Here we are in the middle of National Small Business Week, which seems like a great time to unveil the agenda and key themes of our upcoming SMB conference, which happens Sept. 29-30 at the Marriott Denver Tech Center. This event helps companies understand what makes SMBs tick so they can more successfully build and sell digital marketing solutions for small-business advertisers.

We are bringing a new look and feel to this year’s SMB conference — a faster pace, deeper audience engagement, a much more tactical focus and truly candid conversations about what it really takes to win in this exciting and challenging space.

​The preliminary SMB 2015 agenda reads as a road map of the most exciting opportunities and vexing challenges facing the local SMB digital marketing ecosystem. Keep an eye here as we add VIPs in the local SMBs as headline speakers, executive interview subjects and panelists.

Our Day 1 Headliner will be a joint session with Chris Terrill and Craig Smith, CEO and COO, respectively, of Home Advisor, a leader in matching home improvement leads with qualified merchants. Chris and Craig have been deep in the SMB trenches and understand what it takes to find the right business model for success in this space. Other headliners, including leaders from many of the premier SMB facing brands, will be announced soon.

Here are a few of the topics we’ll tackle at SMB 2015:

Making Big Data Small Enough for SMBs
Is Location the New Local?
Programmatic for SMBs — Is This a Thing Yet?
Is There a Play for the Long Tail SMB?
We’re Not Going to Say ‘Content is King’ — But It Kinda Is
Crowdfunding and Micro-lending — The Democratization of SMB Finance?
Bringing Hollywood to Main Street — Evolutions in Video Advertising

The post First Look at BIA/Kelsey's SMB 2015 appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Selling National Accounts for Local Targeting

Travis Arthur, VP of Partner and Strategic Accounts, ReachLocal
Rick Hanna, CEO, Mspark
Corey O’Donnell, VP Marketing, Brand Networks, Yodle

Yodle’s O’Donnell said, “The big challenge for network businesses is to get rock stars to act like choir boys.” O’Donnell was referring to the challenge of getting individual dealer or franchise locations to cooperate with national marketing efforts.

Reach Local’s Arthur positions the company as a variation on SaaS. It’s Software with a service, he says, with a heavy emphasis on the service part: “A platform is table stakes. Consistency is a key point of difference.”

Mspark’s Hanna: “Some players have brands strictly controlled at corporate. Others give more leeway to franchisees.”

Arthur: “ReachLocal is launching in-app mobile advertising for our customers. I think there is a play for the services space to serve up coupons, etc.”

Hanna: “When you are calling on your customers, don’t be surprised they are not anywhere near where they should be.”

O’Donnell: “The term mobile is a misnomer. The print to digital shift is a large formula. It’s like a meal, you need an entree, appetizer and drinks. Mobile is just part of part of that formula… “I also have a distaste for the word ‘national.’ There is a 100:1 ration between searches for small discreet hearing aid v searches for miracle ear. Most spend happens locally.”

The post At BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL: Selling Locally Targeted Ads appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Brendon Kraham is Google’s Director of Emerging Ad Sales and Product Strategy, and his job, essentially is as “Building and scaling Google’s next billion ad products.”

Speaking this morning a BIA/Kelsey’s NATIONAL conference here in Dallas, Kraham talked about the progression in leveraging the estimated 150 daily smart phone “micro moments” into sales. The micro moments Kraham spoke off cover the gamut from communication to entertainment to shopping. “These are intent-rich moments,” Kraham said.

Mobile is fundamentally changing how consumers engage with retail locations. Kraham cited data shows that 93 percent of retail sales still happens in physical locations. Yet store traffic is down 55 percent, while spending per customer is up. This suggests that consumers are doing a lot more ahead of time to plan their purchases, then are showing up to complete the transaction. It’s a big shift in how consumers are interacting with retail. Less browsing, more buying.

Tapping into these “micro-moments” to drive in store purchases involves three key elements, Kraham said.

1. Target consumers at the right location (the key here is to bid differentially).
2. Dive them to your business with right ad (for example based on proximity, intent).
3. Measure the offline impact (reporting visits and transactions).

On the third point, Kraham said Google is making strides toward connecting searches to store visits, which are a proxy for transactions. Google is also working with big brands to capture in store inventory.

The post At BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL: Google's Brendon Kraham appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Brendon Kraham is Google’s Director of Emerging Ad Sales and Product Strategy, and his job, essentially is as “Building and scaling Google’s next billion ad products.”

Speaking this morning a BIA/Kelsey’s NATIONAL conference here in Dallas, Kraham talked about the progression in leveraging the estimated 150 daily smart phone “micro moments” into sales. The micro moments Kraham spoke off cover the gamut from communication to entertainment to shopping. “These are intent-rich moments,” Kraham said.

Mobile is fundamentally changing how consumers engage with retail locations. Kraham cited data shows that 93 percent of retail sales still happens in physical locations. Yet store traffic is down 55 percent, while spending per customer is up. This suggests that consumers are doing a lot more ahead of time to plan their purchases, then are showing up to complete the transaction. It’s a big shift in how consumers are interacting with retail. Less browsing, more buying.

Tapping into these “micro-moments” to drive in store purchases involves three key elements, Kraham said.

1. Target consumers at the right location (the key here is to bid differentially).
2. Dive them to your business with right ad (for example based on proximity, intent).
3. Measure the offline impact (reporting visits and transactions).

On the third point, Kraham said Google is making strides toward connecting searches to store visits, which are a proxy for transactions. Google is also working with big brands to capture in store inventory.

The post At BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL: Google’s Brendon Kraham appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

In a talk this afternoon at BIA/Kelsey’s National conference, Ryan Davis, who runs the local business for the Weather Channel, described the Weather Channel as a collection of local sites with really scalable content. Davis talked about Weather’s partnerships with local television stations to maximize the national to local opportunity inherent to weather-related content.

“Why are we partnering with local television? We want to grow it together,” Davis said. “Weather is worth telling stories about.”

Davis says the two side have complementary roles. He describes the local TV partners being the feet on the street (covering people in the store buying food before the big storm hits). While the Weather Channel provides the expert in the studio explaining the science behind the storm that’s coming.

Brand. Local meteorologists. Our blue box (WDC brand)

Each side bring an audience and each side has a brand presence — the well known and trusted local meteorologist and the Weather Channel’s iconic blue box. There tends to be very little audience overlap since as Davis says, people go to one place to check their weather. “Pull the two together and can reach just about everybody.”

What national products is Weather building?

“The Weather channel now forecasting what you will buy. Online shopping happens when people don’t want to go outside. When this happens requires local context. In Chicago that is when it’s too cold. In Dallas is when it is too hot. In Seattle it’s when it is too wet.

Davis said consumers are happy to share their location, either where they are or where they will be with the Weather channel. Ability to target at right time based on weather and right place, where they are or where they live.

A common problem for national publishers is howto  connect national to local, according to Davis. How to get to individual franchisee or dealers? One approach Weather has taken is to build a standard ad for the brand and ask the brand for access to their co-op database. Weather then approaches the local franchisee or dealer with an offer — “Would you like to use your $10,000 in co-op money to buy this pre-approved ad?”

Making this sale requires local knowledge, Davis said. He cited the example of a car dealer in Philadelphia that wanted a search area that covered 20 miles to the west of its location and 0 miles to east. “National can’t know that. Only local feet on the street can know that.”

The post At BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL: Weather’s Local Nature appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

In a talk this afternoon at BIA/Kelsey’s National conference, Ryan Davis, who runs the local business for the Weather Channel, described the Weather Channel as a collection of local sites with really scalable content. Davis talked about Weather’s partnerships with local television stations to maximize the national to local opportunity inherent to weather-related content.

“Why are we partnering with local television? We want to grow it together,” Davis said. “Weather is worth telling stories about.”

Davis says the two side have complementary roles. He describes the local TV partners being the feet on the street (covering people in the store buying food before the big storm hits). While the Weather Channel provides the expert in the studio explaining the science behind the storm that’s coming.

Brand. Local meteorologists. Our blue box (WDC brand)

Each side bring an audience and each side has a brand presence — the well known and trusted local meteorologist and the Weather Channel’s iconic blue box. There tends to be very little audience overlap since as Davis says, people go to one place to check their weather. “Pull the two together and can reach just about everybody.”

What national products is Weather building?

“The Weather channel now forecasting what you will buy. Online shopping happens when people don’t want to go outside. When this happens requires local context. In Chicago that is when it’s too cold. In Dallas is when it is too hot. In Seattle it’s when it is too wet.

Davis said consumers are happy to share their location, either where they are or where they will be with the Weather channel. Ability to target at right time based on weather and right place, where they are or where they live.

A common problem for national publishers is howto  connect national to local, according to Davis. How to get to individual franchisee or dealers? One approach Weather has taken is to build a standard ad for the brand and ask the brand for access to their co-op database. Weather then approaches the local franchisee or dealer with an offer — “Would you like to use your $10,000 in co-op money to buy this pre-approved ad?”

Making this sale requires local knowledge, Davis said. He cited the example of a car dealer in Philadelphia that wanted a search area that covered 20 miles to the west of its location and 0 miles to east. “National can’t know that. Only local feet on the street can know that.”

The post At BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL: Weather's Local Nature appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Three trends are changing the way brands find and engage with customer at the local level –the shift to mobile, the emerge of programmatic buying and the increasing ability to measure performance in real time.

These trends, and how marketers can take advantage of them, will form the foundation of Kenshoo CMO Aaron Goldman‘s Day 2 keynote address at BIA/Kelsey’s National conference, March 25-27, in Dallas.

“In today’s world, it’s all real time and you can make changes every minute of every day,” said Goldman. “And you can get really granular, especially at the local level, in an automated way. So you can have the right message, to the right person, at the right time, at scale.”

We asked Aaron to join us on a Google Hangout to give a preview of his talk at National. Goldman is author of the book, “Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned from Google” and also carries the unofficial title of Kenshoo’s “Head of Freestyle Rap.” Watch the video below for a preview of Goldman’s address and to get taste of his rhyming skills.

If you are interested in attending the National event, email me (claughlin AT biakelsey.com) to receive a promotional code that offers the best rate available.

The post BIA/Kelsey’s NATIONAL Preview: Freestyling with Kenshoo’s Aaron Goldman appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Three trends are changing the way brands find and engage with customer at the local level –the shift to mobile, the emerge of programmatic buying and the increasing ability to measure performance in real time.

These trends, and how marketers can take advantage of them, will form the foundation of Kenshoo CMO Aaron Goldman‘s Day 2 keynote address at BIA/Kelsey’s National conference, March 25-27, in Dallas.

“In today’s world, it’s all real time and you can make changes every minute of every day,” said Goldman. “And you can get really granular, especially at the local level, in an automated way. So you can have the right message, to the right person, at the right time, at scale.”

We asked Aaron to join us on a Google Hangout to give a preview of his talk at National. Goldman is author of the book, “Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned from Google” and also carries the unofficial title of Kenshoo’s “Head of Freestyle Rap.” Watch the video below for a preview of Goldman’s address and to get taste of his rhyming skills.

If you are interested in attending the National event, email me (claughlin AT biakelsey.com) to receive a promotional code that offers the best rate available.

The post BIA/Kelsey's NATIONAL Preview: Freestyling with Kenshoo's Aaron Goldman appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

National brands are increasingly seeing how changes in mobile technology, particularly the ability to combine location awareness with predictive analytics, will completely transform advertising. This is the message Dan Eckert, Managing Director, Emerging Technologies, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, will deliver in his keynote address on Day 3 of BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL conference, March 25-27, in Dallas.

“There is this new technology that is becoming enabled because of the mobile device that is really disrupting advertising,” Eckert said. “Some people call it geo-location. But really it’s the combination of that device being a sensor and a collection of passive data that knows a ton about you.”

We asked Dan to join us on a Google Hangout to give a preview of his talk at NATIONAL. The video below offer an excerpt of that conversation. If you are interested in attending the NATIONAL event, email me to receive a promotional code that offers the best rate available (claughlin AT biakelsey.com).

The post BIA/Kelsey's NATIONAL Preview: Dan Eckert on the Future of Mobile appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

National brands are increasingly seeing how changes in mobile technology, particularly the ability to combine location awareness with predictive analytics, will completely transform advertising. This is the message Dan Eckert, Managing Director, Emerging Technologies, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, will deliver in his keynote address on Day 3 of BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL conference, March 25-27, in Dallas.

“There is this new technology that is becoming enabled because of the mobile device that is really disrupting advertising,” Eckert said. “Some people call it geo-location. But really it’s the combination of that device being a sensor and a collection of passive data that knows a ton about you.”

We asked Dan to join us on a Google Hangout to give a preview of his talk at NATIONAL. The video below offer an excerpt of that conversation. If you are interested in attending the NATIONAL event, email me to receive a promotional code that offers the best rate available (claughlin AT biakelsey.com).

The post BIA/Kelsey’s NATIONAL Preview: Dan Eckert on the Future of Mobile appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.