As a local franchise company with a national brand, Grant Fawcett wanted to market his catering business, Apple Spice Junction, to corporations throughout Orange County and more specifically to the "gatekeepers" of a catering company's success, administrative and executive assistants. He'd tried Google Search words and other organic search sites, but never really felt he was reaching his target market. He knew he needed to make a change to ensure his business was found by these important gatekeepers who made the catering decisions for their executive management teams.
"I knew this group wouldn't thumb through the Yellow Pages or a magazine for a local caterer," said Fawcett. "They were more likely to use what was right in front of them: their computer. I needed them to find my catering company in the midst of so much clutter that is already on the Internet."
To make it happen, he decided to deploy a local search marketing strategy that would allow him to geographically target these decision makers, by delivering relevant, local search results with his company included in the listings. Local search providers use keywords and search phrases to attract local customers to company business listings by delivering results that are relevant to the company's geographic region. They also provide free or paid listings that can be instantly updated unlike traditional Yellow Pages directories, which are updated annually.
According to global Internet information provider, comScore, Inc., 47 percent of local searchers visited a local merchant as a result of their online search.
In January 2008, Fawcett decided to try Local.com after finding the company while conducting organic searches. He had also researched several of the other local search providers.
"I was really impressed with Local.com and their team," said Fawcett. "The process seemed to be more organized than other companies I contacted and the people were extremely helpful and knowledgeable."
Fawcett immediately signed up for Local.com's Local Promote™ program. Through this program, he said he was able to optimize his website by developing the right key words to geographically target his audience of corporate catering decision makers - not just in the Irvine area - but throughout all of Orange County.
"It was so fast and easy, and we were up and running within a day," said Fawcett. "We're very happy with the results we are getting with Local.com."
Another benefit of local search advertising is that it is less expensive than traditional national search engines because the ROI is much higher when you are able to target your advertising dollars with a specific category and geographic location. You also get an audit trail to effectively measure the results of your marketing campaign.
"With the low monthly fee, I only need to complete one job per month and it pays for itself," said Fawcett.
"As the local franchise of a national brand, brand awareness isn't as important to us. Getting customers to call, visit our website or our location is the number one priority and Local.com is delivering on their promise to make this happen."
With a better web presence and his listing appearing at the top of the results on the search engines and on Local.com, Fawcett is optimistic about the future of his local catering company. "We're really gaining momentum, and I look forward to an exciting year as my company continues to grow and prosper, with help from Local.com."
