BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL Focus: Where2GetIt's Manish Patel on 'Chief Location Officers'

Chief Marketing Officers will become “Chief Location Officers” if Where2GetIt CEO Manish Patel has any say about it. Patel is a featured speaker at BIA/Kelsey National in Dallas March 25-27 appearing on a platform leaders panel with Netsertive’s Brendan Morrissey, Yext’s Christian Ward and LocalBizNow’s Todd Webber.

Brands have made a lot of progress in localizing their efforts, says Patel. But they are still playing catch up with their local targeting efforts, considering all the opportunities they have at their disposal.

Patel, whose company works with over 500 brands, emphasizes that “Local needs to take center stage.” To do that, the industry can’t have every feature or channel in a silo. “You can’t have a mobile guy, a review guy and a social guy,” he says. “Someone from the marketing team needs to know someone at the location” who can tie together reviews, competitive intelligence, search and mobile advertising — as well as the brand executives who handle real estate and operations.

“Everything is tied into the ecosystem,” adds Patel, who will discuss best practices during his appearance at NATIONAL. “When a customer search is not successful they don’t blame Google. They blame the brand. Accurate location information is paramount.”

Where2GetIt CEO Manish Patel