Just when the DMS ’11 audience thought it knew everything there is to know about group buying, Groupon Regional Sales Manager Brett Truka lifted the curtain a little higher. He also noted that the big G itself continues to gather…
Today as DMS ’11 wrapped up, Mike Centorani, VP of sales training at MatchCraft, and Paul Plant, founder and principal, Radicle Consulting, dissected the art of local advertiser acquisition. Riffing on the title of the session, Plant said he prefers…
For all the recent negative bluster in the deals space, including one report of its imminent demise, BIA/Kelsey has a decidedly different message for the dissenters: "We still like ’em." At DMS ’11, Marketplaces Program Director Peter Krasilovsky painted a…
What does digital transformation truly look like? And how far along the path to a new revenue model are directional publishers? Those questions were front and center at DMS ’11, as Dex One Chief Strategy Officer David Sharman, YP New…
Nir Lempert, CEO of Israel-based Golden Pages, discussed his company's transformation from print to a vertically focused media player. The key to transforming, Lempert said, has been about empowering consumers. And thus the advertisers and revenues have followed. In 2004…
During today's social media forum at DMS ’11 a session on "social CRM" highlighted the products and insights of VendAsta CEO Brendan King and JoinHere CEO Justin Sanger. The artist formerly known as reputation management is taking many forms as…
Only 1.25 percent of the 240 million websites online are mobile friendly. That statistic kicked off the DMS ’11 Mobile Tools for SMBs panel. Provided by DudaMobile, the company's CEO and cofounder, Itai Sadan, looks at the statistic and sees…
Smack dab in the middle of today's social media forum at DMS ’11 was a session to highlight agencies that specialize in social media marketing. David Lifson, CEO of Postling, and Mike Nabasny, regional sales manager of Wildfire, spent the…
Two companies investing in self-service advertising for SMBs agree that self-service is an important and growing category, but isn't likely to replace direct sales. This morning's panel at DMS ’11, "SMBs and Self-Serve: Ready for Prime Time?" featured Paul Levine, COO…
In the afternoon session at the BIA/Kelsey DMS conference on Wednesday afternoon, two players in the local search industry talked about the growing local display market and the use of display by SMBs. Moderated by Matt Booth of BIA/Kelsey, Tyler…
Capping off the first day of DMS ’11 and the Performance Media SuperForum was a one-on-one session with David Read, director of Pay for Performance of AT&T Advertising Solutions, and BIA/Kelsey moderator Charles Laughlin. Read talked specifically about how AT&T…
Microsoft isn’t doing anything particularly unusual in search. But the assets it is assembling over the next year or two will pack a mighty punch by leveraging all the fast-moving trends, said Chris Sampson, head of worldwide Bing Local search…
Yellowbook CEO Joe Walsh made a very direct case this morning for massive consolidation in the core U.S. Yellow Pages business sometime over the next couple of years. Ultimately, Walsh believes there will be a single national print Yellow…
YPG of Canada has greatly boosted traffic and repositioned itself as a center for local applications by opening up its data via an open API (Application Program Interface). YPG Director of Business Development Darby Sieben, speaking at DMS ’11 in…
Matt Booth kicked off a session at DMS ’11 with some BIA/Kelsey data on SMBs' perception of value for the many things offered to them in search advertising services. Above SEO assistance, keyword selection, site traffic reports and the usual…
AT&Ti Deals are now in Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles, and will likely be launching deals offerings in 10 markets by the fourth quarter of 2011, according to AT&Ti VP of Business Development Todd Rose, who was speaking at DMS…
The walled garden approach may be history, as too many consumers are cut off from access. But companies still want to control customer activity, and will now pursue more of an “open garden” approach, suggests Halogen Media’s Peter Horan, a…
Today at BIA/Kelsey's DMS conference, the evolving local merchant was dissected by MerchantCircle founder Ben Smith, Halogen Media Group Chairman Peter Horan and Reply.com CEO Payam Zamani. SMB savvy is accelerating as a function of the business owners' role as…
We’ve liked the idea of an ad network that makes it easy for place bloggers, local news sites and others to combine their audiences for advertisers wanting to target on a hyperlocal basis. The Sacramento Press has been working on…
One of the questions we have about the deals space is, how social is it really? In early days, with demos leaning toward college-educated women, deals were very social as subscribers referred deals to each other in return for a…
