SMBs are looking for their phones to ring and their doors to open, pure and simple. These cash register-related activities largely sway their perceptions of online marketing campaign effectiveness. Kenshoo Local, a division of SEM provider Kenshoo, aims to specifically meet these needs via an integration with Mongoose Metrics call-tracking platform. Using the platform, agencies and IYPs will be able to connect online clicks to offline call conversions for their local clients. 

Todd Herrold, Kenshoo’s director of product marketing, told BIA/Kelsey that this partnership differs from normal call tracking mechanisms. It focuses on ID’ing the most effective keywords that convert into calls, not simply amassing a high volume of clicks in hopes that the phone will ring. Marketing campaigns can then be adjusted to pinpoint an “optimal bid” by distilling those keywords that are delivering calls from those that aren’t.

Here’s how it works: Mongoose Metrics offers a “session-based DNR,” or Dynamic Number Replacement, that assigns each Web site user a distinct call-tracking number after he or she clicks through on a search ad. They are also served a “keyword identifier” by Kenshoo Local. After the business is called by the user, keywords and search queries are matched to the number and identifier. The matching is based on an algorithm that probes call duration to determine call value, then circles back to the keywords that drove the calls. Keyword choices can be modified based on results.

An open API allows Kenshoo Local to connect directly with Mongoose Metrics to utilize the call-tracking solution. Its partners can then view their clients’ call-tracking reports within Kenshoo’s interface. 

The partnership marks Kenshoo’s latest penetration into the local advertising market. The SEM company, which launched in 2006, moved up market from smaller agencies to global firms and international brands (Wal-Mart, Sears, Travelocity). It introduced Kenshoo Local at ILM:09 last December to scale its SEM technology platform to IYPs that need efficient, cost-effective tools to manage droves of SMB campaigns.

Kenshoo Local General Manager Sivan Metzger noted that Kenshoo is a “technology-only play” that doesn’t do “fulfillment for SMBs.” The company focuses on building out its platform for partners to bring added value and accountability to their clients, not managing SEM programs for SMBs directly. 

Next steps for Kenshoo include building comprehensive quality-of-call data that identify the value of sales, as well as adding voice recognition software that mines calls for keywords that activate higher-quality calls. Metzger is speaking at DMS ’10 in Dallas next week, where Kenshoo plans to make a big announcement, he says.

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Large companies with lots of local touchpoints, such as retailers and restaurant chains, often have trouble adequately representing the local end. That’s the goal of Kenshoo Local, a recently launched division of Kenshoo, the worldwide enterprise online “demand generation” firm with 120 people and offices in nine countries (and which has just received a new round of funding from Sequoia Capital). Roughly half of Kenshoo’s business is in the U.S., a third is in Europe and the rest is in Asia.

GM Sivan Metzger says Kenshoo Local’s technology was explicitly designed to boost local conversion rates and maneuver the intricacies of geotargeting and vertical specialties, while maintaining operational efficiencies. For instance, clients may stumble when they assign geocodes in a large metro area, or when they are attempting to convert international currencies.

Metzger emphasizes that the company’s sole focus is on technology, not fulfillment, which is left to clients, which may include online directories, agencies, publishers, vertical powerhouses such as Findlaw.com and small-business providers. Each handles large volumes of local or SMB campaigns.

Agencies, in particular, need help handling their second-tier accounts such as local car dealers, says Metzger. The dealers may not be able to receive the same personalized attention in a large agency as top 20 clients. Yet by focusing on scalable delivery, Kenshoo Local helps agencies, such as Havas, deliver “enterprise level” services.

Looking forward, Metzger says the company has been working with retail clients on inventory issues, and is now capable of pushing specific SKUs for retail clients to the top of search rankings – a capability that veers into specialized retail capabilities offered by companies such as Krillion.com and Milo.com.

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