Last week, we did a successful webcast with Marchex on the topic of search and pay-per-call. This week, we continue the theme of call monetization in a webcast with Five9. They will host the event on Wednesday and I will join as a guest speaker to characterize the market opportunity.

We’ll discuss how the barriers are lowering — especially for marketers who are more empowered to manage cloud software offerings without approval/management of the IT department and costly on-site servers. That same principle is causing the capability to be ‘democratized’ down-market to SMBs.

The discussion will build from lots of data and research we’ve done on this topic. The webcast is free and should have lots of valuable perspectives, including a preview of how Five9 fits into the equation. The company provides a Saas-based call center management platform. Hope to see you there.

The post Webcast: Call Monetization in the Age of the Cloud appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

BIA/Kelsey’s Consumer Commerce Monitor survey reveals that online search is now the most popular channel choice for local shopping (nearly 57 percent on consumers utilize it in their buying process). The trend is further accelerating as mobile penetration and session activity surge. For instance, 40 percent of consumers who leverage smartphones for local shopping do so once or more per day.

All of this points to the critical need for small-medium businesses (SMBs) to maintain accurate, fresh, engaging and non-duplicated content. Duplicate listings can confuse consumers and harm SEO rank, both of which impair the discoverability and selectability of a merchant.

On Thursday, June 5 at 2 p.m. eastern, Yext’s Christian Ward and Local SEO Guide’s Andrew Shotland join me for a free webinar examining the duplicates problem and proposing solutions and best practices for overcoming it. BIA/Kelsey will also share findings from its Local Commerce Monitor and Consumer Commerce Monitor studies that identify key disconnects between consumer shopping trends and SMB advertising/promotions habits, which are exacerbated by duplicates.

Also, attendees can access the new whitepaper from Yext – “The Definitive Guide to Duplicate Listings.” Register for the free webinar here.

The post Upcoming BIA/Kelsey & Yext Webinar: Solving the Duplicate Listings Problem appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

BIA/Kelsey’s Consumer Commerce Monitor survey reveals that online search is now the most popular channel choice for local shopping (nearly 57 percent on consumers utilize it in their buying process). The trend is further accelerating as mobile penetration and session activity surge. For instance, 40 percent of consumers who leverage smartphones for local shopping do so once or more per day.

All of this points to the critical need for small-medium businesses (SMBs) to maintain accurate, fresh, engaging and non-duplicated content. Duplicate listings can confuse consumers and harm SEO rank, both of which impair the discoverability and selectability of a merchant.

On Thursday, June 5 at 2 p.m. eastern, Yext’s Christian Ward and Local SEO Guide’s Andrew Shotland join me for a free webinar examining the duplicates problem and proposing solutions and best practices for overcoming it. BIA/Kelsey will also share findings from its Local Commerce Monitor and Consumer Commerce Monitor studies that identify key disconnects between consumer shopping trends and SMB advertising/promotions habits, which are exacerbated by duplicates.

Also, attendees can access the new whitepaper from Yext – “The Definitive Guide to Duplicate Listings.” Register for the free webinar here.

The post Upcoming BIA/Kelsey & Yext Webinar: Solving the Duplicate Listings Problem appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Retaining and delighting existing customers is a massive opportunity for SMBs…and increasingly they know it. However, taking full advantage of that opportunity by utilizing digital loyalty programs remains a challenge.

BIA/Kelsey and Manta will present a free webinar Thursday at 2:00 EDT that unpacks the opportunities and challenges facing SMBs as they seek to optimize existing customer relationships. Research from a joint report – “Achieving Big Customer Loyalty in a Small Business World” – will be revealed on why and how small business owners are shifting their time, effort and budget away from customer acquisition to customer retention. Further research will frame the key challenges that SMBs face in deploying successful loyalty initiatives.

Then, tips and best practices for effectively jumpstarting and managing a digital loyalty platform will be shared.

For anyone serving and selling to SMBs, it should be a compelling forum to learn about their shifting habits and needs, and how your business can think about contributing to their customer retention objectives. Register for the free webinar here.

The post BIA/Kelsey & Manta Webinar Explores SMB Shift to Customer Retention appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Retaining and delighting existing customers is a massive opportunity for SMBs…and increasingly they know it. However, taking full advantage of that opportunity by utilizing digital loyalty programs remains a challenge.

BIA/Kelsey and Manta will present a free webinar Thursday at 2:00 EDT that unpacks the opportunities and challenges facing SMBs as they seek to optimize existing customer relationships. Research from a joint report – “Achieving Big Customer Loyalty in a Small Business World” – will be revealed on why and how small business owners are shifting their time, effort and budget away from customer acquisition to customer retention. Further research will frame the key challenges that SMBs face in deploying successful loyalty initiatives.

Then, tips and best practices for effectively jumpstarting and managing a digital loyalty platform will be shared.

For anyone serving and selling to SMBs, it should be a compelling forum to learn about their shifting habits and needs, and how your business can think about contributing to their customer retention objectives. Register for the free webinar here.

The post BIA/Kelsey & Manta Webinar Explores SMB Shift to Customer Retention appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Recent Sponsored Research from BIA/Kelsey and Manta, based on a survey of members of Manta’s online directory community, uncovered a notable trend: more than ever, SMBs are turning their attention and efforts to customer retention, prioritizing it above even acquisition. BIA/Kelsey and Manta will discuss this paradigm shift and its implications for SMBs in a free webinar on Thursday, May 15. Follow this link to register.

It’s a sensible shift, as acquiring customers is typically much more costly than retainer existing ones. Plus, a five percent increase in customer retention can lead to a 25-100 percent rise in profits (source: “The Loyalty Effect”).

Still, SMBs historically have devoted more time, energy and out-of-pocket resources to acquisition. Until now. In the survey, 61 percent of SMBs reported that more than half of their revenue comes from repeat customers, and only 14 percent spend the majority of their annual marketing budget on acquisition.

Change is afoot, starting with the recognition that existing customers are fruitful ones. However, marketing to and engaging with them effectively remains a trouble spot, particularly on digital platforms. Survey findings show that only 34 percent of SMB owners maintain any loyalty program at all, and of those who do, the majority are offline, thus failing to take advantage of the efficiencies and insights that digital platforms provide.

How can SMBs take better advantage of digital platforms to connect with their best customers? Join the webinar on May 15, where BIA/Kelsey and Manta will share tips and best practices to jumpstart the SMB loyalty movement.

The post Upcoming Webinar: How SMBs Can Effectively Drive Customer Loyalty appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

According to our Local Commerce Monitor SMB study, businesses that track their lead sources say that the quality of leads sourced from calls is superior to other type of online leads, too.

With more calls being driven by paid search campaigns than ever, marketers need to be savvy about how to make sure inbound call channels are being tracked and analyzed to maximize campaign ROI.

Click here to watch an on-demand recording of our recent BIA/Kelsey webinar, Bridging the Paid Search Gap, sponsored by Invoca, to learn about the key components to consider when assessing inbound call intelligence solutions for your paid search campaigns.

The post Bridging the Paid Search Gap: On-Demand Webinar appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Are you making marketing decisions based solely on clicks and web conversions?

Marketers who aren’t including phone call conversions may be missing key data points that can help optimize search campaigns, more accurately measure ROI and justify budgets. For example, did you know that half of paid searches convert offline, mostly from inbound calls? Research is illustrating how paid search, coupled with inbound call tracking, can empower companies to generate better leads, produce higher conversions, all while being very “smart” about spending.

Discover how to maximize your paid search efforts and close the loop with call-based lead tracking.

Join us this Wednesday, April 2 at 2:00 PM Eastern / 11 AM Pacific, for a rapid fire discussion on how the best optimized search marketing campaigns include intelligent inbound call tracking to drive higher quality leads and increased ROI.

You will learn:

— The current state of the paid search landscape

— The importance of combining paid search campaigns with inbound call channels to maximize marketing ROI

— The synergy between online search and offline call conversions for B2B and B2C sales

Speakers include:

— Abid Chaudhry, Senior Director of Industry Strategy & Insight, BIA/Kelsey

— Eric Holmen, CMO, Invoca

— Janelle Laguette, Digital Marketing and eCommerce Consultant

We’ll be tweeting during the webinar, so join in on the discussion by tagging questions and comments with a #PaidSearchGap hashtag.

Register Now to attend Bridging the Paid Search Gap webinar on April 2.

The post Upcoming Webinar: Bridging the Paid Search Gap appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

In case you missed our webcast last week on call monetization, here is the link to watch the free on-demand replay. That includes streaming video, and access to the presentation slides.

The webcast itself was action packed with lots of data points, concrete examples, tactical analysis and audience questions. Ifbyphone VP Steve Griffiths and I went back and forth on lots of these issues in about 50 minutes of slides and dialogue.

The biggest data takeaways included the growth in call volume to local business that’s correlated to the smartphone era; mobile user intent for commercially oriented searches that drive phone calls; and the degree to which local businesses value phone leads (high).

Given those data as setup analysis, Griffiths gave lots of good examples of how Ifbyphone as a leader in call monetizaion is tackling the opportunity. We heard examples, best practices and things that companies in this space can start implementing.

The video is available for stream or download, and it captures all of the visuals (slides) and audio from the webcast. Pro tip: the WMV file streams natively in IE (given the Microsoft tie-in) but initiates a hefty download if you access it using Chrome or Firefox.

The post Surviving the Mobile Tsunami: Webcast Recap (and Replay Link) appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

On Tuesday, March 25, BIA/Kelsey and Surefire Social are teaming up to host a live webcast on the booming opportunity, but inherent challenges, in national-local digital marketing for brands and multi-location enterprises.

BIA/Kelsey forecasts locally-targeted advertising and promotions spend by national businesses to approach $53 billion in the U.S. by 2017. As a result, brands are aggressively pursuing localized marketing initiatives to boost their visibility and drive both engagement and leads. In fact, BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor™ Wave 17 survey research indicates that digital media are three of the top five most widely-used channels by franchisees, with Facebook as the top choice. Meanwhile, they are also spending heavily on their online presence – more than $41,000 annually.

However, the question persists: How do adoption and spend translate into ROI-based success? In the webinar, we’ll probe the research more deeply to identify key opportunity/execution gaps. Then Surefire Social will share its point of view on best practices for conquering these challenges to drive real business results across local networks. Specifically, CEO Chris Marentis will look at how technology-enabled service can empower coordinated publishing, content marketing and lead generation strategy across all levels of an organization. Brand case study successes will also be shared.

Please sign up for the free webcast here.

The post Free Webcast: Succeeding in National-to-Local Marketing with a Networked Approach appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.