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MatchCraft Adds SEM Sales Training to Its Local Search Marketing Portfolio

Posted on: Monday, 16 March 2009, 09:00 CDT

In-depth program is designed for sales organizations that market online advertising to SMBs and local merchants

SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- MatchCraft (www.matchcraft.com), developer of next-generation search engine marketing (SEM) technology, today introduced SEM Sales Training, designed to help online advertising representatives make the "right sale" to small and medium-sized businesses and local advertisers.

"As online advertising continues to gain traction with local advertisers, sales reps that understand how to sell online products to SMBs will have a tremendous advantage," said Uzi Eliahou, founder and chief executive officer, MatchCraft. "Sales training is a natural extension of our SEM platform, and is designed to help our partners maximize their share of the local online advertising opportunity."

The interactive share of local ad spending will more than double over the next five years, from 9 percent in 2008 to 22.2 percent in 2013, according to The Kelsey Group/BIA. This trend underscores the need for sales organizations to learn effective tactics and techniques for marketing online products.

MatchCraft's on-site, in-depth Sales Training program can be used with or without MatchCraft's SEM technology solution. Training includes:

• Product Training - understanding and explaining the SEM product offering in a simple and effective way, and basic SEO, if applicable.
• Sales Call Process - how to effectively position SEM solutions in conjunction with print, Internet Yellow Pages, and other product offers.
• Expectation Setting - managing advertiser expectations for short and long-term results.
• Sales Management Training - including coaching and development.
• Train-the-Trainer - working with training departments to deliver effective, ongoing SEM training for their sales teams.

MatchCraft has appointed Mike Centorani to lead the new sales training program. As MatchCraft's Vice President of Sales Training and Development, Mike brings 25 years of experience in local advertising sales with RH Donnelley (RHD), RHD's LocalLaunch and Verizon Information Services (now Idearc Media). He has developed a real-world approach to the sales call process and an ability to teach sales reps how to speak the small business owner's language and make the right sale based on their specific needs. Mike is a certified Google AdWords Professional, and was responsible for developing all the sales training for RHD's Search Engine Marketing initiative. For more information about MatchCraft's Sales Training program, contact Mike Centorani at (214) 789-1797 or mike@matchcraft.com.

About MatchCraft

MatchCraft develops advanced search engine marketing (SEM) solutions for large-scale advertising resellers such as online directories, Internet Yellow Pages, multi-location advertisers and certified marketing representatives (CMRs). Founded in 1998, MatchCraft's proven technology has been designed specifically for local search marketing and to address the needs of small-business advertisers. The company's core products include a search engine-optimized directory platform and an automated pay-per-click solution that enables management of hundreds of millions of keywords across tens of thousands of categories and locations across multiple search engines. Visit www.matchcraft.com.

SOURCE MatchCraft

Source: PR Newswire

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