Last week, Gannett digital marketing subsidiary LocaliQ dropped several announcements that elevate its ability to bring presence and promotion to SMBs. These expand LocalIQ’s marketing suite, with the ultimate goal of retaining business, and broadening its addressable market to a wider range of SMBs.
First, the company has added Yelp Ads to its Search Ads suite. This could boost appeal for its overall bundle, especially among review-centric businesses in arts & entertainment (a fancy term for bars & restaurants), professional services, and home services. LocaliQ is already strong across these verticals.
This Yelp integration means a few things for LocaliQ and its SMB customers. One, it brings a one-stop-shop appeal in conveniently being able to add Yelp to an existing marketing mix. Two, the management and optimization of Yelp ads can happen within LocaliQ’s familiar and intuitive workflow interface.
That last part is a key consideration for all-things SMB. Not only are they time-starved but they’re often tech-challenged. This means that managing several disparate dashboards is often prohibitive. Bringing them a range of tools in a familiar and single-platform environment is a foundational principle in local.
“We currently serve a wide range of industries and are confident that by continuing to expand our digital marketing offerings – which include search, social, SEO, email, and website services – we’re creating solutions that work for small businesses from the professional services, automotive, home services, specialty services, healthcare industries, and beyond.” LocaliQ President Chris Cho told Localogy.
Competency & Compliance
Elsewhere in its slate of updates, LocaliQ owner Gannett has established a strategic media partnership with the Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf). This gives the USA Today Network an inside track as the official media/content partner for promoting soccer.
This is a boon to Gannett in that it gains a major advertising partner with motivation and money to integrate soccer further into the fabric of American sports media. This will happen on international levels (the regions noted above), but also be targeted on local levels, given all of Gannett’s localized firepower.
Meanwhile, LocaliQ has landed SOC 2 Type II certification, which validates its competency and compliance with operational security and risk management. In English, this gives it a firm playbook and set of protocols to manage customers’ sensitive marketing data, which in turn engenders trust.
The timing is right for this certification, as there are record levels of heightened attentiveness to data security. This comes from a rise in cybersecurity incidents such as ransomware attacks. SMBs are rightly fearful as the tight cash flows endemic to the sector mean that attacks have outsized impact.
With that plus the addition of Yelp ads – and for all the reasons noted earlier – this set of announcements should position Gannett and LocaliQ on higher ground.
“As consumers overwhelmingly rely on the internet to answer their questions, solve their challenges, and connect with businesses, it is critical that small businesses leverage all the tools available to them in their digital marketing,” said Cho. “By further diversifying our search solutions with the addition of Yelp Ads, we’re giving small businesses the ability to be where 98 percent of consumers search.”
