In a meeting with one of our first customers the other day, we discussed their local advertising costs.  The customer was telling us that he didn’t believe that the choices were particularly effective yet they were way overpriced.  A few data points:

• Full page newspaper ad in his market… $1,500/day
• Small newspaper ad… $1,500/week
• Television ad… roughly $5-$10 per 1,000 viewers + production costs
• Billboard… $2,000-$3,000 per location + production costs
• Yellow Pages… depends on location but full page ads can run up to 5 figures.

In this environment, it makes a lot more sense that local businesses would be skeptical of advertising.  They’re overpaying across the board… and what’s worse is that they have no idea what works and what doesn’t.

Over the first 4-5 months of the life of Notice Technologies, we’ve uncovered a real need here.  Local businesses are starving for more effective advertising alternatives.  Every local company we speak with needs to market their products and services better.  And if the prices quoted above are any indication, there is significant economic value in helping them market themselves more efficiently.

The good thing about Web 2.0 is that it has brought about efficiencies in advertising, data sharing, and real-time communications that have not been possible to date.  If conversations with our customers are any indication, then local advertising may be a new frontier for Web 2.0 and internet marketing innovation.