At the recent Borrell Associates Local Online Advertising Conference, the consensus among speakers and attendees seemed to be that mobile and local online marketing go hand-in-hand. In a recent blog, Borrell posted some of the conference highlights – which should cue marketers to boost their local content for mobile searchers.
One of the compelling stats from the conference circulating the Twitter-sphere suggests that mobile CTRs can surpass traditional web clicks for sites that cater to on-the-go consumers. For instance, the transit-friendly site, HopStop, has seen mobile CTRs up to 20 times those of its traditional website. Local merchants may similarly find that if they can make their sites relevant to mobile searchers, mobile clicks will rise.
Local marketing is important across the web, but attendees confirm that mobile is the “missing piece” for successful local campaigns. Borrell quotes Google's Ben Woods as saying that “Local is at the heart of user search,” with one in five searches having local intent – but a full “one-third of mobile searches have local intent.”
Similarly, Borrell quotes Woods as saying, “2010-2020 is the decade of mobile.” This statement seems to mirror CEO Eric Schmidt's claim that 2011 is the year of mobile – and Google is coming out with a number of mobile-friendly marketing features brands may want to use.
Brafton reported that at the recent SMX West conference, Google execs emphasized their commitment to mobile local search features in light of the rise of mobile Maps users.
