{"id":112825,"date":"2016-11-21T22:48:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T03:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/future-local-presence-management-2\/"},"modified":"2024-12-21T05:54:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T10:54:06","slug":"future-local-presence-management-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-gb\/insights\/blog\/local-search\/future-local-presence-management-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Local Presence Management"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that time of year again when we begin to reflect on all that happened in the past year and pull out the crystal ball to speculate on what the 12 months ahead may hold. In the world of local listing management<\/a>, 2016 was a year filled with major changes that have already begun to shape how 2017 will play out for marketers and brands alike. Here are our top five predictions for what to expect in the world of local presence management in 2017.<\/p>\n

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  1. Online to offline tracking will be even more important<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Over the last few years, several brands and solution providers have been trying to track \u201cthe last mile\u201d of the consumer journey \u2013 meaning they are seeking ways to truly connect online activities (i.e. searching for and researching products and services online) to offline transactions and conversions. Even Google has been providing thought leadership around this topic with its Micro-Moments research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    2016 introduced several new ways to further track online to offline activities. For example, Uber allowed their on-demand ride-sharing capabilities to be integrated with store web pages so consumers could call a ride directly from a mobile website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    This trend of tracking and connecting online to offline activities will continue to become more important in 2017. New tracking tools and predictive modelling analytics will emerge to help brands, marketers, and solution providers better leverage the last mile of the consumer journey.<\/p>\n

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    1. Local search and paid search will continue blending together <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      For far too long, the digital channels of paid media<\/a>, owned media, and earned media were treated as separate and independent of each other. In June of 2016, Google finally acknowledged that paid ads would be coming to the Google Local Pack<\/a>. Today nearly every search with local intent provides the searcher with two things: a local map pack of results and at least one local paid ad.<\/p>\n

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      Google believes there is value in blending paid and earned media channels \u2013 in the form of revenues for Google and variety for consumers. In 2017, marketers will need to adapt to this changing landscape so they can achieve optimal results for their locations. We predict that these two channels will continue to morph into one. If anything, we may even see more ads show up in this local channel.<\/p>\n

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      1. Data aggregators will have their last chance to evolve <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        The concept of being a listing management \u201cdata aggregator\u201d has been around now for over seven years. In local search years, this timeframe seems like forever! In the purest sense, data aggregators would be categorised as companies such as Infogroup, Neustar Localeze, and Acxiom. Additional companies like Factual and Foursquare are also typically grouped into this bunch.<\/p>\n

        Although the listing management industry has seen major shifts and changes over the last 7+ years, the historical data aggregators companies have not, for the most part, evolved to keep up with the changing industry.<\/p>\n

        In 2017 we may\u00a0finally see the data aggregator business model evolve. Data aggregators stand to\u00a0provide their clients and partners with additional tools and products to help provide value on the services being purchased. This is the year that marketers could\u00a0begin to see more reporting and analytics come back from data aggregators.<\/p>\n

        This upcoming year will reach a tipping point for the data aggregator business model. Infogroup, Neustar Localeze, and Acxiom will either evolve \u2013 embracing the ever-changing local search landscape and adding value through better reporting, faster distribution and more transparency in their processes and efforts \u2013 or they will stay the same and become irrelevant to local search marketers and multi-location businesses.<\/p>\n

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        1. Businesses no longer need to be found everywhere online<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Being a local search veteran, it was not too long ago that I preached the need for businesses to \u201cbe found everywhere online\u201d. A few years ago it was<\/em>\n

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