Among the many headlines that emerged from SMB Digital Marketing 2012 (CRM, digital loyalty, performance marketing), one that caught the attention of most in the room was the research return that social ROI is shifting dramatically toward customer acquisition. In…
Before too many days pass in travel recovery mode, I wanted to get some of my thoughts down from BIA/Kelsey's sessions at the EASDP Congress in Toledo Spain on Friday. As background, we programmed and ran the second day of…
The consortium of 12 major newspaper companies that last year purchased Travidia, a digital circular vendor, has relaunched as Wanderful Media. The consortium, previously known as ShopCo., has committed $22 Million to the venture. It has also introduced a new…
There's been lots of talk about Apple's mapping swicheroo, and how its new app is so far is a big #fail. The emphasis there is on so far, as the company has responded by emphasizing the cloud based nature of…
As the New York Times noted this morning, Apple’s initial iOS6 foray into mobile maps has been greeted with a thumbs down by iPhone 5 reviewers, who prefer the polished Google Maps experience that was the prior default. But maps…
Yodle CEO Court Cunningham, in a well received presentation at SMB Digital Marketing this week in Chicago, told attendees to constantly adapt to actual conditions in the marketplace, not what the “experts” tell us. The gist of Cunnigham’s comments were…
The "Making Sense of Mobile Advertising for SMBs" panel at SMB Digital Marketing 2012 was aptly named, as the mobile needs of small businesses vary widely by category and level of sophistication, among other dynamics. Dick Larkin (VP, American Marketing…
Pay for Performance is the Holy Grail in SMB advertising. SMBs only want to pay for leads that their advertising programs deliver. But moving SMBs from inclusion to performance has never been easy. Recent progress in lead quality assessment has…
Facebook’s Fred Huang spoke about the SMB mission with Facebook at SMB Digital marketing today in Chicago. He noted that the SMB product roadmap is about helping them spend less time managing their page, make it easier to have their…
Google’s role in the SMB Digital Marketing community is huge, and at SMB Digital Marketing in Chicago today, two Google execs described some of the company’s activities that have impacted SMB marketing. Speaking on reseller side as an exec in…
The success of the deals space and emergence of big data has opened the door to transactional marketing that drives new revenue for businesses. Key revenue streams are emerging such as monthly/annual fees, commissions for loyalty business, bounties for new…
Constant Contact CEO and "Engagement Marketing" author Gail Goodman made a pretty direct pitch to those attending SMB Digital Marketing to partner with her company to build out a social contact management system, which she describes as the "rich social…
To kick off the afternoon of Day 2 of SMB Digital Marketing, a duo of social media experts explicated the fluid dynamics of delivering social media to SMBs. Mike Nabasny, Director of Midwest Sales, Wildfire Pamela Springer, CEO, Manta Moderator…
While SEO may still have a somewhat murky reputation (many still don't know what it is), the fact is SEO is now a big business that will only get bigger, and it drives very strong ROI for small businesses, with…
The opening day of BIA/Kelsey's SMB Digital Marketing conference provided a stark reminder of the persistent challenges in reaching local businesses. Groupon VP of Global Merchant Marketing Sanjay Gupta offered a different view - a reality check of the assumed reality…
Kicking off Day 2 of our SMB Digital Marketing Conference, DexOne's EVP of Sales & Marketing Richard Hanna offered insights into the changing realities of selling advertising to SMBs. This is particularly timely in the immediate wake of his company's…
DemandForce's CMO Patrick Barry suggested during his keynote address at SMB Digital Marketing in Chicago today that Intuits $434 Million acquisition of his company last year might be meant to connect every small business to any consumer via a single…
Rounding out the first day of our SMB Digital Marketing Conference in Chicago was a panel well versed in the realities of working with local and regional advertisers. Darnell Holloway, Manager, Local Business Outreach, Yelp Shawn Riegsecker, Founder and CEO,…
ReachLocal President Nathan Hanks kicked off BIA/Kelsey's SMB Digital Marketing festivities with a stirring keynote about what's working and not working in local media. But to tell this story requires going past the boundaries of local media. There are learnings…
We're all in conference prep mode and looking forward to a robust SMB Digital conference starting Monday in Chicago. We hope to see you there. In the meantime, though there isn't time to disect it meaningfully, I'd like to point…
