National retailers are increasingly looking to get their local stores into local Web sites, directories and social and mobile sites. But they are confronting issues such as bad local store listing data, and the challenge of competing with locally owned stores for social and mobile media awareness, according to a morning panel hosted by Red Door Interactive at its San Diego headquarters.

Members of the panel included ESET VP Dan Clark; Universal Business Listings CEO Doyal Bryant; Citysearch National Sales Manager Michael Todd; and Placecast Chief Revenue Officer Jeff Montgomery.

For national retailers, “the biggest competitor is a locally owned shop,” notes Placecast’s Montgomery. “Digital Physical” efforts attached to consumer wallets are the way to go.

Because of that, the natural goal for chains like Target is to zero in on what makes the local Target outlet “My Target. Relevancy is tied to where you are,” says Montgomery. In fact, it is “not just where you are, but the time of day. It means something if it is 8:30 on a Saturday night.”

Montgomery suggests that retailers begin to go beyond “no brainer” Web site features such as store locators and product info and start digging in with video, mobile and SMS. “Mobile Web sites are obviously something you need to do in the future,” he says. But in conversations with more than 160 agencies and brands, Placecast has learned that the bug question is: “What do I do in mobile?”

“The objective is to learn as quickly as possible,” says Montgomery. “Don’t just look at clicks. They don’t capture a user’s emotional connections.”

Montgomery suggests that retailers start with short codes and keywords, which have a similar impact as more sophisticated bar codes and scanable coupons, even if they don’t exactly provide “the same rich experience.” What retailers will find is that SMS is “incredibly affordable. You can build that asset right out of the gate,” he says. They’ll also see very high open rates in e-mail from smartphone users. The mobile open rate is 82 percent, and 69 percent open immediately.

The Panel at Red Door Interactive

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Coupons are hot in a down economy, and printable online coupons — and even mobile coupons — are gaining share in the coupon business. But local SMBs aren’t always in on the game, as coupon sites frequently gravitate toward one-stop national accounts.

Now, Analog Analytics, a San Diego-based vendor, is pushing a clever mobile solution that allows online local publishers to feature display ads that have SMS promotion codes built in. Consumers show the coupon on their phones to retailers for conversion.

Use of the mobile coupon provides complete analytics (impressions, clickthrough rates, texts, e-mail and conversions). Among the 850 publishers currently working with the solution are MediaNews Group, Village Voice Media, Local.com, Wick Communications, Freedom Interactive and The San Diego Reader. More than 25,000 ads are being supported, and the company has just expanded beyond the U.S. with a new Australian operation. Chinese operations are currently being eyed.

Company founder Ken Kalb, a longtime search vet, says the mobile coupon solution is the natural successor to low click display campaigns. The engagement of a local promotion typically boosts clickthrough rates by 2 percent to 10 percent — 10 times higher than national online ads. Revenues might see a 20 percent to 30 percent boost within six weeks of launching.

Kalb notes that the coupons are sold via local sales forces, or alternatively, via a self-serve platform. Affiliate marketing programs from other online coupon companies just aren’t a good alternative, he says. They typically pay just three cents per click. They also don’t offer much support for local advertisers in terms of analytics or upsells.

In fact, Analog’s self-serve platform also offers an upsell gift certificate program, which brings in immediate revenues for advertiser and publisher alike, as well as the “Bigger, Better Deal,” a daily promotion special. It also encourages frequent updating of ad copy and promotions. The platform also enables the development of opt-in marketing lists.

Is it too soon for mobile coupons on a mass media basis? It might be. As a backup, Analog Analytics does support print-out options. But this solution is an interesting one that might bring a source of renewed interest for local media companies. They continue to bring in more eyeballs than other media on their Web sites, but often have a hard time proving their value.

Analog Analytics CEO Ken Kalb is a featured speaker at Marketplaces 2010. He’s on the “Back to Square One: Refocus on Revenues” panel with Adicio Chief Alliance Officer Tony Lee and Matchbin CEO Reed Brown.

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