Daily News: Location-Based Marketing, Digital Video Ad Revenue, Google’s New Search Console
Here is today’s roundup of news related to local marketing and advertising, local media, technology, local commerce, consumer behavior and more. As Location-Based Marketing Matures, Has It Gotten Any More Accurate? (January 31, 2018) GeoMarketing: “The role of location signals to power real-time ad targeting, social media analytics, and Connected Intelligence voice-activated assistants has become […]
Zoho Releases Bolster its “Business Operating System” Platform
Cloud software provider Zoho rolled out two product releases and one update today that advance its strategy of being a one-stop resource for businesses to run their operations entirely in the cloud. Today the company rolled out ZohoFlow, a drag and drop application that allows businesses to create workflows between business applications, which enables businesses to eliminate manual tasked from […]
Do SMBs Want All-in-One Cloud Solutions?
Companies selling digital solutions to small-businesses have long chased the notion that SMBs want sellers to “make it easy for them” and wrap up the media products they need into one turnkey solution. One payment and one dashboard where they can see how it’s all working. Ostensibly this is a win-win proposition. The seller gets a bigger sale […]
On Target: Irana Wasti Details SMB Opportunity for GoDaddy
Many companies selling tech to small businesses target larger and more established merchants. Not GoDaddy. The hosting and domain provider sees “nascent” businesses as its big opportunity. These “nascents” are the businesses that may only exist as a freelancing side hustle for a graphic designer with a day job, for example, or perhaps is just a business […]
On Target: The #CloudSummit and the State of SMB SaaS
Do small businesses really want all in one solutions for their small business apps? Or is this concept more for the benefit of SMB sellers looking to boost margins and reduce churn? Will AI/machine learning be the catalysts for development of a self-service sales platform that small businesses will actually use. Are Internet service providers like Comcast going […]
New Study Points to Growing SMB MarTech Adoption
A new study on SMB adoption of marketing automation tools, commissioned by marketing automation firm ActiveCampaign, describes the progress from using email marketing (a requirement to participate in the survey) through CRM to marketing automation. The report of the survey’s findings asserts that marketing automation is the next area where SMBs will invest in marketing technology, based on […]
#CloudSummit: Small Business Perspectives on Cloud-Based Tech
In preparation for last week’s SMB Cloud Adoption Summit in San Francisco, we interviewed a handful of small-businesses owners to ask them about their use of cloud software to run their businesses. The idea was to provide an SMB voice to the event, as well as to bring to life some of the themes uncovered […]
#CloudSummit: Machine Learning & AI’s Impact on SMB Marketing
“If you don’t have a Machine Learning and AI slide in your investor deck, you are not getting funded,” SurePath Capital’s Mark McLeod told the SMB Cloud Summit audience last week, slightly tongue-in-cheek. Earlier in the day there was a discussion of how machine learning and AI would potentially impact the SMB marketing ecosystem. The […]
#CloudSummit: 4 Tactics for Winning in the SMB SaaS Space
Last week Kris Barton, Chief Product Officer for USA Today Networks and ReachLocal (a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett), shared lessons learned at LSA’s 2017 SMB Cloud Summit regarding the SMB view of SaaS, media tactics, and other observations in serving a 15,000 plus SMB customer base. Looking at the SMB market’s evolution from a […]
#CloudSummit: GoDaddy Expanding Product Portfolio with Cloud-Tech
At the 2017 SMB Cloud Summit, GoDaddy’s SVP of Productivity, Irana Wasti, had an insightful conversation with Local Search Association’s VP of Strategy and Insights, Greg Sterling about the small business ecosystem. Specifically, they talked about the impact of mobile productivity applications on the SMB market and what GoDaddy is doing in this area. GoDaddy continues […]
#CloudSummit: How to Use Net Promoter Scores to Improve the Customer Experience
As a company selling to SMBs, if you’re not paying attention to your Net Promoter Score (NPS), then you’re missing on a critical lever to manage churn. Dan Slagen, CMO of Alignable, walked through case studies yesterday at the LSA’s SMB Cloud Summit, showing how some companies have figured out how to actively use NPS […]
#CloudSummit: Cisco Explains How to Sell & Market SMB Cloud Services
Kicking off the LSA’s first SMB Cloud Summit, Jen Allen, who is the Go To Market Lead for the SMB Segment at Cisco, discussed the insights and findings from her research at Cisco on how to sell and market cloud-managed services to small businesses. The Evolving SMB Market SMB is a large segment that Jenn […]
#CloudSummit: SMB SaaS Disruption Comparable to Mobile’s Impact on Local Search
This morning in San Francisco at the SMB Cloud Summit, industry veteran and LSA Tech Adoption Index advisor Neal Polachek presented a forecast for the SMB software-as-a-service (SaaS) sector. One of the biggest takeaways was that SaaS adoption will be as potentially disruptive to the SMB market as smartphones were to local search. He started his discussion simply describing […]
Study: 48% of SMBs Have Upgraded Computer Software in Past 2 Years
New digital technology and software are transforming all areas of business for SMBs. From fundamental things like digitizing business records, to more complex integrations like marketing automation, SMBs are embracing technology in meaningful ways. A new study shows that 48% of SMBs have upgraded to new software for business computer systems in the past two […]
A New Era: SMBs and the Cloud_Shift
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools are transforming how small businesses manage HR, payroll, marketing, finances, supply chain, customer engagement and more. New LSA data shows that this shift to “the cloud” is gaining momentum and all SMB marketing services providers will need to consider expanding their product portfolios in order to increase share of wallet and guard […]
SIINDA Conf: 10,000 Americans Will Turn 65 Everyday until 2030
The small and medium-sized business (SMB) market is undergoing a technological and generational shift. From the management of basic business operations (accounting, payments, marketing, etc.) to the way consumers make purchases decisions, digital media and technology has completely transformed commerce. While online shopping is still only a small fraction of purchases (~10%), the influence of […]
Survey: 72% of SMB Amazon Prime Members Use it for Business
Digital technology and “the cloud” are transforming the way small businesses (SMBs) manage their operations. As one example, Amazon has started to disrupt the supply chain. According to a new LSA survey, roughly 70% of SMB respondents said they are members of Amazon Prime. Of those, 72% are using it to buy parts, products or […]
On Target Podcast: “The Beginning of a Fascinating Ride”
Events in the tech world are increasingly validating the LSA’s decision to launch the Tech Adoption Index, an initiative that measures and analyzes the small business shift to the cloud to manage all aspects of their business operations. On this week’s On Target podcast (below), Charles Laughlin and Neal Polachek, the industry analysts working with […]
Google Pushes into HR Software Market with Hire
Google has pushed its way into the HR software space with Google Hire, a tool that helps SMBs recruit talent. The idea behind Hire is to give companies a platform for tracking progress in hiring a candidate — including email communications, interview notes, etc. With Hire, companies no longer have to manually track these details. […]
Study: 22% of SMBs Use Cloud-Based Solutions for Marketing
Nearly half of small businesses have adopted cloud-based tools and many more will in the next 12 to 18 months. This shift to the cloud may be the most disruptive trend yet facing local marketing and media sellers. As it stands today, a new study found that 22% of SMBs are already making use of […]