Gravy just got a nice boost of confidence per its $7.6M Series A round led by new investors Gannett, MetTel and several optimistic existing investors. Gravy is a local-mobile data analytics firms that develops consumer behavioral signals for segmentation and targeting based on participation and interest in local events and activities. The theory Gravy pursues is that this type of profiling provides a new level of accuracy in targeting consumers with behavioral and location signals.

Founded in 2011, Gravy will use its funding round to build out its Gravy GOLD data platform that is driven by verified customer attendance at local events and places. Gravy told us that their clients have developed actionable data gathered from customers motivated to invest their free time to physically attend events and activities provides a strong set of intent signals useful to marketers.

Gravy says its GOLD platform, enables brand marketers to quickly uncover the interests and affinities of individual mobile customers as they live their daily lives and use that knowledge to predict buying intent, deliver personalized engagement, gain granular competitive insights and execute pinpoint, in-the-moment targeting.

The rise of data science, data platforms and marketing analytics is disruptive by changing how marketers and publishers are now transacting on audience inventory rather than media inventory. Gravy makes for an interesting opportunity as it brings a new type of data to the game. Consumer behaviors around events and activities on face value would appear to be useful signals for targeting specific creative messaging and appeals as well as developing a new segmentation strategy.

As programmatic, location and mobile converge around data management platforms and consumer signaling, Gravy could be upping its game at a very relevant point in the industry’s evolution.

The post Gannett, MetTel Back Gravy, Local-Mobile Data Analytics Firm, in $7.6M Series A Raise appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

In BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor (LCM) survey, “Small Business Plus Spenders” with annual marketing budgets of $75k or more – such as car dealers. medical centers and other larger local advertisers — are all over big data. Plus Spenders are found to be data hounds, showing a strong desire and use for information on media performance, analytics, and customer comments in social media.

SMB Plus Spenders rated analytics as their second highest (at 61 percent) future priority for marketing and advertising. Plus Spenders are keen on incorporating analytics into their marketing mix.

Our LCM data finds that 48 percent of SMB Plus Spenders use their own organic data to analyze the effectiveness of their ad campaigns versus 29 percent who use vendor or third party data. Furthermore, 82 percent of Plus Spenders track the sources of their business leads either frequently or occasionally. This high reading is consistent with the overall priority assigned to Analytics by Plus Spenders.

Our LCM 17 data indicates, plus spender SMBs are keen on monitoring their advertising performance through analytics. Many small companies want to improve their marketing by pinpointing the best sales prospects through social media and other media channels. SMBs can harness data to analyze what customers are saying online to engage in more impactful dialogues with prospective or existing customers because that big data allows them to understand their campaign’s effectiveness.

The post SMBs with Big Budgets take on Big Data Solutions appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

In the mobile era, listings are increasingly useless without context. Businesses need to be found via LAT/Long; and they need to shape their business identity using all the tools at their disposal. In recent years, it has gotten even more complex with the addition of social media, content marketing and other channels.

No one has emphasized these realities more than UBL CEO Doyal Bryant. Hence UBL’s newly announced global partnership with MomentFeed, a provider of a digital marketing platform that connects brands and consumers at the local level for top brands ranging from 7-Eleven and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to JCPenney and The Home Depot.

Together, UBL and MomentFeed are seeking to establish a new mobile social anchor for business search and discovery. Besides the Enterprise customers both companies are working together on, they will be working with UBL’s SMB channels to integrate social media with its presence and profile management.

BIA/Kelsey talked this week with UBL CEO Doyal Bryant and MomentFeed CEO Robert Blatt to get their perspective on why this partnership will be compelling.

“When we began (several years ago), it was all about the website,” said Bryant, who noted he has already sent “thousands” of customers to MomentFeed. “You built a profile and focused on being found and having it all sync correctly. But it’s changed due to what is happening with social media and fragmentation.” The change has become “core to the business,” he said.

MomentFeed’s Blatt seconded the thought. “It is amazing how much we have moved from the search paradigm of 18-24 months ago,” noted Blatt. “Now search has moved to mobile devices. It has moved off the browser onto the App.”

“Your top priority is suddenly claiming your Google Plus page, and making sure the Facebook Local Page is running, and that there is a place page for each location on your website,” said Blatt. “And that there is accurate and engaging content and interaction for all three places between suppliers and retailers at both the national and local level. That’s the future of digital shop and marketing.”

Blatt feels that MomentFeed’s partnership with UBL allows businesses to get the best of both worlds. They can help businesses “do the job” on Facebook, Google, Foursquare, Instagram, Twitter, Yelp (and soon, Bing), as well as the multitude of listing networks that are often vertical market specific, such as restaurants and travel.

Looking forward, the focus will be on the engagement piece. MomentFeed has taken a lead in turning Instagram into media, for instance. “We let businesses do it, curate it, and then send a follow-up letter,” he said.

Tracking business results via analytics will also be key. It all leads to a linkage between marketing activity and business results, said Blatt. The company will correlate the marketing activity around a location with the revenue and foot traffic at that location.

The post UBL, MomentFeed Partner to Leverage ‘National Local’ appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

In the mobile era, listings are increasingly useless without context. Businesses need to be found via LAT/Long; and they need to shape their business identity using all the tools at their disposal. In recent years, it has gotten even more complex with the addition of social media, content marketing and other channels.

No one has emphasized these realities more than UBL CEO Doyal Bryant. Hence UBL’s newly announced global partnership with MomentFeed, a provider of a digital marketing platform that connects brands and consumers at the local level for top brands ranging from 7-Eleven and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf to JCPenney and The Home Depot.

Together, UBL and MomentFeed are seeking to establish a new mobile social anchor for business search and discovery. Besides the Enterprise customers both companies are working together on, they will be working with UBL’s SMB channels to integrate social media with its presence and profile management.

BIA/Kelsey talked this week with UBL CEO Doyal Bryant and MomentFeed CEO Robert Blatt to get their perspective on why this partnership will be compelling.

“When we began (several years ago), it was all about the website,” said Bryant, who noted he has already sent “thousands” of customers to MomentFeed. “You built a profile and focused on being found and having it all sync correctly. But it’s changed due to what is happening with social media and fragmentation.” The change has become “core to the business,” he said.

MomentFeed’s Blatt seconded the thought. “It is amazing how much we have moved from the search paradigm of 18-24 months ago,” noted Blatt. “Now search has moved to mobile devices. It has moved off the browser onto the App.”

“Your top priority is suddenly claiming your Google Plus page, and making sure the Facebook Local Page is running, and that there is a place page for each location on your website,” said Blatt. “And that there is accurate and engaging content and interaction for all three places between suppliers and retailers at both the national and local level. That’s the future of digital shop and marketing.”

Blatt feels that MomentFeed’s partnership with UBL allows businesses to get the best of both worlds. They can help businesses “do the job” on Facebook, Google, Foursquare, Instagram, Twitter, Yelp (and soon, Bing), as well as the multitude of listing networks that are often vertical market specific, such as restaurants and travel.

Looking forward, the focus will be on the engagement piece. MomentFeed has taken a lead in turning Instagram into media, for instance. “We let businesses do it, curate it, and then send a follow-up letter,” he said.

Tracking business results via analytics will also be key. It all leads to a linkage between marketing activity and business results, said Blatt. The company will correlate the marketing activity around a location with the revenue and foot traffic at that location.

The post UBL, MomentFeed Partner to Leverage 'National Local' appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

xAd today launched a new product called Footprints to better measure and visualize traffic (of the analog variety). This will be a tool for marketers to better research foot traffic patterns and make informed decisions about localized ad targeting strategies.

The company positions Footprints as a tool for marketers to view real time mobile visits at more than 14 million U.S. businesses. This will happen to the tune of 30 million local business visits per day, which will fuel 1.5 billion daily location-aware ad requests.

The time for this is right. In fact, this was a big theme at our recent Leading in Local conference in Atlanta. Given that 94 percent of U.S. retail spending still happens offline, how can we utilize mobile devices and embedded sensors to bring online-style analytics (i.e. traffic) to the real world?

In that sense, xAd’s Footprints is reminiscent of my interview on day 3 of the conference with LBMA President Asif Kahn. He characterized the developing art of location tracking as the new “cookie” for the real world. xAd in fact uses similar phrasing in today’s launch of Footprints:

As consumers go about their day traveling from one place to another, they engage with their phones regularly. Through this engagement, they often share their device location information with their favorite sites and applications. This data exchange normally occurs in an effort to make their mobile experiences more efficient or relevant to what they may be doing at any given time or place. It is through this anonymized location data that a product like Footprints™ is possible, essentially turning a device’s location data into a new kind of digital cookie.

The ways this is used by marketers will evolve. For now it appears to be a powerful tool, similar in some ways to the offline tracking tools we covered in our Attribution white paper. Those include PlaceIQ’s Place Visit Rate, Placed’s Panel approach and Verve’s Foot Traffic Index.

Footprints of course has many unique attributes to differentiate it from those offerings, but its generally speaking a continuation of the utilization of location data to devise more informed location based ad campaigns. This is the “big data meets local” trend we continue to track.

Speaking of which, we’ll soon have the chance to do a deeper dive with our friends at xAd and report back about Footprint’s product-level attributes. Meanwhile, check out the product page here and video below.

The post xAd Launches New Visualization Tool for Real World Foot Traffic appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Analytics are moving center stage for many “platform” companies previously anchored in features such as maps, search, deals, store location, directions, listing updates and enhancements.

The trend — a real one — was reinforced today by Where2GetIt‘s announcement that it has acquired Brandify, the Washington D.C. area based provider of analytics for 26,000 local businesses.

Brandify provides feedback on digital marketing efforts based on 200 + variables, including reputation, local SEO performance, social engagement, competitor benchmarking, reviews and comments, business listing analysis, and locator traffic. Where2GetIt envisions Brandify “bridging the gap between its online and offline features” with “real time local insights.”

Where2GetIt CEO Manish Patel, in a discussion with BIA/Kelsey, said that many of the company’s multi-location customers — ranging from Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Shops to Hunter Douglas shades — have been asking for a more comprehensive solution.

“They are faced with knitting together a patchwork of point products and services to protect their brand, improve visibility, local listing management, and local monitoring,” said Patel. Brandify “scores” their effectiveness in key areas, and makes it easier for them to determine how effective they’ve been.

While Brandify will continue to be developed as a standalone service for small and medium businesses, it will also be integrated into Where2GetIt’s platform for national brands and multi-location services, Patel added.

Where2GetIt CEO Manish Patel is presenting a DEMO today at BIA/Kelsey’s Leading in Local: The National Impact in Atlanta

The post Analytics Take Center Stage: Where2GetIt Acquires Brandify appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Social Media usage grew slightly year over year, while mobile usage showed significant growth. Traditional media, such as broadcast and newspaper, took a hit from the previous year.

Three of Plus Spender SMBs highest advertising and marketing priorities for the next 12 months are analytics, mobile and social.

— 62% of Plus Spender SMBs ranked Analytics as a very high or extremely high priority.

— 55.5% ranked Social Media as very or extremely high priority.

— 55% ranked Mobile as very or extremely high priority.

Core SMBs do not place as much urgency and emphasis on these marketing priorities as Plus Spenders.

Unlike Core SMBs, which tend to rely on their own data, Plus Spender SMBs want empirical information on media performance, analytics, customer comments in social media, etc.

Mobile has huge traction with Plus Spender SMBs. 44.5% report having a mobile website and 53.6% report they accept payments via a credit card reader. Core SMBs, on the other hand, have a long way to go with mobile as only 15% have a mobile website and 28% reporting accepting payments via a credit card reader.

Plus Spender SMBs are also more committed and sophisticated in their use of social media than Core SMBs, with 72% reporting they’re “extremely or very” engaged with their customers, compared to 61% of Core SMBs. 73% of Plus Spender SMBs monitor online comments about them, compared to 57% of Core SMBs.

Plus Spender SMBs already have an established digital presence on social, search and mobile — the opportunity lies in managing their engagement with customers through their digital properties.

We’ll be hosting a webinar and diving into the details about Plus Spender SMBs in the next few weeks.

For more information on BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor, check here.

The post Social and Mobile Crucial to Plus Spender SMBs Now and In the Future appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.