I’m a big Seth Godin fan…as much for his ideas and humor as for his method of communicating complicated items very simply. A recent blog post of his here simply says:

“The more people you reach the more likely it is that you’re reaching the wrong people
Who vs. how many.”

Agreed.

A recent survey shows that in 2008, local online advertising is expected to grow by 50%. Wow. This in a supposed “down year” for advertising. What other mediums are expected to grow? Out of home, mobile, cable TV and hyper-local print. All mediums that offer smaller, more focused audiences.

Will 2008 be the Year of the Niche?

I’m doing this copy/paste of our press release from yesterday to make sure all the RSS readers and other folks that follow our blog are up-to-date on our current news. Frankly, we’re pretty excited about this CMP relationship and the direction we’re headed with these guys. They’re a great partner to date and we’re looking forward to lots of new and exciting developments with them in the coming months.

Balihoo Announces Addition of CMP to its On-demand Data Solution for Media Buyers
Founding Member status provides CMP with extensive brand visibility opportunities

BOISE, Idaho, January 16, 2008 – Balihoo, the only web-based software for media organizations that streamlines the media research, selection, and request-for-proposal (RFP) processes with on-demand data, announced today that CMP (http://www.cmp.com), a media and marketing services company for the technology industry, sealed their position as a founding member. As a part of their founding membership, CMP will sponsor the B2B print, online and event sections within Balihoo’s online database of advertising opportunities.

“In today’s fragmented media world, it’s imperative that we stay on the cutting edge of media buying and planning tools to ensure our products are well represented,” said Paul Miller, President of CMP Electronics Group. “Balihoo has developed a tool that will drive much inefficiency out of the media planning process, and we want CMP’s name at the forefront. We have a history of innovation in the B2B media marketplace and we are proud to act as a founding member.”

CMP’s media properties including Information Week, CRN, EE Times, and TechOnline are listed in Balihoo’s search engine, along with a massive collection of advertising opportunities across all mediums. Media buyers using Balihoo can run advanced searches that filter results to best suit their campaigns. They can then select media properties to include in consideration sets and issue custom information requests and requests for proposals to those media properties directly through Balihoo.
Balihoo created the concept of a “founding member” to give media property owners such as CMP the opportunity to establish themselves as an early adopter of Balihoo’s technology. Furthermore, founding members gain extensive branded visibility throughout the application.

Per their founding membership package, CMP advertisements rotate in a skyscraper on Balihoo’s landing page. CMP also gains representation in skyscraper ads alongside Balihoo’s search results page, appearing whenever a user runs a search within the print or online mediums.

CMP’s media properties enjoy special banner branding and a highlighted listing within Balihoo’s search results, as well as lifetime discounts off all promotional and advertising fees. Founding membership also grants CMP a seat on Balihoo’s Product Advisory Board and co-branding at industry events.

“CMP is a leader in the B2B communications industry and we’re thrilled to welcome them as a founding member,” said Pete Gombert, CEO of Balihoo. “We will rely on CMP’s guidance as we develop Balihoo into the choice for connecting advertisers and media content providers.”

Publishers interested in becoming Founding Members should contact Balihoo directly at www.balihoo.com.

About Balihoo
Balihoo, based in Boise, Idaho, is web-based software that streamlines the media research, selection, and request-for-proposal (RFP) processes with on-demand data, and then aggregates all that information into one easy-to-use single location accessible by an entire company. Based on the world’s largest database of advertising opportunities, Balihoo helps media organizations make faster/better decisions and create more effective media plans by helping them easily find, gather, analyze and share data. For media owners, Balihoo extends the visibility and accessibility of advertising opportunities to drive interest and sales.

About CMP
CMP is a media and marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. With the leading online, event and print brands in all technology market categories, and with services and tools that reach beyond traditional advertising, CMP shapes and influences the technology industry worldwide. CMP publishes highly respected media brands such as TechWeb, InformationWeek, ChannelWeb, CRN, EE Times and TechOnline; produces major industry events such as Interop, Web 2.0 Expo, XChange, Game Developers Conference and the Embedded Systems Conferences; and provides business information and marketing services such as the International Customer Management Institute, Semiconductor Insights and Second Life consulting for technology marketers. CMP is a subsidiary of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. For more CMP news, go to cmp.com/news.

It seems that everyone I run into mentions my Balihoo office tour blog and asks what I used to film it. It just so happens that I used a handy Flip Video Camera and you can have one too just for answering a few questions from me!

Here’s the deal - I’m working on some new messaging for Balihoo and I want a few people to run it by. All I ask is a 15 minute telephone interview with you sometime the week of January 14th. For every 5 people that spend 15 minutes with me, I’ll give away a Flip Video Camera! Those are pretty good odds!

Requirements:
- You must currently hold a position within a media agency, ad agency or advertiser in the media department and have some level of responsibility for planning or buying media
- You must have worked in media for at least a year (not necessarily at that particular job)
- You must be willing to spend 15 minutes on the phone with me answering a few questions

Sounds pretty easy huh? Not too bad for a 20% shot at getting the video camera, plus you get an inside view into a cool new technology that’s breaking out in your industry. Plus, even if you don’t win the camera, I’ll make sure you get some good Balihoo schwag sent your way.

If you’re up for it, post a comment here or drop me a line directly at svaughan at balihoodotcom

I look forward to your feedback!

Big announcement today from us! You can read about it here, or I’ll cut and paste below for those of you reading the RSS feed.

Balihoo Raises $4M in Series B Financing

Revolutionary Tool for Media Planning Organizations

BOISE, Idaho – January 3, 2007 - Balihoo, the only provider of web-based media planning software that streamlines the media research, selection, and request-for-proposal (RFP) processes with on-demand data, today announced that it has raised $4 million in its Series B round of funding. Highway 12 Ventures led the round with participation from existing investor Lacuna Capital. The company will use the funds to augment their sales and marketing efforts targeting the media buying and planning community.

According to Pete Gombert, founder and CEO of Balihoo, “Our Beta Program, which recently ended and included 8 of the top 10 media buying companies in North America, helped us refine Balihoo and identify areas for future development. The product is ready to go and we’re excited to get the commercial version into the hands of our customers.”

Based on the world’s largest database of advertising opportunities, Balihoo helps media organizations make better decisions faster and create more effective media plans by helping them easily find, gather, analyze and share data. Balihoo reduces the administrative workload on media buyers and planners, freeing them up to focus more on the overall strategy of the media plan.

“It’s hard to think of a bigger pain point for media buyers and planners given the colossal fragmentation of advertising opportunities,” said Mark Solon, Managing Partner of Highway 12 Ventures . “We were particularly struck by the company’s ability to provide an elegant solution to this problem and believe Balihoo has the potential to be on the desktop of every professional media buyer and planner worldwide.”

Since exiting their Beta, Balihoo has released three media planning products for media buyers and planners:

Balihoo Basic – A free version of Balihoo that provides basic and advanced search plus access to all community media data including demographics, contacts and media kits.

Balihoo Pro – Integrates campaign management, a custom media database and RFI/RFP functionally for a true on-demand system for media buying and planning companies

Balihoo Enterprise – Custom development for integration with existing syndicated research providers and media execution applications.

More details on the company and their media planning software can be found at www.balihoo.com.

About Balihoo

Balihoo (http://www.balihoo.com), based in Boise, Idaho, is web-based software that streamlines the media research, selection, and request-for-proposal (RFP) processes with on-demand data, and then aggregates all that information into one easy-to-use single location accessible by an entire company. Based on the world’s largest database of advertising opportunities, Balihoo helps media organizations make faster/better decisions and create more effective media plans by helping them easily find, gather, analyze and share data. For media owners, Balihoo extends the visibility and accessibility of advertising opportunities to drive interest and sales.

About Highway 12 Ventures

Highway 12 Ventures is a leading early-stage VC fund investing in high-growth, entrepreneurial companies in the Intermountain West states of Idaho, Utah, Montana and Colorado. With over $100 million under management, it is Idaho’s largest venture capital firm. Highway 12 Ventures is part of the Village Ventures nationwide network of venture capital funds. For more information call (208) 345-8383 or visit www.highway12ventures.com.

About Lacuna™

The Lacuna™ Venture Fund provides Gap Capital™ to dynamic early-stage companies which are in need of the next level of financial and advisory resources to succeed. In addition to capital investments, Lacuna’s principals work closely with management teams to develop tightly focused go-to-market strategies, to accelerate revenue growth, and to implement best-of-class operations that lead to exceptional successes. Lacuna is based in Boulder, CO. www.lacuna.com.

Media Contact:
Shane Vaughan, VP of Marketing, Balihoo
208.629.7520
svaughan@balihoo.com
www.balihoo.com