal. Would pages for Arkansas
versus New Jersey be equally disparate? Yes, conceivably.
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With geo-targeting, your site can also promote your bricks-and-mortar locations. By targeting
consumers near your stores, you can sync online promotions to offline activities, matching them
with local inventory and generating impulse shopping. You can even adjust your message
according to the proximity of your competitors.
Some studies estimate that 30% of all website visitors leave within seconds. Why? Simple: they
can‟t find what they came for. As Google puts it, “A high bounce rate generally indicates that site
entrance pages aren‟t relevant to your visitors‟ needs.” By instantly displaying the most relevant
content to every visitor every time, you can significantly decrease bounces and engage visitors
longer.
Display Advertising
Like websites, banner ads become more relevant when localized. Using display to create
awareness and generate leads, you can lift response and conversions throughout your
marketing funnel. No wonder that in a 2011 survey, Bizo reported that display advertising was
the top priority (65%), followed by mobile (60%) and search engine optimization (56%).
As reported by Business Insider, display is already the second largest category of digital
marketing, accounting for 30% of ad dollars versus 45% for search marketing. In all likelihood,
your organization has a substantial search program. Display could easily offer untapped
potential. It also nicely complements search, which is further down the funnel and attracts
buyers who have already shown intent. With its powerful lead-gen capabilities, display
enhances awareness and even drives search. During display campaigns, people often search
for what they see in banners.
How powerful are search + display? The numbers tell the story:
Increase traffic and engagement—According to Yahoo and ComScore, search +
display increase average number of page views by 68%.
Boost in-store visits—The same research shows that in-store visits increase as much
as 43%.
Ignite paid search campaigns—After seeing a display ad, consumers are 136% more
likely to search for your brand and 140% more likely to click on an organic link.
Grow offline conversions—Dunnhumby and Google report that one major consumer
products company saw a 52% lift in offline sales following a display campaign.
When it comes to localizing display ads, it‟s good to know you have options. You can target
display not only by country, state or city, but also by device type (Mac or PC, iPhone or
Android), connection type (cable or DSL) and browser type (Internet Explorer or Firefox), all of
which lets you factor in technological capabilities. Moreover, within a local area you can target
by domain: home, work, government, university and more, even drilling down to organization
name and industry. With these types of contextual data, “local” goes beyond geography into
other affiliations.
Maybe college students are a key audience for
your business. Students of many universities
are intensely loyal. Knowing this, you might
localize your next credit offer.
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If you‟re an apparel merchant, you could likewise zero in.
The same holds true for industries you target. Whether you‟re trying to reach construction
contractors, policemen and firemen, doctors or auto shop owners, location-based data helps
you hit the mark. Minimizing ad waste, it‟s an intelligent way to lift conversions.
Conclusion
The local Web is growing and shows no signs of slowing down. Local searches continue to
surge across different media and devices, with consumers finding localized messages more
relevant and trustworthy. By knowing “where,” marketers can engage more relevantly and
increase conversions. Localization is a proven way to personalize your marketing, with
references to local attractions, events, weather and more.
Your website and display advertising both benefit from going local. Websites can tailor products,
special offers and pricing to locality, along with language, currency and site creative. Localized
display ads can help increase traffic and engagement, in-store visits and offline conversions
while aiding your paid search efforts. You can target locally not just with geographic data, but
also by knowing the user‟s device, Internet connection and browser. It‟s also possible to target
people at home, work, school or at government agencies. In total, local online marketing offers a
growing number of ways to be more relevant and engaging.
Your challenge, should you accept: promote your business with local relevancy … and get
ready to reap the rewards.
About Neustar®
Neustar, Inc. is a leading provider of information and analysis to the Internet,
telecommunications, entertainment, advertising and marketing industries. Neustar applies
proprietary technologies to its data to provide market intelligence, analytics, supply chain
management decision support, security services and fraud prevention. Businesses worldwide
trust Neustar to deliver reliable, secure solutions to their most complex challenges. Learn more
at www.neustar.biz.
Neustar IP Intelligence: The Technology That Powers Local
For over a decade, Neustar has offered IP intelligence for critical business tasks: analyzing
Internet traffic, targeting key audiences, localizing website content, preventing online fraud and
complying with state and federal regulations. Our mission is to provide the most comprehensive,
accurate and up-to-date IP data, giving your business insights that lead to better decisions. To
improve your marketing and website performance, enhance your customer‟ experience, ensure
their online safety or your own legal compliance, learn more about Neustar‟s IP intelligence
services today by contacting us at 1.877.737.8682 or by visiting us at www.neustar.biz/IPIntel.
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