We like the idea of using corporations as a distribution base for media and services. In the 1990s, The Family Education Network built a great newsletter business distributed in corporate lobbies. The concept’s been widely extended with the addition of email and the ability to more effectively target employees based on different criteria.

NextJump, for instance, has built a business providing discounts and deals sent out as part of employee communications. The deals are generally aggregated from other sources, but it can target the offers based on buying and browsing habits. It takes a commission from sales. The service is free to companies.

Now we’re also looking at San Francisco-based AnyPerk, which shifts the employer shopping model to a premium offering, charging $5 a month per employee. CEO and Founder Taro Fukuyama tells us that the 15-person company — a graduate of Y Combinator — now has 2,500 companies signed up, distributing perks from 250 different marketers. Investors include Andressen Horowitz, SV Angel and a number of individuals, as well as Japanese-based funds .

Fukuyama says that AnyPerk’s goal is to use its volume-buying capability to drive discounts of 5-50 percent. It proves its value as a consumer-centric service from the get-go, rather than serving the interests of merchants. “We do everything we can to save them more than $5 a month” he says.

Typically, customers will start with 15 percent monthly discounts on mobile phones and services and work their way up to other products, specifically monthly utility products such as gyms, video services or rent. There may be 20 things you pay for every month, he says.

Entertainment, especially, stands out. AnyPerk’s top products, in order, are fitness, entertainment, travel and cell phone. Among its perk providers are Verizon, AMC, Redbox, Regal Entertainment Group, Equinox, AT&T, Budget, Zipcar, T-Mobile and LA Fitness.

Fukuyama, a native of Japan, tells us that employer shopping services are common in his homeland, where there are four major companies. But the concept is still relatively new to the U.S.

Payment processors and related companies work with most SMBs and are increasingly seen as a potential sales channel for reaching them with additional services. This week, we talked with one processor, Boston-based Merchant Warehouse, about its efforts to leverage its base of 75,000 business customers beyond terminal sales.

CEO Henry Helgeson told us the 15 year-old, 300 employee company got its start selling terminals, but has seen strong growth in new products such as integrated coupons that anchor its “Genius” customer engagement platform. A horde of companies have introduced coupons, for instance, but many businesses have no idea how to redeem them, given the constraints of their existing POS systems, he says. The rising use of mobile phones for payments and promotions has made it an especially big issue.

The move to integrate promotions such as coupons and a wide range of payment types into payment solutions has also changed how Merchant Warehouse works with its customers, which range from alternative payment companies such as LevelUp to value added resellers. “We are moving from working with tech teams to working with marketing teams,” he says.

What has become increasingly understood is how complex it all is. Many businesses had hoped to have a single point of presence for payments, just as they similarly had hoped to have a single search engine and online point of contact in the 1997-98 time frame, he says.

And as it turned out they had to work with 50 search engines and points of contacts, they’re beginning to see they have got to plan on working with a wide range of payment solutions. “They want one closed loop wallet. But there will be many, many wallets,” says Helgeson. There are 200 entry points in the POS value chain, he notes.

Former Localeze business develoment guy Gib Olander is back in the game, this time switching his focus from local business listings innovation to maximizing effective local business reviews. Think of a variation of “Net Promoter Scores” for local business.

Olander’s new company, Local Viewpoints has won seed funding from Wavetable Labs. It launched at the end of March, starting with four sales people hitting businesses up in hometown Chicago, as well as other markets.

The company basically sends out a short survey after customers shop a location, providing instant feedback to the location, analytics (time of day, products purchased) and most importantly, an online review . The surveys take about a minute to complete.

Seventy-five businesses are currently subscribing to the service, which is $299 a year. Business categories range from chiropractors to furniture stores to plumbers to high-end restaurants.

“We’re trying to bridge together all the forms of customer feedback” and measuring customer satisfaction, including online reviews and customer feedback, says Olander. The problems with other sources is that customer feedback simply isn’t being captured, he adds. Just six percent of consumers are willing to write reviews. With the world going mobile, and everyone being just seconds away from providing feedback, however, there really are no excuses.

Local Viewpoints, of course, is not the only company focused on driving up reviews via short response surveys. We’ve recently covered the efforts by SupportLocal to drive up local business recommendations via a fast-paced, 27-question local recommendations page.

Here’s an interesting InfoGraph that Local Viewpoints has put together about the Word of Mouth space.

Increased investment, a bullseye on customer acquisition, yet unconvincing results. These are the core themes emerging from Manta’s recently-released Q1 SMB Wellness Index, a survey of small business owners focused on social media. They are the very themes called out in BIA/Kelsey’s LCM 16 SMB research. SMBs continue to pour more time and energy into social media activity; they do so to capture new business; their ROI is spotty.

A few highlights from the Wellness Index:

- Nearly 50 percent of SMBs have increased time spent in social media. Only seven percent scaled back. That said, three-quarters of SMBs dedicate fewer than five people to managing social media activities. 53 percent deploy just one.

- SMBs’  investment in social media has two clear (and related) objectives: customer acquisition (36 percent)  and lead generation (19 percent).

- Even with increased investment and clearly-stated goals (albeit perhaps not necessarily the right ones?), SMBs social ROI assessments remain murky, with 61 percent giving the thumbs-down. And Facebook is the hardest to maintain, even as the largest and most widely-used network.

The upshot? SMBs need a clearer path to understanding, engagement and success…perhaps more than ever. As they invest more while still coming up short on ROI, we’re left to ask the “social media insanity” question: are business owners doing the same things they’ve always done, perhaps in greater proportion, while expecting different results?

Something’s gotta give, and change. That’s precisely where Manta sees its role moving forward – not merely as a discovery engine or content forum for small businesses, but as CEO Pam Springer put it, a full-fledged “social hub.” This entails helping SMBs create a following by suggesting who to connect with and how to engage, syndicating content throughout Manta’s network and across the full social spectrum, and building a “feedback loop for them around all social activity” that can produce clearer ROI attribution.

Of the many possible causes of poor social media ROI, Springer spotlighted the attribution problem. No, SMBs don’t create content very easily – and that must come first – but when they do, “how does that impact a customer? Connecting the dots around lead generation is fuzzy.”

Expect Manta to take a more active role in the full spectrum of SMB social activity moving forward, including deep data mining to suggest engagement strategies, syndicated publishing and a more robust content experience within its network to foster social discovery and ROI.

There are rumors swirling this morning that Facebook will acquire Waze. For those unfamiliar, Israeli based Waze is a red hot social navigation app that focuses on traffic conditions among a growing set of features.

If the rumor is true, it makes a lot of sense and is just the next footfall in Facebook’s march towards becoming a socially-driven local discovery engine. It would follow the launch of Nearby/Local Search, Graph Search, and the recently re-designed mobile SMB pages.

More specifically, Waze plugs right into Facebook’s product framework because real time status is the lifeblood of the news feed. In Waze’s case it would add an additional dimension to what you’re doing or thinking by adding where you’re going. It would be like Nearby on steroids.

The other reason this fits together is that Facebook is increasingly making location a key dimension of status, so that it has more content and “signals” to help you discover things. Signals can include current location, that of friends, places you’ve been, and where you might go next.

Whereas Google is all about algorithmically determining relevance based on a combination of keyword and page prominence, Facebook wants to do so by using real time sentiment data from your friends. That includes what they’re doing, saying, seeing, eating, liking and tagging.

Real-time traffic and location information simply extends that with a richer mosaic of content about what’s happening now. That makes it more sticky for users and eventually more attractive for advertisers to be present in the native ways that Facebook continues to develop.

The other reason I believe this rumor is because it fits Facebook’s acquisition M.O..  The company has a history of buying companies with strong engineering teams and technical chops. So this could partially be an acquihire. Whether Israeli staffers would be asked to relocate is one question.

But perhaps more notably, Facebook acquires products which it admires for user engagement, design and technical proficiency. It knows it can take those products to the next level through the massive usage boost they’ll get from Facebook’s deep-pocketed resources and promotion.

That’s particularly relevant for a product like Waze whose value is driven by network effect. The more people using the product, the greater the richness of content and interactions.  Again, this fits the M.O., because you could replace “Waze” in the last few paragraphs with “Instagram.”

Like Instagram, a Facebook-owned Waze would likely remain a standalone product where Facebook could learn from its design and product focus. What will be interesting to see is to what degree Waze would infuse over time with Facebook’s own mobile and local features.

There is of course a lot more to this, especially the native advertising implications for navigation-based products (see Telenav/Scout). Some hints might lie in the directional (no pun intended) advertising Waze currently does (see screenshot below). More on this as it develops.

Though it’s been covered since its release yesterday, we wanted to give a nod to xAd’s latest Mobile-Location Insights Report for Q1, and dive into some of it’s top findings.

The report follows closely behind the Nielsen administered Path to Purchase report which xAd had a key part in, along with Telmetrics. As that study focused on user behavior, this latest report adds another dimension with location targeted ad metrics.

One of the biggest takeaways was the growth in geo-precise ad targeting seen on xAd’s network. Increasing from 27% to 58% annually, it’s supportive of a trend we’ve been chronicling for the past 5 years: advertiser evolution to the location targeting capabilities of mobile devices.

xAd takes this a step further by delineating between different types of location targeting — a key factor as we’ve said. Geo-precision ads include geo-fencing and targeting based on geo-behavior. Standard Geo is conversely more about traditional targeting such as zip or DMA.

It should be mentioned that the growth in location targeting — especially geo precision — is directionally relevant to the market’s evolution. However, the absolute adoption shares are probably higher than the broader market because of the location-centric nature of xAd’s offering.

In addition to the emphasis on location targeted ad placement, xAd continues to push the ball forward with respect to the other aspects of  location targeting. This includes having location-centric ad copy and calls to action that are proving to boost performance.

Proof Points

Joining its past figures for things like post click activity (calls, directions) xAd adds a bit more color in this quarter’s report with a case study.  It tracks the success of a Pinkberry campaign that showcases campaign best practices, from creation to targeting to analytics.

When I say creation I mean inception of campaign goals. It can only be successful if the right targets are set. And most advertisers measure the wrong things — the reason for the unclear ROI holding back many brand advertisers who shoot for desktop KPIs (good counter-example here).

On that measure, the Pinkberry campaign set goals that were well aligned with mobile user intent, and targeting capabilities. It was simply to drive foot traffic into Pinkberry stores and generate awareness of current promotional offers to try the new Pinkberrygreek yogurt.

For starters the campaign set a geofence within 1 mile around Pinkberry locations. This interestingly was a scientifically devised radius for distance the average consumer will travel for this particular product. That brings xAd’s SmartFencing utility into play.

xAd’s SmartCreative then placed one of two promotional offers based on how far away users were. These included a $1 off promotion and a buy-one, get-one. Both ads led to a landing page with closest location, details and ability to save the promotion for in-store redemption.

The result of all of this was a 2x increase in the benchmark used by Pinkberry for measuring performance. And this was achieved in the first two weeks of the campaign. It’s important to note the holistic strategy that drove the results — from inception to measurement.

There’s a lot more included in the report such as top advertising categories and cities where mobile local ad targeting is happening.  This will of course continue to be a big topic we’ll cover here and in our longer reports. Meanwhile download the xAd report for free here.

Dex Media, the newly minted company that was once SuperMedia and Dex One, is counting on a strategy of serving as the “outsourced marketing partner for small-businesses” as they wade into the complex and confusing world of digital media.

That was a key message from this mornings investor call to reveal the Q1 results of predecessor companies, as well as talk about what the future holds for the new company.

The company’s CFO also suggested that the wave of consolidation in the North American directories industry may not yet be over.

In response to a question about any additional consolidation on the horizon, CFO Dee Jones replied, “We have always been an advocate for consolidation….This is a little premature. Right now we are focused on getting this one integrated, but we are always looking at opportunities.”

This statement may fuel speculation that some further combination may eventually be in the offing. In addition to Dex Media, possible players in any future M&A wave might include YP Holdings (majority owned by Cerberus), Yellow Media (Canada), Yellowbook (Hibu’s U.S. operation) and possibly smaller players like Berry.

Dex Media CEO Peter McDonald acknowledged that Q1 results were “below expectations.” The company reported the two predecessor results individually, with ad sales dropping by 17 percent and 16 percent at Super Media and Dex One respectively.

Looking ahead, McDonald sees Dex Media taking advantage of marketplace confusion, where SMBs need help wading through the myriad local media choices they face. Complexity drives outsourcing, McDonald contends, summarizing Dex Media’s opportunity. He added that Dex Media is “agnostic about how we drive leads” which he believes gives the media company credibility with local advertisers.

McDonald emphasized the need for Dex Media to sell more new products to existing customers (retention is much higher among customers buying more than one product), and to do more to bring in new clients. On the latter point, McDonald described three programs aimed at attracting new customers. The first, which he called “Get Started,” involves a team dedicated to converting inbound leads into new business. McDonald also cited “Encore,” the company’s pay per call initiative and text marketing as key drivers of new customer acquisition.

McDonald said 70 percent of Dex Media’s text marketing clients are new customers, all of which are offered additional Dex Media products. The company is in the process of rolling out text marketing in stages.

“We get more from add on products than from text marketing itself,” McDonald said.

During questions and answers, McDonald refused to bite when asked if his print business would still be around in five years. He countered that research (presumably from the Local Search Association) shows print usage is still significant among those 45 and older, suggesting there is longevity remaining in the traditional product.  He also noted the financial incentive to support print.

“Print is still a strong cash-flow machine for us.”

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I recently had the opportunity to speak with Bruce Burke, CMO of M-ize. That’s m-ize like monetize, and mobilize which is exactly what m-ize does with its social media platform. The focus of m-ize is on specific product categories and expertise so that reviews and posts are more relevant to what a consumer is seeking, and offering more targeted leads for businesses that interact on the social and mobile platform. According to m-ize“The mission of the company is to bring smarter consumers all together to connect to products, community, advice and customer support.”

For consumers, they can use the company’s new app, My Products, to track products they own, read reviews on products they are considering buying, create wish lists, and locate deals in their area. The value in the My Products app is that it allows consumers to learn in more detail about the products they desire from their social graph and from expert reviews in each product category. With topical brand search, users gain insights from category experts from a few expert sources rather than being inundated by opinions of the masses on sites like Yelp. Their wish list approach is similar to eBay and other sites allowing you to share these desired products and gather opinions to drive a purchase decision.

Now here is where the real value comes in. The My Products app allows users to enter product registration and warranty information into the app so a consumer can track when they made the purchase, warranty periods, maintenance information, customer service contacts, accessories and parts information and model numbers. Often times, this is information that gets lost or misplaced after the purchase but is critical to maintaining a high level of satisfaction after a purchase is made. Owning the pre-purchase and post purchase experience, m-ize’s My Products app can capture reviews of buyers as well as follow-up reviews from purchasers who have required customer service. The customer service aspect of high consideration purchases like electronics often drives the quality, believability and relevance of reviews.

Understanding the need to collect all warranty information in one place came from CEO, Ashok Kartham, who founded and later sold a company called 4CS. 4CS was focused on aggregating warranty and service support information for industrial and heavy equipment manufacturers. The lesson learned about the power of the post purchase experience where brought forward into the development of m-ize for consumers. Understanding what brands want and how they desire to manage the pre and post purchase experience also led to the development of the Smart Blox menu of mobile services. The menu of services approach allows m-ize to customize the mobile experience for each brand or company based on the needs of their buyers and what services are most important to the company.

Companies that are seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the pre and post buying experience have the ability to build customers for life. Utilizing expert reviews and content specific to product categories, particularly high consideration purchases, often can drive intent to a higher degree creating leads further down the purchase funnel. Post purchase insights and support is an interesting purchase cycle to watch and we expect more activity in this segment of the market to generate leads, enhance brand engagement and allow for greater post purchase sales opportunities with extended warranties, accessories and repairs. Help us expose more of these post-purchase models by sharing company and products names in the comments section below.