One of the challenges in the local advertising and local Web publishing spaces is that there has not been an ad exchange or network which has worked effectively on that often micro level. That's all about to change with the release of a new platform from ReachLocal (the ReachLocal Xchange) that enables Internet publishers a way to "tap the advertising budgets" of local advertisers and offers local marketers access reach to local consumers.
"The local online advertising market is extremely fragmented and chaotic with tens of millions of local businesses, hundreds of thousands of online publishers, and thousands of solutions providers," said Zorik Gordon, co-founder and CEO of ReachLocal. "The ReachLocal Xchange brings order to that chaos by providing a single platform for these groups to connect."
For media publishers (website owners) integrating directly into the ReachLocal Xchange, it is easy to create custom ad inventory offers that will be displayed and promoted to local advertisers via ReachLocal's global feet-on-the-street Internet Marketing Consultants or IMCs. Some 500 IMCs currently manage local, regional and national advertisers out of more than 35 offices in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
This access allows publishers to generate more revenue and higher overall yield for their inventory; to enhance ad content with locally and regionally focused advertisers; and to create custom ad offers across different ad formats, sizes and types.
Greg Sterling has a great Q&A about the platform with ReachLocal co-founder Rob Wright that is worth a read.
