CHICAGO, April 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SIM Partners, a Chicago-based, full-service interactive marketing agency announced today the enhancement of its Local Search Platform (LSP). These improvements are designed to help large companies integrate social media strategies with local search campaigns and generate consumer reviews to boost search engine rankings.

LSP by SIM Partners is a total local search marketing solution that manages and promotes location-based web content for national brands and businesses with multiple brick-and-mortar locations. SIM Partners' cost-efficient, results-driven tools enable retail and service companies to get their locations ranked at the top of search engine results in geo-specific queries.

"Brand marketers are always looking for an edge," said Jon Schepke, President, SIM Partners. "Savvy marketers are recognizing that two of the most important ways to gain a competitive advantage in online visibility are to combine social media activities with search marketing programs and to leverage web reviews and ratings."

LSP's newly expanded capabilities include turnkey solutions that enable marketers to:

• Create branded "Share for Rewards" programs giving consumers promotional incentives to share information online. "Share for Rewards" is a viral program that tracks when consumers share information about a brand via email, Facebook, IM and other web channels. The program then disburses performance-based rewards, such as merchandise discounts, and measures campaign results.  
• Increase consumer reviews and ratings and distribute the content to leading review sites.  The solution includes the creation of custom-branded URLs giving consumers the ability to easily write reviews on sites including Google, Yelp, Citysearch and Yahoo! as well as industry-specific review sites such as Angie's List (home services), TripAdvisor (travel), urbanspoon.com (restaurants) and ratemds.com (health providers).
• Quickly add live chat functionality and feeds of social media mentions to Google Places and other location profile pages.

"Several of our LSP clients using these new features have experienced significant improvements in their search engine rankings, as well as in the volume of phone calls, sales and appointments they're generating," Schepke said.

One example is Stanley Steemer, a leading provider of residential and commercial cleaning services across the U.S.  "With the help of SIM Partners, our locations are generating as much as 30 times more online reviews.  As a result, they've begun appearing at the top of local search results for very competitive keywords," said Gavin Meyers, Internet Marketing Manager at Stanley Steemer.

"Our proprietary LSP technology is a key element in SIM Partners' ability to drive outstanding results for clients," Schepke said.  "And these new enhancements to the platform demonstrate our commitment to innovation and to helping our clients' online marketing efforts stand out."

About SIM Partners

SIM Partners, based in Chicago, IL, is a full service, interactive marketing agency specializing in innovative, ROI-driven solutions that help companies cost-efficiently acquire customers through the use of mobile marketing, search engine marketing and social media strategies. Our integrated and comprehensive marketing solutions are used by leading companies in the travel, home services, retail, B2B, real estate, financial services and restaurant industries. Our proprietary technology platforms are designed to help clients achieve their digital marketing goals with minimal internal resources. Our offerings include SIM Partners' Local Search Platform, our Text Messaging and Mobile Marketing Platform and Ask-an-Expert. For more information, visit www.simpartners.com.

SOURCE SIM Partners