ReachLocal sent a large sales force door to door to sell Google ads to plumbers, dentists and restaurants. These owners knew their customers searched online. Few of them knew how to buy a search ad. ReachLocal's salespeople signed them up. Its software then spread each budget across search engines and tracked the calls that came back. In 2010 the company was growing fast across the United States and abroad.

One Budget, No Homework

Zorik Gordon and Michael Kline founded ReachLocal in 2004. They bet that small businesses would pay a premium to hand their online advertising to someone else. The pitch was simple: the owner paid one monthly budget, and ReachLocal handled the rest. The company built a large sales force and its own campaign software. It earned its margin on the gap between what clients paid and what the media cost.

When Ads Went Self-Serve

ReachLocal priced its IPO at $13 a share in May 2010. Over time, Google and Facebook made self-serve advertising easy for even the smallest shops. Small businesses found cheaper ways to advertise, and the costly sales force became a burden. Revenue fell, and the stock sank far below its offering price. In 2016 the newspaper publisher Gannett bought ReachLocal for about $156 million.

Cover: Street Scene, Maurice Brazil Prendergast. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a busy street of shops (local business).