BIA/Kelsey’s Consumer Commerce Monitor survey reveals that online search is now the most popular channel choice for local shopping (nearly 57 percent on consumers utilize it in their buying process). The trend is further accelerating as mobile penetration and session activity surge. For instance, 40 percent of consumers who leverage smartphones for local shopping do so once or more per day.

All of this points to the critical need for small-medium businesses (SMBs) to maintain accurate, fresh, engaging and non-duplicated content. Duplicate listings can confuse consumers and harm SEO rank, both of which impair the discoverability and selectability of a merchant.

On Thursday, June 5 at 2 p.m. eastern, Yext’s Christian Ward and Local SEO Guide’s Andrew Shotland join me for a free webinar examining the duplicates problem and proposing solutions and best practices for overcoming it. BIA/Kelsey will also share findings from its Local Commerce Monitor and Consumer Commerce Monitor studies that identify key disconnects between consumer shopping trends and SMB advertising/promotions habits, which are exacerbated by duplicates.

Also, attendees can access the new whitepaper from Yext – “The Definitive Guide to Duplicate Listings.” Register for the free webinar here.

The post Upcoming BIA/Kelsey & Yext Webinar: Solving the Duplicate Listings Problem appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

BIA/Kelsey’s Consumer Commerce Monitor survey reveals that online search is now the most popular channel choice for local shopping (nearly 57 percent on consumers utilize it in their buying process). The trend is further accelerating as mobile penetration and session activity surge. For instance, 40 percent of consumers who leverage smartphones for local shopping do so once or more per day.

All of this points to the critical need for small-medium businesses (SMBs) to maintain accurate, fresh, engaging and non-duplicated content. Duplicate listings can confuse consumers and harm SEO rank, both of which impair the discoverability and selectability of a merchant.

On Thursday, June 5 at 2 p.m. eastern, Yext’s Christian Ward and Local SEO Guide’s Andrew Shotland join me for a free webinar examining the duplicates problem and proposing solutions and best practices for overcoming it. BIA/Kelsey will also share findings from its Local Commerce Monitor and Consumer Commerce Monitor studies that identify key disconnects between consumer shopping trends and SMB advertising/promotions habits, which are exacerbated by duplicates.

Also, attendees can access the new whitepaper from Yext – “The Definitive Guide to Duplicate Listings.” Register for the free webinar here.

The post Upcoming BIA/Kelsey & Yext Webinar: Solving the Duplicate Listings Problem appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

BIA/Kelsey has released the latest wave of its U.S. Social Local Media Forecast for 2013-2018, and unsurprisingly, the two drivers accelerating advertising spend are mobile platforms and native formats.

The overall social advertising market will surge from $8.4 billion this year to $15 billion by 2018. That same year native will account for nearly two-thirds of all social advertising ($9.4 billion), and mobile will represent more than half of it ($7.6 billion). Native social advertising revenues will eclipse social display next year. Meanwhile, mobile will reach a similar inflection point with desktop in 2018.

Of course the two trends are closely correlated. Mobile use of social networks continues to grow, and as it does, the networks are building monetizable mobile-first experiences. Those ad concepts are predominantly (and in many cases exclusively) native formats that integrate in-stream into organic content.

Take Facebook as a prime example. In just over a year, the company has activated a non-existent mobile advertising business into now more than 50 percent of total revenues. This number will continue to escalate. The formats driving this growth are entirely native News Feed ads.

Compared to mobile and native, location-targeted social advertising is growing less dramatically, as many social platforms have been slower to introduce high-performing local solutions (i.e. more granular geo-targeting). Some still offer only brand advertising. However, BIA/Kelsey still projects locally-targeted social ad spend to grow from $2.4 billion this year to $5.2 billion by 2018, a 31.6 percent CAGR (compound annual growth rate). This projection could be lifted in future waves as a greater push into location targeting is made and more small businesses onboard.

BIA/Kelsey clients can access the full forecast here.

The post Mobile, Native Propel Growth in U.S. Social Advertising Market appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Retaining and delighting existing customers is a massive opportunity for SMBs…and increasingly they know it. However, taking full advantage of that opportunity by utilizing digital loyalty programs remains a challenge.

BIA/Kelsey and Manta will present a free webinar Thursday at 2:00 EDT that unpacks the opportunities and challenges facing SMBs as they seek to optimize existing customer relationships. Research from a joint report – “Achieving Big Customer Loyalty in a Small Business World” – will be revealed on why and how small business owners are shifting their time, effort and budget away from customer acquisition to customer retention. Further research will frame the key challenges that SMBs face in deploying successful loyalty initiatives.

Then, tips and best practices for effectively jumpstarting and managing a digital loyalty platform will be shared.

For anyone serving and selling to SMBs, it should be a compelling forum to learn about their shifting habits and needs, and how your business can think about contributing to their customer retention objectives. Register for the free webinar here.

The post BIA/Kelsey & Manta Webinar Explores SMB Shift to Customer Retention appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Retaining and delighting existing customers is a massive opportunity for SMBs…and increasingly they know it. However, taking full advantage of that opportunity by utilizing digital loyalty programs remains a challenge.

BIA/Kelsey and Manta will present a free webinar Thursday at 2:00 EDT that unpacks the opportunities and challenges facing SMBs as they seek to optimize existing customer relationships. Research from a joint report – “Achieving Big Customer Loyalty in a Small Business World” – will be revealed on why and how small business owners are shifting their time, effort and budget away from customer acquisition to customer retention. Further research will frame the key challenges that SMBs face in deploying successful loyalty initiatives.

Then, tips and best practices for effectively jumpstarting and managing a digital loyalty platform will be shared.

For anyone serving and selling to SMBs, it should be a compelling forum to learn about their shifting habits and needs, and how your business can think about contributing to their customer retention objectives. Register for the free webinar here.

The post BIA/Kelsey & Manta Webinar Explores SMB Shift to Customer Retention appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Recent Sponsored Research from BIA/Kelsey and Manta, based on a survey of members of Manta’s online directory community, uncovered a notable trend: more than ever, SMBs are turning their attention and efforts to customer retention, prioritizing it above even acquisition. BIA/Kelsey and Manta will discuss this paradigm shift and its implications for SMBs in a free webinar on Thursday, May 15. Follow this link to register.

It’s a sensible shift, as acquiring customers is typically much more costly than retainer existing ones. Plus, a five percent increase in customer retention can lead to a 25-100 percent rise in profits (source: “The Loyalty Effect”).

Still, SMBs historically have devoted more time, energy and out-of-pocket resources to acquisition. Until now. In the survey, 61 percent of SMBs reported that more than half of their revenue comes from repeat customers, and only 14 percent spend the majority of their annual marketing budget on acquisition.

Change is afoot, starting with the recognition that existing customers are fruitful ones. However, marketing to and engaging with them effectively remains a trouble spot, particularly on digital platforms. Survey findings show that only 34 percent of SMB owners maintain any loyalty program at all, and of those who do, the majority are offline, thus failing to take advantage of the efficiencies and insights that digital platforms provide.

How can SMBs take better advantage of digital platforms to connect with their best customers? Join the webinar on May 15, where BIA/Kelsey and Manta will share tips and best practices to jumpstart the SMB loyalty movement.

The post Upcoming Webinar: How SMBs Can Effectively Drive Customer Loyalty appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

SMBs are increasingly aware of two themes – often related – that are core to their future business growth: 1) consumers expect to discover and interact with them on mobile platforms; 2) existing customers directly impact profitability; retaining and delighting them must be given higher priority.

Huzzah, the digital arm of User-Friendly Media, is building a platform to solve both problems concurrently, and at a manageable price point. The company’s focus on mobile and loyalty is underscored by its recent study revealing that fewer than 20 percent of SMBs have a mobile app, and even fewer – 17 percent – deploy a loyalty program.

Its SMB suite starts with supplying a mobile app, surrounded by impression-based media campaigns that drive app installs and post-click activities, or secondary actions (click-to-call and click-to-schedule-appointment, for example).

Why a mobile app rather than an optimized or responsive mobile website/landing page? Huzzah VP of Product Development Lance Brown says it’s not a case of either/or; SMBs should optimize their mobile presence in all environments. But building apps for SMBs allows them to “do many of the things that big brands do.”

A digital loyalty platform is a distinct, but related, part of the Huzzah solution. It’s a “networked” loyalty model , with a consumer-facing app that aggregates participating merchants (though rewards are not transferable across distinct merchants).

Each SMB is outfitted with an “out of the box solution,” according to Brown, that includes an iPad storefront, loyalty cards, digital coaching and unlimited rewards (Huzzah uses “coins” as its rewards currency). Currently check-ins are the predominant activity that SMBs can reward, though VP of Marketing Greg Garrick notes that much more flexibility is on the horizon. “We’re building a system to offer as many types of rewards as you can think of.”

Huzzah is currently offering a promotion – a $1 trial for six months – to build a critical mass on merchants on its loyalty platform, which strengthens the consumer-facing product while enabling the company to upsell/cross-sell SMBs into its additional marketing products.

The post Huzzah's SMB Success Formula: Mobile + Loyalty appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

SMBs are increasingly aware of two themes – often related – that are core to their future business growth: 1) consumers expect to discover and interact with them on mobile platforms; 2) existing customers directly impact profitability; retaining and delighting them must be given higher priority.

Huzzah, the digital arm of User-Friendly Media, is building a platform to solve both problems concurrently, and at a manageable price point. The company’s focus on mobile and loyalty is underscored by its recent study revealing that fewer than 20 percent of SMBs have a mobile app, and even fewer – 17 percent – deploy a loyalty program.

Its SMB suite starts with supplying a mobile app, surrounded by impression-based media campaigns that drive app installs and post-click activities, or secondary actions (click-to-call and click-to-schedule-appointment, for example).

Why a mobile app rather than an optimized or responsive mobile website/landing page? Huzzah VP of Product Development Lance Brown says it’s not a case of either/or; SMBs should optimize their mobile presence in all environments. But building apps for SMBs allows them to “do many of the things that big brands do.”

A digital loyalty platform is a distinct, but related, part of the Huzzah solution. It’s a “networked” loyalty model , with a consumer-facing app that aggregates participating merchants (though rewards are not transferable across distinct merchants).

Each SMB is outfitted with an “out of the box solution,” according to Brown, that includes an iPad storefront, loyalty cards, digital coaching and unlimited rewards (Huzzah uses “coins” as its rewards currency). Currently check-ins are the predominant activity that SMBs can reward, though VP of Marketing Greg Garrick notes that much more flexibility is on the horizon. “We’re building a system to offer as many types of rewards as you can think of.”

Huzzah is currently offering a promotion – a $1 trial for six months – to build a critical mass on merchants on its loyalty platform, which strengthens the consumer-facing product while enabling the company to upsell/cross-sell SMBs into its additional marketing products.

The post Huzzah’s SMB Success Formula: Mobile + Loyalty appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Last week, Northern Virginia-based Urgent.ly closed its seed round to accelerate the model it’s building to improve roadside assistance for both customers and service providers. The company offers an HTML5 mobile app to connect both sides of the marketplace quickly and efficiently at the critical moment of need (i.e. when a driver needs a tow or a flat tired fixed).

So why is the model compelling? Aside from aspiring to modernize a space that often still operates with pencil and paper, and not always with full transparency for customers, Urgent.ly is connecting two foundational ideas transforming the local space: on-demand mobile services and verticalized marketplace models. Or, as CEO Chris Spanos put it, “smartphones as the remote-control-for-life” and “the Uber-ification of everything.”

Let’s unpack Urgent.ly’s value propositions for both the buyers and sellers in this marketplace. For customers, the app provides instant access to a network of pre-qualified service providers. They also enjoy “simplified”, fixed-rate pricing managed by Urgent.ly and real-time tracking of the status, location and ETA of the provider.

For sellers, Urgent.ly connects them to nearby customers in need. As a result, service professionals can receive higher-quality leads and better manage their fleet, all of which optimally should produce better margins.

It’s a big market – 28 thousand total U.S. towers – and Urgent.ly will use the funding to continue to tap into this network, as well as prove out its marketplace model across multiple DMAs and build additional distribution through partnerships. Currently it is only in the Washington, D.C. area.

Longer term, one can envision a larger play in the services space, but for now Spanos and team remain “solely focused on roadside and helping people in urgent need.”

The post Urgent.ly Raises Seed Round to Transform Roadside Assistance appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Traditionally, SMBs have invested the majority of their time, energy and budget in acquiring new customers. However, a recently-released report from BIA/Kelsey and Manta, based on findings from nearly 1,000 members of Manta’s online directory community, indicates a clear shift in focus to engagement and retention.

According to the report, “Achieving Big Customer Loyalty in a Small Business World,” (follow the link for free download), 61 percent of the SMBs surveyed report that more than half of their revenue comes from repeat customers, rather than new business. Meanwhile, a repeat customer spends 67 percent more than a new customer. As a result, only 14 percent of SMB owners now spend the majority of their annual marketing budget on acquisition.

This marks a dramatic change from just two years ago, when BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor survey highlighted that SMBs heavily prioritized customer acquisition over retention.

However, effective SMB retention efforts – notably loyalty programs and customer relationship management (CRM) systems – remain spotty. Only 34 percent of SMB owners have any loyalty program at all, and of those who do, the majority are offline, thus failing to take advantage of the efficiencies and insights that digital platforms provide.

BIA/Kelsey and Manta will present findings from the report and discuss best practices for SMBs in a free webinar on Tuesday, May 15. Please follow this link to register.

The post BIA/Kelsey and Manta Joint Report: SMBs Shift Priority to Customer Retention appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.