As small businesses increase digital marketing spend, agencies that target them with marketing automation can gain a competitive edge. This was the focus of today's BIA/Kelsey webcast (and companion white paper) co-hosted by Vendasta. But more important than the "why?" of marketing…
More and more SMBs are using technology to compete against much larger competitors. What's important to SMBs when choosing new advertising and marketing technologies? According to BIA/Kelsey's Local Commerce Monitor, Wave 19 survey of small and medium businesses (SMBs), when…
Hibu announced today that it has joined the Yahoo Preferred Partner Program. What this means is hibu will be integrated into Gemini, Yahoo's native and mobile search advertising platform, which is launched in February 2014. “We’re delighted to be recognized as…
As engagement migrates to mobile, users' front door is predominantly apps instead of the search-centric web. This was the topic of a recent BIA/Kelsey report, as well as a conference session we recently held (video below). The trend has led to…
As small businesses increase digital marketing spend, agencies that target them using marketing automation will have a competitive advantage. This will be the focus of an upcoming BIA/Kelsey webinar, co-hosted by Vendasta. But more important than the "why?" of marketing automation is…
Phone calls are sexy again. For a device that is 150 years old, the phone is getting reinvented in the smartphone era. Bolted to a local search and discovery engine, it's creating all new opportunities for local businesses to drive…
After all the excitement over e-commerce, 95 percent of U.S. consumer spending still happens offline in local markets. And in the smartphone era, the consideration cycle for all that spending increasingly happens though voice calls. Marchex pegs call-influenced consumer spending at…
What is "sensor intelligence" and what will it do for mobile and local media? What's behind GoDaddy's SMB blitz? And what are the biggest tech and media predictions among industry luminaries? These are a few topics we tackled this week,…
Google has been fighting a battle with the world of apps. As we covered in a recent white paper, a mobile world dominated by apps causes browser-based experiences to recede. And the latter is where Google hangs its hat --…
Deliver on Promises It's not surprising that the top characteristic SMBs said they want from their local sales person is that they deliver on what they promise. While sales is not fulfillment, when setting expectations with SMBs there should be a…
What does the future of mobile media and marketing look like? DialogTech posed the question to 20 thought leaders and came up with a mix of outlooks. They were even nice enough to include BIA/Kelsey (see below), along with folks…
SMBs used an average 6.7 different media for advertising and promotion, according to BIA/Kelsey's Local Commerce Monitor,™ Wave 19 survey of small and medium businesses. And although usage of Facebook, websites, and email reigned supreme among SMBs, four of the top 10…
We're happy to announce that we've confirmed tech guru Robert Scoble to keynote BIA/Kelsey NEXT. In a career spanning videographer, writer, tech evangelist and thought leader, he'll be a perfect complement to the subject of what's NEXT? In fact, much of…
Today's impatient, demanding, empowered and mobile-first consumer has an attention span that rivals that of a goldfish and expectations that would make any diva blush. Today's consumer wants its information fast and mobile optimized, and has developed very high standards for service…
After all the talk about mobile device capacity, a small share of it is actually utilized. Lots of "signals" emanate from our smartphones, and a growing set of chips and sensors capture and process all that data. It's everything from…
This is the latest in our Vantage Points series. On a semi-weekly basis, it will tap the perspectives of various lookout points from around the local media and tech sectors. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect that of BIA/Kelsey. Please contact mbolandATbiakelsey…
The average annual advertising spend by Core* SMBs has been eroding slightly over the past few years. BIA/Kelsey's attributes the drop to two main causes: increased use of digital media and increased use of social media. At the same time, the…
Local isn't just advertising: it continues to expand into a suite of marketing and operational services. It's not just about helping local businesses acquire new customers; it's helping them keep customers. This is concept we've examined for a few years, recently…
Where does last-click attribution fail? What are best practices in SEO for SMBs? And what's being done to capture a piece of the $7 trillion in offline consumer spending? These are a few topics we tackled this week, aggregated into…
GoDaddy has transformed itself over the past few years. Part of that transformation -- besides image -- was to go from a consumer internet powerhouse, to also being known for its SMB tools. We got to ask GoDaddy about the…