The name of the game this week is gearing up for our big SMB Digital Marketing conference in New Orleans. I've been spending lots of time talking to speakers about what we'll discuss on stage -- which has mostly focused…
As part of our ongoing coverage of call monetization, we held webcast to further unpack our analysis and findings. You can watch the free on-demand replay (streaming slides and voiceover) here. This comes at an opportune time, when call monetization is…
According to our newly released LCM wave 18 data, SMBs find that call-based leads tend to be of higher quality than email (where SMBs reported 43% to be good/excellent), Facebook (35.3% good/excellent) and even in store visits (58.8% good/excellent).…
Cutting through all the Apple excitement, does Apple Pay have what it takes to finally gain the scale that other mobile payment technologies have failed to achieve? Despite Apple's halo effect my answer is no, at least in Apple Pay's…
As we prepare for our annual September conference (watch out, New Orleans) we are starting to release the data from our Wave 18 Local Commerce Monitor (LCM) survey, just "in from the field" a few weeks ago. The data we…
This week has been all about Apple. That’s included some decent analysis, and a whole lot of overblown adoration that “they’ve done it again.” Larger iPhone screens are great but I’m not sure they’ll fit into the skinny jean pockets of the millennial target audience.
In all seriousness as an Apple fanboy, longtime user, and industry watcher, I see implications for larger screens to jumpstart lots of cool app development. I’m bullish on what this will do for content and ad delivery, but downright skeptical about Apple Pay.
Building on our pre-launch analysis, let’s take those one at a time, putting aside the Apple Watch for another post.
Size Matters
Larger screen iPhones are important for lots of reasons. But let’s be clear that this is one of the cases where Apple isn’t leading but following. The SamDroid world is way ahead on this one. Regardless, the marketplace demands larger screens so that’s where we are.
This is also interestingly one of those times when Apple is going back on a vehemently drawn line in the sand. Few people remember Steve Jobs’ fastidious stance that 3.5 inches was the canonical sweet spot for a smartphone (size of original iPhone through the 4s).
Part of the marketplace demand for larger screens goes back to other macro factors such as better connectivity and Moore’s law-driven hardware improvements. These have converged to enable the age of social sharing through Instagram, Snapchat, etc..
Capturing and sharing multimedia via increasingly powerful optics is commonplace. So larger screens to consume that media is a natural progression that aligns. And we’ll see the app development community do some cool things to utilize a larger screen.
The Ad Angle
For the same reason, the ad ecosystem just got a lot more interesting. As we discussed in our last video roundtable, and Peter Krasilovsky’s post earlier this week, larger screens have lots of implications for ad delivery.
But importantly, this won’t just mean more real estate for larger banners. Successful ad strategies will take more of a holistic approach to delivering brand messaging in ways that are more native to a bigger screen… rather than making existing banners larger.
This week has been all about Apple. That’s included some decent analysis, and a whole lot of overblown adoration that “they’ve done it again.” Larger iPhone screens are great but I’m not sure they’ll fit into the skinny jean pockets of the millennial target audience.
In all seriousness as an Apple fanboy, longtime user, and industry watcher, I see implications for larger screens to jumpstart lots of cool app development. I’m bullish on what this will do for content and ad delivery, but downright skeptical about Apple Pay.
Building on our pre-launch analysis, let’s take those one at a time, putting aside the Apple Watch for another post.
Size Matters
Larger screen iPhones are important for lots of reasons. But let’s be clear that this is one of the cases where Apple isn’t leading but following. The SamDroid world is way ahead on this one. Regardless, the marketplace demands larger screens so that’s where we are.
This is also interestingly one of those times when Apple is going back on a vehemently drawn line in the sand. Few people remember Steve Jobs’ fastidious stance that 3.5 inches was the canonical sweet spot for a smartphone (size of original iPhone through the 4s).
Part of the marketplace demand for larger screens goes back to other macro factors such as better connectivity and Moore’s law-driven hardware improvements. These have converged to enable the age of social sharing through Instagram, Snapchat, etc..
Capturing and sharing multimedia via increasingly powerful optics is commonplace. So larger screens to consume that media is a natural progression that aligns. And we’ll see the app development community do some cool things to utilize a larger screen.
The Ad Angle
For the same reason, the ad ecosystem just got a lot more interesting. As we discussed in our last video roundtable, and Peter Krasilovsky’s post earlier this week, larger screens have lots of implications for ad delivery.
But importantly, this won’t just mean more real estate for larger banners. Successful ad strategies will take more of a holistic approach to delivering brand messaging in ways that are more native to a bigger screen… rather than making existing banners larger.
Fifty plus industry leaders will grace the stage at Leading in Local: SMB Digital Marketing Sept. 22-24 in New Orleans. We're looking forward to a great show. Want to do some research before the event? Here's some recent BIA/Kelsey blog…
Deals and coupons remain anchors for local business promotion. But they can now be customized based on customer behavior and better marketing automation tools. Signpost is eager to leverage these developments. While the 200 person company launched in 2011 as…
A lot of us were glued to our screens today to watch or catch the feeds on the Apple announcements re iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Pay and Apple Watch. (To me, the best coverage was on Re/code). What…
A lot of us were glued to our screens today to watch or catch the feeds on the Apple announcements re iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Pay and Apple Watch. (To me, the best coverage was on Re/code). What…
What should SMB retailers do to level the playing field with larger regional and national retailers? There are no easy answers, but they should really focus on mobile and geo location targeting, says Wanderful Media COO Doug Kilponen. Search has…
One idea we've kicked around for a while is that merchants can generate business tips and customer referrals for neighboring merchants in a strip mall, or down the street. Why shouldn't the cooking store people refer customers to the gourmet…
One idea we've kicked around for a while is that merchants can generate business tips and customer referrals for neighboring merchants in a strip mall, or down the street. Why shouldn't the cooking store people refer customers to the gourmet…
BIA/Kelsey launched Future Stars several years ago, with the idea of highlighting startup companies in the local space that needed a little boost to hit the big time. Future Stars get to participate in Future Stars Alley at our events;…
The Nordics search and directory company Eniro has suffered a series of increasingly embarrassing developments in recent weeks. It began back in July with a "disappointing" second quarter earnings result, which led to a management shake-up. In mid-August the company…
Call-based advertising player Soleo Communications took an important step recently with the launch of its Call Generation Portal, a new service that allows small, medium and large merchants (or their agencies) to create an account with Soleo to purchase phone-based…
Call-based advertising player Soleo Communications took an important step recently with the launch of its Call Generation Portal, a new service that allows small, medium and large merchants (or their agencies) to create an account with Soleo to purchase phone-based…
Consumer data giant Acxiom is moving downstream with a self-serve leads products tailored to SMBs. The new SMB product, “MyAcxiomPartner,” allows SMBs to develop customer lists on a hyperlocal basis, using either addresses or polygon mapping. The effort is part…
xAd just announced that it has recieved a $50 million funding round led by Institutional Venture Partners. This joins the $24 million the company has received over three rounds to date. It continues to grow quickly, having reached profitability and…