Monthly Industry Roundup: January 2019

Location3 Named Agency of Record for Self Esteem Brands

It was announced on Wednesday that Location3 was selected as the Agency of Record for the global health & fitness pioneer, Self Esteem Brands (Anytime Fitness, Waxing The City, Basecamp Fitness)!

We’re excited for the opportunity to expand our incredible partnership with Self Esteem Brands; one that started in February 2016 and has grown to include all advertising and media buying across channels such as linear television, connected television, radio, digital audio & video, national paid media, hyper-local franchisee paid media, location data management and more.

“As we continue to advance our vision of improving the self-esteem of the world, Self Esteem Brands signifies the ultimate opportunity for any person to improve their health and well-being at any time,” said Kristen Pechacek, Digital Marketing Director & Certified Franchise Executive at Self Esteem Brands. “In solidifying our partnership with Location3 and further integrating with their innovative franchise marketing platform, LOCALACT, we are confident that our brands and franchisees are in a strong position to gain market share and grow our customer base in 2019 and beyond.”

“We are truly honored to have this opportunity to build upon the incredible growth and success we’ve already achieved with Anytime Fitness and Waxing The City over the past several years,” said Alex Porter, CEO of Location3. “Our team remains committed to crafting unique, scalable marketing programs that drive increased brand awareness and meaningful customer action at the local level. We’re excited for what lies ahead.”

If you’d like to learn more about how Location3 can help your franchise brand increase customers and revenue, feel free to contact us directly and we’ll be sure to follow up!

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN FRANCHISE DIGITAL MARKETING?

2019 Franchise Digital Marketing Conferences

Many of the best digital marketing conferences have set their dates for 2019. We’ve compiled an exhaustive list of our favorite conferences in addition to the most prestigious in the industry. Notable franchise digital marketing conferences include:

IFA Convention

February 24-27, Las Vegas, NV

Also, feel free to email hello@location3.com with any conference information we missed.

Restaurant Franchising & Innovation Summit

March 11-13, Louisville, KY

Multi-Unit Franchising Conference

March 24-27, Las Vegas, NV

IFA Franchise Development Seminar

May 16, Denver, CO

Franchise Marketing Leadership Conference

June 18-20, Atlanta, GA

Franchise Action Network Annual Meeting

September 9-11, Washington, D.C.

Franchise Springboard

September 18-20, Philadelphia, PA

IFA Franchise Development Seminar

September 27, New Orleans, LA

Franchise Leadership & Development Conference

October 15-17, Atlanta, GA

IFA Franchise Marketing & Tech Conference

October 23-25, Austin, TX

Emerging Franchisor Conference

November 19-21, Nashville, TN

Feel free to email hello@location3.com with any conference information we missed.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN LOCAL LISTINGS MANAGEMENT?

LSA Releases 2019 Predictions for Location-Based Marketing

Local Search Association, an association of local marketing experts, has published its annual predictions for the location-based marketing industry. The more than 70 predictions cover an array of topics, including:

• Google My Business
• Local & Mobile Search
• Local & Small Business
• Social & Reviews
• Ads & Paid Search
• E-commerce & Retail
• Data & Location Intelligence
• Speech & Voice Search
• Personal Data & Privacy
• Digital Strategy

Here are a few excerpts from our experts at Location3:

“I think Google will support some efforts to engage local business owners with data for their Google My Business performance in the coming year. More engaged owners should lead to higher quality listings in terms of accuracy, quality information and images, review responses and answers to Q&A.”

–Location3 Director of Earned and Owned Matt Lacuesta

“Bing’s powering of Alexa search increases its importance in search and increases its share of local search. I predict that Bing will release a paid listings product to monetize voice search.”

–Location3 CEO Alex Porter

My prediction for 2019 is that more brands will become aware that complete ownership and control of your own website content, all online accounts (i.e. Google Ads, Facebook Business Manager, etc.) and all of the data associated with each will be critical to success regardless of whether or not you use third-party vendors or agencies to execute marketing programs. Own your website. Own your accounts. Own your data.

–Location3 Sr. Director of Marketing Josh Allen

Download the full report here.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN ANALYTICS?

When to Buy Search Analytics Tools

Analytics tools are essential for search marketers, but once you move past free tools like Google Analytics, pricy tools can be a risky proposition. So how do you know when it’s time to pay for search analytics tools? Amy Gesenhues of Search Engine Land recently asked a group of experts when they’ve decided to invest in a search analytics solution. Here are a few responses, including from Location3 VP of Digital Strategy Gloria Dutton. Dutton notes that Location3 doesn’t recommend investing until a company has used free tools to their full capacity and are taking action based on insight from those tools.

“There are, of course, reasons to upgrade to a paid platform, primarily if your site is large enough (hits per month). If a company is advanced in their customer data and wants to connect all of their technologies to one system through API integrations – they are probably ready for an upgrade.”

-Gloria Dutton, Location3 VP of Digital Strategy 

“The question ultimately boils down to whether search is a strategic component of the overall marketing program or simply viewed as a tactic within a silo. Hopefully the answer is strategic business drive, in which case, businesses that have reached — or aspire to reach — a certain scale should consider researching enterprise-level search analytics tools”

-Greg Lee, SEO lead for Drum

“Google often changes what it considers the intent of a given SERP, so staying on top of what type of content Google is ranking (e.g. packs, snippets, media, e-commerce, etc.) can be critical to deploying a solid SEO strategy. There are certainly plenty of ways to get at that data for free (just search Google), but if you want to figure that out at scale, you’re going to want to invest in some tools that can help you get there.”

-Andrew Shotland, Local SEO Guide founder and CEO

For more insight, read the entire post here.