Here is today’s roundup of news related to location-based marketing, media, technology, sales, commerce and more:
Webinar: Phase 3 of SMB Digital Marketing – What Is It and What Does It Mean for Marketing Providers? (June 3, 2015)
LSA Insider: “. . . Phase 3 will be driven by demanding and fast-changing mobile user behavior, with a need to deliver immediate value and transactional opportunities. Big data, marketing automation, fragmentation: greater sophistication — and complexity — now permeate the SMB marketing landscape. On the surface things may look the same as always but there are tectonic shifts happening underneath. Greg Sterling, LSA’s VP of Strategy & Insights, Buzzboard’s Neal Polachek and special guests will engage in a lively discussion with heavy audience participation. What will define this new SMB digital marketing phase? What are the key success factors and who’s best positioned to win? Debate welcome.”
Data: Established SMBs Use Offline, Digital Equally, “Young” SMBs Choose Digital (June 3, 2015)
LSA Insider: “At one time, digital media was a medium dominated by ‘young’ tech savvy users. Today that is not the case, and a more diverse spectrum of demographics have begun to embrace and understand digital outlets. This migration and digital disruption has led to countless debates around what the appropriate media mix is for advertisers big and small. While I won’t go into a discussion on what is ‘appropriate’ here, according to new research conducted for LSA by Thrive Analytics, ‘young’ (less than one year old) businesses tend to value digital media more than “older” (15+ years) businesses.”
Agendize: CRM, Automation and Website Customer Engagement Tools (June 3, 2015)
LSA Insider: “Founded in 2003, Agendize is a SaaS-based customer engagement platform that features all the call-to-actions a business needs to connect with consumers online. The suite offers an integrated customer relationship management (CRM) tool with an email marketing functionality and includes online scheduling, click to call, live chat, form builder and call tracking. Available in white-label with mature APIs, the solution is used by companies of all sizes and sectors. To learn more, we caught up with Raphael Iscar, head of communications and marketing at Agendize.”
Search Engines Are Main Source Of Web Site Traffic To Top Retailers (June 2, 2015)
MediaPost: “The top 1,000 retailers find search engines deliver 41% of their Web site traffic, significantly higher than any other source, but paid traffic still represents only 13% of overall Web site traffic, according to numbers released Tuesday by Experian Marketing Services. Organic search traffic leads. During a four-week period ending Dec. 27, 2014, the research shows organic led all industry average by 87% vs. 13% paid-search traffic. Organic drove 64% of the traffic for shopping and classified; followed by 87% for banking and financial; 99% for print media.”
Google search ads get a lot sexier with sharp, gorgeous photos (June 2, 2015)
Mashable: “Google is replacing some of its boring text-only search ads on mobile phones with flashy, gorgeously produced photo versions — likely for a price. ‘Text ads are informative, but there’s not much emotion there,’ says Bhanu Narasimhan, the product management director at Google AdWords. The eye-catching, overhauled visual ads, which are now available for cars like the Dodge Challenger, allow you to flip through photos, research product information and book reservations directly from the search screen—a major departure from the text ads that fade into the general noise of search results.”
Yelp Adds eCommerce for Local Boutiques (June 2, 2015)
SmallBizTrends: “Through a new partnership with the boutique shopping platform Shoptiques.com, Yelp now offers consumers the ability to purchase high-end apparel and accessories from these retailers based in the U.S., England and France. The new partnership, Yelp notes on its blog, ‘makes it so easy to support cool local businesses (like Olive & Bette’s in NYC or y&i Clothing Boutique in San Francisco) and find something uniquely you.’”
Pinterest to launch ‘buy’ buttons (June 2, 2015)
USA Today: “Pinterest is cranking up the moneymaking machine with its first major e-commerce play: adding ‘buy’ buttons to its mobile app. The company made the announcement Tuesday that it’s launching ‘buyable pins’ during a media event at its San Francisco headquarters. The pins, essentially buy buttons, let users make purchases inside the mobile app. The buy buttons will roll out on iPhone and iPad in the USA later this month, Pinterest said.”
Vendasta Brings In Local Digital Vet Jed Williams For Outreach To Large Media Companies (June 2, 2015)
GeoMarketing: “As Vendasta continues to broaden its client focus to reflect its expansion from local reputation management to digital presence services, the company has hired a prominent name in the space to help it complete its mission: Jed Williams, who has been named VP of Business Development and Strategy. During his four years at local digital marketing analytics provider BIA/Kelsey, Williams rose from analyst to VP of strategic consulting. Last July, he left BIA/Kelsey for local marketing software company Main Street Hub, where he served as business development director.”
