Search Engine Strategies Interview: Ian White

Next week in NYC is the Search Engine Strategies conference. One of the sessions will discuss local marketing and geotargeting campaigns. I had a chance to speak with moderator Ian White and the transcript of our discussion is below.

Allen: Can you begin with a brief bio about yourself and your company Urban Mapping?

Ian White: I'm CEO of Urban Mapping, a company I started in 2003. At that time I had developed a printed map based on a unique printing technique that allows users to see multiple layers of imagery on a static polymer substrate. The NYC map gained tremendous notoriety for its design and function (http://urbanmapping.com/panamap/index.html for more info). At the time I called it a "poor man's GIS" as it allowed users to see subways, streets and neighborhoods. The technology is patented and it should be returning to a store near you soon...

Over the past two years I've been more focused on digital media--UMI offers a series of data products designed to be used by interactive publishers and application providers. Our database of informal space, or neighborhoods, is most widely known and used. All major portals and IYPs are customers. In the context of local search, knowing your location is invaluable, and often times a postal code is woefully inadequate, but it's the most granular one can get. Enter our neighborhood database product. Over 30,000 neighborhoods across the US, Canada and Europe (and growing).

We also offer a database of normalized mass transit systems. This is unique in that the product caters to the needs of end-users, ie, riders. We know locations of actual station exits and if they are handicap accessible, hours of operation, amenities, etc...Station, line, schedule and routing data are also part of this. More info on this coming very soon.

My background in brief: I have 15 years experience in marketing strategy and product development. I have been published in academic journals and the business press and is a frequent speaker on local search and 'context-dependent media.'

Prior to founding Urban Mapping in 2003, I worked as a business consultant at and held various roles in business development and marketing. I also served as Adjunct Professor of Design and Management at Parsons School of Design in New York.

Allen: What will you be speaking about at SES and why is SES an exciting conference to you?

Ian: I'm moderating panel on local this time. Pleased to say SES ripped off my proposed abstract word for word ;)

Glad to be moderating this time around as I can shape the discussion, not just participate. My vantage point affords a unique perspective to how engines, publishers and others conceive of and use local data. SES attracts a huge number of SEM pros, many of whom are first timers. It's nice to be able to share learnings with them so they don't hit the same pitfalls many of us have already experienced.

Allen: What's a geotargeted campaign?

Ian: At the risk of being tautological, a geotargeted campaign means targeting a campaign to a specific territory. For interactive marketing, this has become synonomous with IP-based geotargeting. In the SEM world, geotargeting is relevant as it provides a menas of serving something (advertising/content) to a geographically-focused area. Problem is, there's a lot of fiction built around what geotargeting does. It's not a panacea and doesn't provide the granularity anywhere near what people think. Load balancers, proxy servers and dynamic IPs all serve to obsfucate a user's true location. Remember all AOL dial-up subscribers having their address appear as somewhere in Northern Virginia? This is still very common.

There are other ways to geotarget using different location-aware techniques. Urban Mapping offers its GeoMods solution (http://urbanmapping.com/geomods/index.html) which is predicated on the intent of the user. Other techniques include GPS, cellID and wifi triangulation.

Allen: Why is geotargeting important for marketers?

Ian: Local represents about 40% of all searches--even if you don't type 'plumber,' it's inherently local. Much of the economy is driven by 'research online, buy offline,' so this is a critical piece of a campaign. Many large advertisers haven't gotten to anything more granular than country or region, so this leaves a lot of room for smaller (non brand) advertisers to run campaigns that tap into the intent of a user's query.

Allen: What resources do you suggest that a marketer check out with regards to local and geotargeting?

Ian: In the humblest of ways, I suggest a few postings I've written (with links to good resources):

• http://blog.urbanmapping.com/articles/2007/04/25/why-geotargeting-sucks
• http://blog.urbanmapping.com/articles/2007/08/13/geotargeting-overview