Strategy squared

A recent survey by IAB stated that US companies would spend close to $17 Billion on online advertising in 2007. Fuelled by aquisitions, the worlds leading technology firms iare spending big bucks in order to capitalize on this market. Microsoft, Google and Yahoo are all investing significant sums ($3.1 Billion in Googles case with the aquisition of Doubleclick) buying into the online advertising sector.

With schemes such as Google’s Adwords and Yahoo’s Searchmarketing - online classifieds and advertising are now the norm. However given this global market what is perhaps surprising is the big push to ensure that such products retain a local geographical target - with sites increasingly featuring customized and targeted content based on the users local.

For some time the major search engines have had a local presence - take Google - it currently offers local searches in a variety of countries - google.ca or google.co.uk for example - Yahoo is the same - Youtube is pushing this way to with international versions of the video site.

Venerable site Craigslist (Craigslist) is also getting in on the act - in September 2007 - the London based Sunday Times reported that Craigslist is about to relaunch its UK offering. An important aspect of regionalized web content is the cultural differences that need to ironed out - terminology perhaps the major component.

Regionally focussed content and complimentary local contextual advertising are clearly a winner and firms and it looks like the push to online advertising will be around for some time yet. The impact on traditional marketing channels remains unclear -a survey last year by http://www.kelseygroup.com/ discussed that online classified ads are expected to grow about 8% a year.

With many SME businesses beginning to understand the impact that local search marketing could have on thier bottom line - against traditional channels - online publishers will be increasingly pushed to offer targeted localized content to align online advertising and consumers. Consumers are increasingly requesting more flexability in order to take advantage of the globalization of the internet while keeping a local interest. There is no doubt that over the next few years technology will need to adapt to ensure that content, advertising, location, relevence and user experience combine providing value to both the internet user and the organizations spending thier marketing dollars.