August 4, 2010 73 Comments

Stick a Pin in Local Marketing

Thumbtack.com

I’m just starting to peel back the layers on Thumbtack, but what I’m seeing is pretty interesting. They’re positioning themselves in the rapidly growing local marketing services industry, with a very simple premise of helping people find local services while helping local services market. Now, whatever you think of the business models that Thumbtack.com will come up with, that’s besides the point. Seeing this service shortly after writing about Gannett Local, plus all these other moves like location-based social platforms means that we’re on to a full blown trend. (Side note: realize that most people have never heard of location-based apps, according to my favorite GigaOm writer, Mathew Ingram.)

They’re Not Even HERE Yet

First off, some facts about how small businesses are (not!) using the web:

  • 40% of small businesses don’t have a web site
  • 81% of entrepreneurs still don’t take advantge of social media
  • 47% don’t think that Facebook, Twitter or even LinkedIn are beneficial to their business
  • 84% don’t provide for e-commerce
  • 62% don’t use email marketing

(Source: Citibank survey.)

How To Get Them In

We’re not selling them what they need. We’re talking them to death about what they could do. Want to work with local businesses? Make it dead simple. Make it Thumbtack.com simple. That’s how you’ll sell them.

Want to compete with Thumbtack? Offer services. That’s what Gannett Local will likely do in a handful of months. Beat them both to it. Why not?

Local Marketing Is a HOT Marketplace

It doesn’t have to be small, by the way. It just has to be local. You have some potential here. It’s just up to you to take advantage.

What’s your move?

Photo hosted at Flickr

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  • http://twitter.com/SoMeKipp Kipp Mullis

    How timely. Friends of mine that own a local plumbing company have struggled to figure our online placement and activity. As a social media professional, I've counseled them on effective use of Twitter / Facebook…but a platform like this is really something simple and easy for them to sink their teeth into and manage with having to become totally engrossed in social at the expense of running their business.

  • http://www.thumbtack.com/ Marco Zappacosta

    We're definitely working on that — stay tuned!

  • http://www.abcddesign.com ABC Dragoo

    Yes, of course there is the very well known slow food movement – but the slow home is incorporating all aspects of the home – down to furnishing, architecture, art, etc.

  • http://www.christian-discipleship.com/christian-discipleship/christian-discipleship-resources.html Christian

    Educating clients is a time-consuming but required process.

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  • http://www.localviz.com/ LocalViz

    It's a hot market right now no doubt. The companies that can provide the most unique services will no doubt rise to the top. There are plenty of small businesses out there that can benefit from the massive amount of leads generated from local searches. Wouldn't want to be working for the yellowpages right now that's for sure.

  • http://www.charlesneville.com/ charlesneville

    postling.com and geotoko.com are two more to watch in this space.

  • http://www.logobench.com Custom Logo Design

    wooo it i the nice post thanks for the shear it

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  • http://twitter.com/FelipeHuicochea Felipe Huicochea

    Although local marketing is an emerging trend, there is a huge gap between self service platforms like Thumbtack or Yelp and the willingness of many small business owners to overcome the learning curve. This opens a very profitable opportunity for people with basic and mid level marketing skills to provide local marketing services to such business owners.

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  • http://twitter.com/dennysugar Entrepreneur Videos

    Totally agree Chris, I’m digging around looking for stories like these. I can’t believe how little information there is out there on local marketing.

  • http://twitter.com/dennysugar Entrepreneur Videos

    Totally agree Chris, I’m digging around looking for stories like these. I can’t believe how little information there is out there on local marketing.

  • http://www.blackfridayplanet.com/ William Hushburn

    If the small businesses will try to use the web, they might turn double.

  • http://www.tsheets.com Leo

    I’m constantly baffled by “local” marketing, particularly in an environment where Wal-Mart rolls into town and destroys just about every single “local” business through it’s undercutting of prices. Sure, local might be hot…but for what? If there’s no “local” business to market, what’s the point? And even if there is a local business, they can market all they want, but at the end of the day, the consumer is going to gravitate towards the lowest price; something most often found at national retailers.

  • http://www.cygnismedia.com/mobile-phone-application/iphone-application.html iphone app development

    yes agreed it is a essential for all busness

  • http://prevailpr.com/ San Luis Obispo Marketing

    One major issue I’ve come across with local business platforms is that they all seem to have different ways of entering your information, specifically your address. I’ve tried many times to create uniform listings, but on some of these sites (especially the lesser-known ones) do not make it easy or have the information fields to create a consistent listing.

    How much does this hurt and if they aren’t uniform, is it even worth submitting your business?

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  • http://www.mobilecubix.com iPhone Application Developer

    Yes,I totally agreed..It is a vital and essential for all kind of business

  • http://twitter.com/eSalesData eSalesData

    I stick to these points which are really helps to improve the local marketing. Thanks for this unique information.

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