We've been looking at Austin's vibrant tech scene as we prep for Leading in Local: SMB Digital Marketing. There is a lot going on in the "weird" city, with many companies having local tech outposts there (SignPost, Radius, Vast.com, Hoovers,…
We've always had "marketing" as a unique silo for SMBs. Now, a number of companies are looking at a bigger, more integrated picture that includes marketing and operations. It is Quikbook meet Amex meet Groupon. The idea is once you…
Our Leading in Local: SMB Digital Marketing event in Austin Sept. 11-13 keeps building and building. We’re expecting hundreds of real and honorary Texans, and overall, an inspiring event that should help define the next wave of SMB growth. In…
Groupon has been pushing hard to upgrade its merchant base from one-time partners to permanent clients with monthly sales goals. The latest initiative? A “Partner Network” for publishers willing to highlight Groupon deals in return for a piece of the…
The new digital environment is bringing about a “renaissance” for marketing, which can be defined as “meeting customer requirements,” notes Digitas and Razorfish Chairman Rishad Tobaccowala, who was interviewed at ShopLocal’s 8th Annual Retail Forum this week in Chicago by…
Gannett Digital Marketing, the umbrella division of Gannett that includes ShopLocal, BlinQ, PointRoll, DealChicken, Key Ring and Clipper Magazine, relaunched today as G/O Digital. The new unit – which is adding a massive hub in a Chicago skyscraper, and is…
The Leading in Local: SMB Digital Marketing event in Austin Sept. 11-13 is now mostly completed -- and it is looking really, really good. Many of the industry’s top executives have committed to participating, including leaders from top new media…
Can coupons be reimagined to spur more consumer engagement? That’s what DataSphere is working on. The Seattle-based company sells and hosts marketing solutions to more than 20,000 SMBs under local TV and newspaper brands owned by Gannett, Belo, Raycom, Meredith…
Apple finally made some moves into the local mapping wars last week with the purchase of Locationary, which helps find business locations, and HopStop, which provides transit maps and travel suggestions. We'll go out on a limb and predict that…
Sometimes there is no substitute for dropping in on industry leaders to exchange ideas and specifically, to find out how their efforts relate to yours. That's what our friends at The Local Media Association have been doing the last few…
The transition from one-off daily deals to an 'always on' loyalty/rewards platform that keeps merchants in the fold has been a Holy Grail of sorts for the deals companies. This was the case for Groupon Rewards, which launched in May…
Fast, efficient service leads has been a goal of numerous companies since the commercialization of the Internet. Richard Rosen and his team at FastCall411 pioneered the space seven or eight years ago, although their service was initially limited to hiring…
ReachLocal is now largely focused on providing integrated marketing solutions, including search, retargeting, promotions and process management. As part of this effort, it has also introduced three new brands: ReachCommerce, a process management service; RealLocal Edge, a lead conversion service;…
The daily deals business isn't dead, but it isn't growing either. At this point, they aren't the anchor for SMB digital solutions that had been hoped. The question is whether more sustainable loyalty and rewards programs - many putting their…
You want vision? LevelUp CEO Seth Priebatsch says his loyalty/transaction marketing company will emerge as a partner for SMBs -- think authentication; orders and refunds; and analytics -- in the same way that Facebook Connect is a partner for media…
Is email still the anchor for customer engagement, given the rise of mobile, social media, texting, websites and big data? With people joking that they don’t even know what email is, you have to wonder. ExactTarget, which specializes in email…
As traditional local media players begin to lose some of their prominence, the search for alternative local sales channels has become increasingly important. The channel currently being explored: payment processors, which normally focus on selling Point of Sales systems. Processors…
We’re all ready for the next big turning point in local: and to us, it all begins and ends with the SMB market. Just this week, Facebook announced its one millionth SMB advertiser. We’ll be diving deep into digital marketing…
With the exception of efforts like AOL’s Patch and New England’s GoLocal24, “Hyperlocal” has really moved away from its initial focus on neighborhood journalism to more of a focus on geo-targeted advertising and commerce. Redefined this way, there’s a lot…
The SMB payment space has been getting mighty crowded since Square’s 2010 launch. Major merchant acquirers such as PayPal, Groupon, Intuit, VeriFone, Heartland Payment, Swipely, Merchant Warehouse and Total Merchant Services have joined Square in the battle for small spending…
