Among the varying definitions of “Local” Demandforce CMO Patrick Barry boils it down to its root-level: SMBs. Though we’re seeing lots of activity in location based ad targeting, and brand advertisers localizing campaigns, it’s all about the SMB for Demandforce.

Going further down this road during his address today at BIA/Kelsey’s Leading in Local conference, Barry divides SMB objectives between running their business and growing their business. And the company’s product set and philosophies map to those areas.

“Running a business” drives many DemandForce’s operational offerings for the SMB and take form in back office software. This brings in the OS for SMB trend we’ve been writing about. Think payroll, payment processing, insurance etc.

But as we’ve mentioned, there are lots of synergies between these operational functions and the aspects of the front office like advertising and marketing. For example, payment processing data can reveal things about optimal marketing techniques, loyalty programs, etc.

Tying these together is one of DemandForce’s objectives and one of the marks of their success as an emerging exemplar in the local/SMB space. It has also uncovered lots of data from SMB operations that reveal where the biggest points of value lie in SMB operations.

“From a software perspective across vertical markets — spas, salons, animal care, optometry, etc. — this is where the data of the SMB lives,” said Barry. “They are not always on connected systems, but there is hugely valuable data there when you get into back office is insights.”

This has developed into a data-educated mindset that customer retention is more valuable than acquisition. This runs counter to lots of SMBs advertising behavior. But providing tools to track and cater to existing customers (think CRM) is where DemandForce is placing its chips

“Existing customers and retention drive the most economic value,” said Barry. “As a result, you need to understand those customers and bring to bear the technology that helps them and bring them back.”

The post At Leading in Local: SMB Success is All About Back Office Insights appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

At Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media Dec. 10-12 in San Francisco, we are presenting 50 of local’s top players. Want some homework? We’ve pulled recent coverage of some of our speakers from our Local Media Watch blog. There’s plenty of great reading here, and you’ll experience — first hand — how fast things have been changing.

Patrick Barry, GM, Intuit/DemandForce
Intuit Acquires Online Scheduler

Matthew Berk, CEO, Lucky Oyster
Matthew Berk Rethinks WOM via Lucky Oyster

Brian Boland, VP, Facebook
Facebook/Google Vertical Wars: Facebook Grabs a Google Auto Exec

Suzanne Cooper, Managing Editor, SF Chronicle
SF Chronicle’s Cooper: The Fight to Save Journalism

Jeremy Geiger, CEO, Retailigence
Closed Loop Mobile Local Shopping: A Conversation with Retailigence

Dan Hight, SVP, xAd
XAd and Posterscope: Retargeting For The Real World

Ziad Ismail, SVP, Marchex
Marchex Maps Call Monetization Genome

Mark Roberge, SVP, Hubspot
BIA-Kelsey Briefing: Hubspot Points to a New Way of Selling

Chris Schroeder, Author , Startup Rising
Bookshelf: Christopher Schroeder’s Startup Rising

Sean Smyth, VP, Groupon
A Look at Groupon’s New Partner Network

Eckart Walther, CEO, CardSpring
Merchants Drive Their Own Transaction Marketing via Cardspring Connect

The post Reading List: Recent Blog Coverage of LIL: ILM Speakers appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media, BIA/Kelsey’s flagship show, is now set for San Francisco Dec. 10-12 and we couldn’t be more excited. This year’s edition hosts a totally fresh, new slate of industry leaders.

The show opens with BIA/Kelsey research and the dynamic duo of Joanne Bradford and Kara Swisher. Bradford, of course, has pushed local into new realms during her tenures with Microsoft, Yahoo and Demand Media. Now she is applying her knowledge as President of Hearst’s San Francisco Chronicle. And Swisher remains the fearless interrogator that has dominated tech journalism for over 20 years – the last eight spent as cofounder of All Things D, along with Walt Mossberg. Nobody cuts through the hype like she does.

Other top speakers represent our idea of real innovation (and real fun, too.) Startup Rising Author and former Washington Post Digital and Health Central leader Chris Schroeder lends a global perspective to what works with startups. In the same light, Intel senior researcher Lama Nachman – yes, Discovery Channel’s “Curiosity Expert” – talks about developing the next generation of mobile technologies.

Other initial speakers include DemandForce CMO Patrick Barry, talking about the next wave of one stop local platforms; Hubspot SVP Mark Roberge, going deep on sales organization effectiveness; Weather.com VP Denise Chudhy, talking why weather is the true model for national local; Five Stars CEO Victor Ho on the emergence of Transaction Marketing and Point of Sale integration; Groupon VP Sean Smyth on how Groupon leverages its millions of users in new directions; Telmetrics CEO Bill Dinan on how the new metrics are changing local; and Thumbtack CEO Marco Zappacosta on new ways to leverage directory models for leads.

Indeed, a lot of things have happened in local in 2013. The rise of collaborative consumption via AirBnB, Uber and other companies combining listings, social media and purchase capabilities might be the biggest thing to have hit the industry. As Interactive Local Media, we’re going deep on collaborative consumption with Airbnb director Joe Zadeh, Lucky Oyster CEO Matthew Berk, and two more great names that we can’t announce yet.

Other superforums will focus on mobile wallets and the rise of digital agencies. In the end, we’ll end up with 40+, hand-picked speakers.

Here’s an initial list:

Joanne Bradford, President, SF Chronicle
Kara Swisher, Co-Executive Editor, AllThingsD
Chris Schroeder, Author, Startup Rising
Victor Ho, CEO, FiveStars
Patrick Barry, CMO, DemandForce (Intuit)
Mark Roberge, SVP, Hubspot
Denise Chudhy, VP, Weather.com
Lama Nachman, Sr. Staff Researcher, Intel
Sean Smyth, VP, Partnerships, Groupon
Marco Zappacosta, CEO, Thumbtack
Joe Zadeh, Director, Airbnb
Matthew Berk, CEO, Lucky Oyster
Bill Dinan, CEO, Telmetrics

We’ve extended our Early DIscount rates through October 2. Please register here to save.

The post Just Announced: Initial Speaker List for Interactive Local Media (Dec. 10-12 in San Francisco) appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.