Microsoft's Raj Kapoor mapped Bing's evolving local search strategy at the SMB Digital Marketing Conference, an approach that begins with mobile, infuses social and is geared toward "consumer task completion." Kapoor first noted the ubiquity of digital channels in the…
To wrap up the content-packed SMB Digital Marketing conference, a panel of heavy hitters zeroed in on the show's pervasive theme of content marketing. Perry Evans, CEO, Closely Adam Japko, CEO, Digital Sherpa (NCI) Randy Parker, CEO, PagePart; Founder, Constant…
The strong growth and future prospects for online video for SMBs were discussed by three notable panelists involved in this area at SMB Digital Marketing. Led by moderator, Rick Ducey, Managing Director at BIA/Kelsey, these panelists covered the extraordinary growth…
Today at SMB Digital Marketing, Jeff Fagel, the new CMO of G/O Digital, Gannett's renamed local digital arm, offered a very Amazon-centric view of the local online ecosystem. Gannett has 82 daily newspapers and is the fourth-largest owner of TV…
First Data's Senior VP Dom Morea provided a set of important insights into the next generation of marketing services to small and medium businesses (SMBs) at BIA/Kelsey's 2013 SMB Digital Marketing conference, saying these may be more about "commerce" than…
Three finalists in the SMB Future Stars Local Liftoff Award Competition each gave 6-minute presentation on their start-up business then faced tough questions from two season entrepreneur judges, Shark Tank style. Now it's up to the voters. The Judges…
This afternoon at SMB Digital Marketing, Simon Greenman, CEO, Home Advisor Europe, talked about how he is shaping a key European home services vertical, and also reflected a bit on an industry he has a long association with -- the…
This morning at SMB Digital Marketing moderator Jed Williams interviewed four companies in the middle of understanding how to deliver content market solutions to small businesses. One of the biggest challenges was balancing the scale of marketing automation with the…
The topic of sales transformation is a key issue for the media segment, and BIA/Kelsey brought to the stage four key media companies who have taken a more measured and systematic approach to focusing their sales teams on the new…
Amidst all the talk at the second day of SMB Digital Marketing, challenges faced by small businesses and hard recommendations on the best practices for lead generation was offered by Chris Mancini, CMO of Reply.com. Citing the need for easier…
This morning at SMB Digital Marketing, BIA/Kelsey Chief Economist Mark Fratrik and VP of Business Development Steve Passwaiter walked through a view of the U.S. local media marketplace, and offered a sample of BIA/Kelsey's Media Ad View Plus, a…
Connect With Women LEADING IN LOCAL Last night in Austin was the first ever Women only session at a BIA/Kelsey Conference. This was the inauguration of a new focus on women in technology that will be part of conferences going…
Amidst all the talk at SMB Digital about marketing solutions for SMBs, we also had a chance to hear from several leading edge SMBs themselves. Several Yelp customers agreed to talk at the conference on Day 1, where they were…
Top insights into franchise marketing were provided today at SMB Digital Marketing, courtesy of Hunter Rose, owner of three Ben & Jerry's Scoop Stores, and longtime local executive and consultant Robyn Rose. Hunter Rose, a former Gartner analyst, is also…
A central theme emerged this morning at SMB Digital Marketing. It began in the Focus on Profits session, where former BIA/Kelsey analyst and current Yellowbot CEO Matt Booth declared, "In ten years, this conference will be all about software and…
Transaction marketing leads to a new level of revenue and engagement, according to LevelUp CEO Seth Priebatsch, who keynoted today at Leading in Local: SMB Digital Marketing Priebatsch has based LevelUp's success on driving more loyalty transactions, using lower Interchange…
Today at SMB Digital Marketing, BIA/Kelsey Entrepreneur in Residence Warren Kay led a panel of heavy hitters to bat around operational and financial strategies for local media companies and early stage startups. Matt Booth, CEO, YellowBot Mike Dodd, Partner, Austin…
As I mentioned last week while writing about PayPal's new app updates, we just published a big report on the state of the union of mobile shopping and payments. This is of course an exploding area with lots of interest…
Can the state of mobile advertising be indicated by the stock price of some of the industry's leaders? Google and Facebook -- the top two market share leaders -- have faced some investor unease due to users flocking to a…
Let's just concede that Silicon Valley is the biggest hub for Web activity, and that it has some real advantages over other locales in terms of engineering and programming talent, fundraising and industry attention. But Silicon Valley's tech-centric view --which…
