Corporate Brand Manager Poll

Reaching Customers in Local Markets

Background
This document provides answers to all questions from the Corporate Brand Manager Poll –
Reaching Customers in Local Markets, conducted by Harris Interactive for Buddy Media.

The online poll of 105 brand managers who are responsible for managing the marketing or
branding of their company’s products or services was conducted from June 10 – June 14, 2010.
Online respondents representing a broad cross-section of all major industries, as defined by the
SIC code, were recruited from the Harris Poll Online, a multi-million member panel of individuals
who have agreed to periodically participate in online surveys.

Company revenue of brand managers surveyed was distributed as follows:

57% or 60 respondents worked at companies with annual revenues less than $100
million; the vast majority of these had revenues over $1 million.
43% of 36 respondents worked at companies with annual revenues greater than $100
million.

Table of Contents

1. Problems Reaching Customers in Local Markets 2

2. Importance of Managing Customized Content 2

3. Tactics Used To Reach Customers in Local Markets 3

4. Perceived Effectiveness of Tactics Used To Reach Customers in Local Markets 3

5. Facebook Usage & Reasons it is Not Used To Reach Customers in Local Markets 4

6. Effectiveness of Social Media Strategy To Reach Customers in Local Markets 4

7. Obstacles To Using Social Media To Reach Customers in Local Markets 5

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1. Problems Reaching Customers in Local Markets

How challenging is it to reach existing and potential

All <$100M >$100M
customers in local markets across the globe with a
(%) (%) (%)
unified brand message?
Very challenging 45 47 42
Somewhat challenging 48 43 53
Not very challenging 4 5 3
Not at all challenging 3 5 2

Is each of the following a major problem, a minor

problem or not a problem at all when creating a
strategy to reach existing and potential customers in
local geographic markets, defined as local markets All <$100M >$100M
across the globe? (%) (%) (%)

1st # - % Major problem

2nd # = % Problem (minor + major)

Managing costs 43/88 47/80 33/97

Establishing metrics that track ROI 39/70 30/63 47/78
Finding cost-effective tactics 38/89 33/82 42/97
Determining an appropriate and cost effective channel 34/81 35/73 33/89
Leveraging social media 30/70 25/62 39/81
Customizing messages for local markets across the globe 30/61 28/57 33/75
Identifying and managing reliable in-market partners 27/70 27/60 31/83
Identifying tools to customize local content across the globe 27/61 25/55 28/78
Updating country-specific content 24/55 22/45 28/72
Developing country-specific content 23/52 20/47 28/67
Translating country-specific content 19/49 17/40 22/67

2. Importance of Managing Customized Content

How important is it for retail and franchise managers

in local geographic markets to have the ability to All <$100M >$100M
manage customized content so it is consistent and (%) (%) (%)
organized?
Very important 51 50 53
Somewhat important 36 37 36
Not very important 6 5 8
Not at all important 7 8 3

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3. Tactics Used To Reach Customers in Local Markets

Which of the following tactics have you used to

All <$100M >$100M
reach existing and potential customers in local
(%) (%) (%)
geographic markets across the globe?
Web sites with local content 69 62 78
Print ads 62 50 78
Promote events 59 47 78
Promote products 46 40 58
Social media fan pages 45 50 31
Banner ads 38 30 53
TV ads 33 23 47
Radio ads 32 23 36
Paid social media 30 32 31
Text messages 17 13 19
None of these 12 18 3

4. Perceived Effectiveness of Tactics Used To Reach Customers in Local Markets

How effective are each of the following tactics as a

way to reach existing and potential customers in
local geographic markets across the globe? All <$100M >$100M
(%) (%) (%)
1st # - % Very effective
2nd # = % Effective (very + somewhat)

Web sites with local content 30/81 32/82 28/81

TV ads 18/60 20/55 14/64
Print ads 15/72 22/70 8/81
Local programs that offer products 11/64 20/63 2/64
Radio ads 10/54 13/52 3/50
Social media fan pages 10/54 13/57 3/44
Paid social media 7/51 10/53 2/47
Banner ads 5/46 7/45 3/53
Text messages 3/34 3/33 1/33

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5. Facebook Usage & Reasons it is Not Used To Reach Customers in Local Markets

Do you use Facebook as a means of reaching existing

All <$100M >$100M
and potential customers in local markets across the
(%) (%) (%)
globe?
Yes 43 47 33
No 57 53 67

IF NOT USING FACEBOOK: Why aren’t you using

Facebook to reach existing and potential customers All <$100M >$100M
in local markets across the globe? (2% or more (%) (%) (%)
shown)
Lack of company commitment 27 18 38
Need more metrics to justify use 27 26 25
Need more education 23 29 13
Other social networks are more valuable 12 15 8
Lack of budget 3 6 1
Outsource to agency partner 2 3 0

6. Effectiveness of Social Media Strategy To Reach Customers in Local Markets

How effective would you say your social media All <$100M >$100M
strategy has been? (%) (%) (%)

Very effective 9 12 8
Somewhat effective 76 73 67
Not very effective 11 8 24
Not at all effective 4 7 1

Agree or disagree? Social media offers great

potential to reach existing and potential customers
All <$100M >$100M
in local geographic markets across the globe, but I
(%) (%) (%)
need tools and information to leverage it
successfully.
Strongly agree 25 32 14
Somewhat agree 47 42 53
Somewhat disagree 20 15 31
Strongly disagree 8 11 2

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7. Obstacles To Using Social Media To Reach Customers in Local Markets

Below is a list of obstacles some brand managers

face when using social media to reaching existing All <$100M >$100M
and potential customers in local geographic markets (%) (%) (%)
across the globe. Which have you encountered?

Tracking or measuring success or ROI 48 42 53

Managing and maintaining information 45 40 53
Engaging audiences 42 42 39
Indentifying influencers who can carry brand message 39 43 31
Keeping region and country-specific content fresh 32 32 36
Posting multimedia content to sites 28 30 17
Tracking real-time metrics 26 25 28
Finding creative talent to do online social marketing 23 25 17
Identifying tools to customize content in local markets
22 32 11
across the globe
Finding a single solution to social marketing needs 22 23 19
My company does not use social media 20 23 17
Marketing global brands to local geographic locations 19 17 22
Offering “fans” exclusives 17 15 19
Creating scalable sites across regions 15 13 17
Disseminating global messages 14 10 19
Promoting seasonal events/product launches to target
14 12 19
audiences
Disseminating global messages 14 10 19
Building applications 12 18 3
None of these 6 5 3