Ziplocal, a provider of local search solutions, today announced the release of its new “LocalLeads” digital advertising platform.
The platform uses a performance-based (affiliate) model to distribute hyperlocal advertising content from small and medium size businesses (SMBs) to web and mobile publishers across North America. The true value lies in the platform’s immense reach right out of the gate — with distribution already secured across 92 percent of the U.S. market through agreements with CityGrid Media, SuperMedia, Chitika, DiscoverOurTown and many more.
Ziplocal certainly has the infrastructure in place as well; the company is backed by a roster of over 300,000 direct and indirect local advertisers, a sales force of 750 direct and 1,000 indirect in-market representatives across the country and a company which has more than 30 years of experience in the local search market. Its extensive resources and sales infrastructure combined with an innovative pay-for-performance model enables LocaLeads to deliver “guaranteed results to advertisers as well as hyperlocal content to distributors.” In addition, the company says it returns a “significantly higher yield on impressions, or eCPM, than models based on click-through rates alone.”
What interests me is the integration model they’ve created. The platform uses the latest location-based technologies combined with a unique lead qualification process that actually employs human operators to listen to the calls coming in to verify the customer’s intent to do business. Advertisers then have access to a full digital dashboard Online where they can review the qualified calls and monitor the results of their campaign directly.
Under its pay-for-performance model, LocaLeads offers both display and listing advertising formats to its advertisers which, in turn, makes hyperlocal advertising content available to all types of websites and mobile content providers—from search engines and online city guides to mobile application publishers. Through its distribution partnerships, LocaLeads’ advertising content is served to the consumer via keyword and category search matches coupled with geo-location technology to ensure it is both hyperlocal and relevant. The 360 degree approach to hyperlocal advertising with an emphasis on direct lead-generation is something we haven’t quite seem before on such a large scale.
“LocaLeads marries a much needed digital onramp for SMBs with hyperlocal advertising content that our distribution partners want most,” says Olivier Vincent, CEO of Ziplocal. “Content providers are looking for ways to better monetize their digital content, which means moving from national to hyperlocal. At the same time, SMBs want direct exposure to the growing number of customers making buying decisions on their mobile phones as well as online.”