Among the many headlines that emerged from SMB Digital Marketing 2012 (CRM, digital loyalty, performance marketing), one that caught the attention of most in the room was the research return that social ROI is shifting dramatically toward customer acquisition. In fact, BIA/Kelsey’s LCM 16 survey highlights suggest that 42 percent of SMBs now turn to …

Though BIA/Kelsey’s LCM 15 survey suggests that SMBs are still sluggish to adopt mobile websites (fewer than 10 percent) or other forms of mobile marketing, we believe mobile momentum will finally accelerate as business owners’ personal comfort with the device grows. Manta’s Q2 SMB Wellness Index, which reveals that proprietors use their mobile phones frequently for …

Telmetrics, a call measurement provider, has released pay-per-call best practices designed to optimize the number of quality, billable calls delivered to advertisers. “With mobile it is all about being there at the time of action — whether it is a new or existing customer, asking for basic info from store hours to driving directions — …

With more than 1 million registered users and 87 million company profiles, Manta has established itself as a hub where small businesses can be found…and find each other. Now, having raised a fresh round of $44 million in funding from Norwest Venture Partners, Manta has its sights set on several ambitious growth targets — evolving …

We have been meeting with a number of media salespeople, tracking articles about the transformation of the sales process, developing a number of theories specific to transforming the media sales process plus what is needed to support the transformation. We will be exploring a number of these theories and observations supported by sales rep interviews …

Search engine marketers are no longer selling calls to merchants but conversion. Prior discussions among industry insiders focused on calls, but according to a Manta survey, 49 percent of merchants named referrals as the most valuable lead source. This was among the insights shared by moderator Charles Laughlin during the mid-afternoon session, “The New Wave …

TargusInfo, a major direct marketing tools provider and the parent company of Localeze, a “Big 3″ provider of business listings, will be acquired by NeuStar for $650 million in cash. The deal enhances NeuStar’s positioning as a leader in authentication services across the Internet and voice networks, whether fixed-line, cable or mobile. Authentication is expected …

MerchantCircle last week quietly added free Request for Quote services for its large base of 1.6 million local merchants, immediately sending out more than 180,000 quotes. The quotes are based on category and locale.
Logistically, consumers who ask for quotes are asked for more information, if needed. They are then routed to merchants. The MerchantCircle …

The home and trade leads space was getting a lot of attention a year ago, with a number of social media driven leads companies hoping to cut in on longtime leaders such as ServiceMagic and Angie’s List. Among the contenders: Cox’s Kudzu, Redbeacon, Likelist, HelpHive , Sears’ ServiceLive and Thumbtack.
Not much has been heard from …

If you are a small business, what do you do after you run the daily deal? Or how do you run a daily deal-like promotion “safely,” without hurting your brand? These are the questions a number of start-ups have posed for themselves as they seek to dive in to the deals revolution, while differentiating themselves …

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Brooklyn-based Pontiflex, which describes itself as “the industry’s leading mobile, email and social acquisition platform.” The real power behind the Pontiflex approach is the ability to capture email and consumer data in an open and transparent way. Advertisers only pay for the actual signups — data …