New Research from SOCi and Localogy Reveals an Optimized Localized Marketing Presence Leads to Tangible Performance and Revenue Growth

Findings from the third annual Localized Marketing Benchmark Report emphasizes importance of brand visibility in both local search and social in order to compete in new marketplace

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SOCi

Apr 15, 2021, 10:00 ET

SAN DIEGO, April 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a report released today by SOCi, Inc. and Localogy, multi-location businesses with an optimized localized marketing strategy grew revenues at a rate up to three times that of their peers, even amidst the uncertainty of a pandemic. For a third year, research from the Localized Marketing Benchmark Report (LMBR) found that businesses who fully leveraged their localized business presence across top social and search sites experienced higher levels of visibility and performance compared to the average multi-location business. In fact, the top 10 scorers in this year's study received five-times more high valued engagements from social posts and almost three-times the local search visibility. These are important metrics considering social's increasing influence on product and service discovery as well as the increase of online searches with local intent.

A collaboration between Localogy, the leading global non-profit trade association helping marketers and agencies realize the full potential of localized marketing, and SOCi, an award-winning, all-in-one marketing platform for multi-location businesses, the LMBR examines how top brands performed last year in the most influential digital channels, including local search, social, and ratings and reviews. Researchers established benchmarks and assigned scores for each brand on a 100-point scale for localized search, localized social, and the average of those scores, the final LMBR score. The goal of the research is to quantify the digital presence and performance of today's top multi-location brands, establishing standardized and quantifiable benchmarks.

"In this year's research, we discovered that localized marketing sophistication varies not only by brand and industry, but also by channel. In general, most multi-location marketers showed more comfort and sophistication in one area over another - either localized search or localized social but rarely in both," said Monica Ho, CMO of SOCi. "Despite this, it is notable that performance and benchmark scores were highest when brands performed well consistently across platforms and interrelated social and search categories. Brands should understand that local search and local social marketing are both critical to a brand's digital health and visibility and map to key stages in the consumer journey. Although the two marketing strategies have a symbiotic relationship, they are not two sides of the same coin. Each is unique requiring a specific focus to leverage fully."

The top categories that over-indexed in the combined LMBR score across all the brands studied are retail, home services, personal care services, and restaurants. Ten brands stand out among the pool of the 276 surveyed as recognized leaders in localized marketing based on their individual brand LMBR scores.

Arby's
Batteries Plus Bulbs
Clean Juice
IHOP
Jason's Deli
Jersey Mike's Subs
Pet Supplies Plus
Planet Fitness
Sonic Drive-In
Urban Air Adventure Park

"Localized marketing has become the largest untapped opportunity in location-based services and technology," said Bill Dinan, CEO of Localogy. "Despite being a challenging year for local businesses of all sizes to grow, this report tells a different story for those effectively leveraging localized marketing strategies – even those industries hardest hit by the pandemic."

In 2020, the pandemic's unprecedented disruption and economic uncertainty amplified the influence of localized marketing on multi-location businesses, solidifying a new normal years in the making. Research from this and previous years' LMBR show even more impetus for brands to evolve and level up their localized marketing, specifically balance in local search and social, which are vital business drivers that will make an impact in multi-location business success and survival.

To request your company's benchmark score and to learn more about how the leading multi-location brands are performing in the top digital channels, download the 2021 Localized Marketing Benchmark Report here.

Methodology

The 2021 LMBR is based on research into 276 top multi-location brands and property management companies across 23 industries. The list of brands was compiled from the top 200 largest brands by Franchising Times, Entrepreneur Magazine's 100 fastest growing franchises, and the top 10 property management companies from the National Multifamily Housing Council's 2020 Apartment Manager List. Through a partnership with Places Scout, researchers extracted real-world presence data on top local digital sites to score each of the 210,000+ business locations. Scores for localized search were evaluated against top ranking and performance factors across Google My Business, Facebook, and Yelp Local Pages. Localized social scores came from ranking and performance factors across Google My Business and Facebook Local/Store Pages.

About SOCi

SOCi is an award-winning localized marketing platform built specifically for multi-location marketers. Our customers include top brands and influencers like Ace Hardware, Sport Clips, and Anytime Fitness who have the impossible challenge of managing their digital presence across hundreds and thousands of locations. As central command™ for multi-location marketers, SOCi makes the impossible possible by enabling top brands and their locations to strengthen and scale their digital presence across limitless local search and social pages while protecting what matters most, their reputation. For more information on how SOCi can help fuel your localized marketing success - visit us at www.meetsoci.com or message us at [email protected]

About Localogy

Localogy, formerly the Local Search Association (LSA), is a not-for-profit trade association comprised of technology, marketing and media service providers, agencies and multi-location brands whose services aim to help small businesses thrive in an increasingly localized world. Localogy's members, including Facebook, Microsoft, Google, General Motors, Wix, Edward Jones, and Ace Hardware, represent today's top organizations in local commerce. Localogy is dedicated to helping its members succeed through data and insights, education, events, consulting services and more. For more information or to become a member, please visit www.localogy.com.

SOURCE SOCi