Australia's leading telecom Telstra has sold off 70 percent of its directories unit Sensis to a U.S. based private equity firm for A$454 million, which works out to a valuation of A$649 million (US$591 million). There was speculation in the…
SMBs reported using an average of 7.6 different media to advertise or promote their businesses, according to BIA/Kelsey's Local Commerce Monitor, Wave 17™, down from 8.4 in Wave 16. 30% of the SMBs surveyed reported using broadcast and 57% use…
Living Social CEO and co-founder Tim O'Shaughnessy announced today on the company blog that he is stepping down. He will stay until a new CEO is found and installed -- a process that he "hopes" will be completed during the…
Watch out Dun & Bradstreet. Radius Intelligence is coming. Radius, a five year old, San Francisco-based firm formerly known as FWIX, is gunning for D&B's SMB data business by scraping the Web for insights into how users find and engage…
One of the hottest trends in local marketing is "National Local," which accounted for 32.1 percent or $42.5 billion of the $132.5 billion spent on local media advertising in 2012. BIA/Kelsey projects that national's share of local ad spending is…
The utility of loyalty programs is stronger than ever, as they help businesses connect, engage, drive traffic, refer friends, purchase and track customer actions. But efforts to determine loyalty aren't made easier with all the noise in the system. Usage…
According to BIA/Kelsey's Consumer Commerce Monitor™ (CCM) survey, usage of digital media by consumers for local shopping is close to 100%, demonstrating how consumers "want" and "intend" to shop. Usage of smartphones and tablets for local shopping is important and…
Local Corp.'s Krillion has spent the last year and a half expanding its platform for local network and as a result, successfully launched its new Havvit app two weeks ago. Krillion is the localization engine that provides aggregated and structured…
Web and mobile search continue to develop as places where high-intent consumers find local businesses. This is driving a lot of call volume, especially in mobile search where the device itself is also a phone. Meanwhile, SMBs cite phone…
The shift from print to PC was disruptive. The shift from PC to mobile is also disruptive, but the implications are more complex as consumer behavior becomes increasingly multi-screen. Today, half of U.S. mobile searchers begin their purchase research…
Local businesses are finding customers in lots of new ways with the expanding reach of social media and transaction capabilities. On the final day at Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media in San Francisco, a panel on "the new…
Local marketing has moved beyond a sole focus on new customer acquisition to also focus on customer loyalty and engagement. Using credit card registration and point-of-sale integration techniques, leaders in the space have found new ways to engage with millions…
Five years into its existence, Groupon is grappling with the reality that it must evolve beyond simply fire-hosing leads at local merchants and begin helping merchants manage those leads and turn more of them into long-term, profitable customers. In…
The entrance into a new digital age has brought endless changes to the world. Current media is in a state of transformation, undergoing great modification in its traditional medium form – from print to digital. The century old Radio…
At this week's Leading in Local conference we continued to make our Future Stars program a new tradition and staple. From now on, we'll be holding startup competitions in order to invite "new blood" into the atmosphere. This builds from…
Local search has taken off in multiple directions, driving commerce and engagement for merchants via enhances listings, maps, video, and even store inventory. At BIA/Kelsey's Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media Conference held this week in San Francisco, a…
Small businesses are more interested in social today. The challenge is finding the right mix of content and advertising, do it yourself and managed service, that maximizes the opportunity for local businesses. A panel today at BIA/Kelsey's Leading in Local…
"Identifying, sharing and building relationships have become the key tools of modern social selling," was the key message delivered by Koka Sexton, Sr. Social Marketing Manager from LinkedIn. As more buyers and sellers are connecting and researching prospects and companies,…
HubSpot SVP Mark Roberge provided four main points to frame best practices in sales training today at BIA/Kelsey's Leading in Local conference. This was the encore performance after Roberge's highly rated appearance at the SMB conference in September in Austin.…
BIA/Kelsey's forecast for local online advertising revenues is that it will soar from slightly over $1 billion in 2012 to $5 billion by 2017. Describing that new media ecosystem was the purpose of the Online Video session at BIA/Kelsey's Leading…
