There have been a lot of articles over the past three years proclaiming that Local Search is the next big thing.

Well… I agree!

The question I’ve asked myself over the past three years is– What about Now?

Currently, Local Search is the second, third and even fourth search alternative. There are several reasons for this including poor promotion, bad implementation, no plan, or too broad of an approach to name a few.

Newspapers can make in-roads toward becoming the Market Leader for Local Search by streamlining their plan by going category by category, making choices based on the impact they could have in their market.

The impact formula is as follows:

High Reader Interest + High # of Potential Advertisers = Impact

This process is good for a number of reasons.

1. Marketing that doesn’t suck. It is much simpler to come up with a strong marketing plan for an entertainment or service vertical than it is for 35 categories at once. Your marketing department will love you and your audience will understand and react to the message. (Don’t forget to market internally to help build the base)
2. Sales Best Practices. All of your efforts are focused on the initial category or vertical allowing you to build best practices that you can move to the next category. As you are building best practices you are also getting rid of bad habits through very focused training.
3. ROI. The focused effort will allow for a high return on your investment because your sales team will know exactly what they are selling and why they are selling it.
4. Market Perception. Instead of your site not having an identity, you will have a site that is known for having the best information in your chosen category. If your audience has confidence in you they will follow you into the next category you choose.
5. Score a Defensive Touchdown. My high school coach said it’s six points if the punter, running back or linebacker run it in. Owning your market category by category will keep your competition on their heels.

Within a year, you can be the Market Leader in five categories and begin to increase your active advertisers by 25-50%. Remember, your users want information and not just from your top print advertisers.

You are successful in this plan when you can say the following:

• I have the TOP 10 businesses advertising.
• I have 30% of the remaining businesses advertising.
• I have surpassed my audience and revenue plan.