Everyone, it seems, is taking local marketing more seriously. But who is really doing it well?
In an effort to find out, LocalVox has published a new local marketing “report card.” And the findings are quite riveting.
“When it comes to using local marketing to attract and retain customers and beat out the competition, many of the top 150 U.S. retailers are falling behind on local search, mobile, social media and content marketing efforts,” explains the report summary from LocalVox, an integrated local, social and mobile marketing platform.
This indicates that companies either don’t understand local marketing or are choosing not to invest in it, even though the magnitude of online interaction creates a mandate for retailers to invest in local Internet marketing. The industry is growing 13.8 percent year-over-year, from $26.5 billion in 2013 to over $44.5 billion in 2017, and half of in-store sales are influenced online, according to Forrester.
“On average,” the company reveals, “businesses earned a failing grade of 3.58 out of 10 for comprehensive local marketing efforts: only 11 of the companies scored above a 5, and 12 companies scored less than a 2. Despite the fact that no company is engaging with local marketing correctly, a handful of them are at least starting to make an effort.”
So which companies are at the top of the local marketing heap? Here are the top ten:
- Whole Foods Market
- Walmart
- Verizon Wireless
- Best Buy
- Michaels Stores
- Brinker International
- Hy-Vee
- Barnes and Noble
- Sears Holdings
- Gap
To review the full report and review other rankings across a host of marketing categories, click here.
