MULO + HYLOMOS = Local Search Grows Up

Street Fight coined two terms, MULO and HYLOMOS,  that will significantly impact the retail, restaurant, service, and other industries in 2025 and beyond.

• MULO stands for multi-location. They could be brands with thousands of storefronts worldwide, home services businesses like those managed by Neighborly, or even a small one-location company with franchise plans.
• HYLOMOS is a brand-new Street Fight acronym, which emerged from a conversation with Joe Perello about local search. We all do it, but we don’t often think about why we make the selections we make and why certain brands stand out and others are ignored. HYLOMOS stands for HYPER LOCAL MOBILE SEARCH. It is easier to say, and it’s frankly kind of catchy when combined with MULO. The two things are closer now than ever before.

As Amazon’s delivery policies and reliability change and other major brands amp up their online shopping and BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store) capabilities, consumers are truly omnichannel. They will find what they want, when they want it, at the price they want to pay.

These consumers tell their voice-activated devices, phones, and desktop keyboards precisely what they’re searching for and when they need it. They no longer need to key in “near me” because it automatically appears as an option.

Yet, as we’ve covered in previous articles, a SOCi study revealed that brands are not fully optimizing their search capabilities and that SMBs are crushing big brands to the tune of $54B in lost revenue.

As Paige Sawin of  Sparkcatcher Media recently pointed out, MULO brands today need a combination of a highly efficient enterprise-level search optimization strategy (offered by companies like SOCI, YEXT, Uberall, and Chatmeter) and agency driven hyper-local marketing plans that meet the needs of consumers and communities.

Why MULO Brands Should Consider a Neighborhood-Level Marketing Strategy

As we know, the consumer is making the final decision on where to shop, eat, or select a service. And Google, other search engines, and social media can ultimately control what a consumer sees and when.

Local search has often been the domain of IT professionals, but marketers and sales leaders need to pay much more attention to what consumers see when they conduct a “near me” search. We saw that play out in our Street Fight LIVE virtual scavenger hunt when attendees put themselves into the consumer’s shoes and looked for specific products in Chicago.

Convenience, distance, price, and hours of operation are all factors that people consider when making their final choices. And none of that will matter if the service experience and product quality don’t measure up to what was promised. That’s one of the reasons why SMBs are often chosen over big brands. They spend more time and energy ensuring that their listings are accurate.

Just as someone may shop at a major hardware brand for various products and a big selection but still seek out that neighborhood store when they need an installation, enterprise-level search platforms and hyper-local marketing consultants specializing in search can co-exist.

So, as you craft your 2025 plans as a MULO brand, ask your team how they are executing their HYLOMOS strategy too. And make sure you’re competing on both a local and global scale.