Why All SMBs Need an Ecommerce Strategy

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While online research to offline purchase is the more common path-to-purchase, future-looking SMB retailers will holistically consider an ecommerce strategy as more and more consumers embrace online shopping.

Why All Brands Need to Prepare for the Localization of Marketing

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In order to fully appreciate the significance of localized marketing, we first need to understand the dominant forms of marketing that preceded it. There have been three major technological disruptions over the past century that fundamentally changed the marketing landscape.

Why Selling to Partners and Resellers Is Never a Straight Path

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Media companies are constantly bombarded by digital product and ad tech platform companies vying for consideration. Getting the attention of reseller and partner decision makers requires a clear understanding of their business challenges.

What Merchants Need to Know About Apple Pay and Loyalty Apps

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Having provided a window into the future of Apple Pay and Wallet, Apple recently left small businesses wondering about how to adapt their mobile strategies to stay competitive. Here’s how the changes could affect merchants.

Labor Issues Aren’t the Only Hazard in Uber’s Business Model

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Uber-for-X innovators and investors be warned: several elements of Uber’s market inoculated it against three hazards associated with the single service model: Trigger Infrequency, Customer Loyalty, and Market Density.

Is the On-Demand Economy a Local Media Growth Engine — Or Its Death Knell?

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Local on-demand services continue to dominate press and investor attention. But the elephant in the room is the degree to which on-demand could displace local marketing as we know it.

INFOGRAPHIC: A Quick, Deep Dive Into Local Pharmacies

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Here’s a view of the U.S. pharmacy industry – not the drug makers but the local distribution networks made up of thousands of retail pharmacies. These pharmacies help drive the nearly $260B in “Drug Store Revenue.”

On Building Local Products With Merchants in Mind

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In local, particularly, it seems important to underscore something for new startups: to really think about and envision and understand their customer base…

YP’s Split and Local.com’s Bankruptcy: Ain’t No Big Deal

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YP’s split and Local Corp’s bankruptcy filing might strike you as huge events. But for the greater local search industry, I don’t see these as particularly big milestones…

The Conscientious Consumer: A Disruption Opportunity in Local On-Demand

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As innovators sacrifice worker interests on the altar of consumer satisfaction and gain market dominance, here are three growing vulnerabilities they should look out for…

Small Biz and Big Tech: How to Connect Local Merchants With Today’s Ad Technology

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You can’t love what you don’t understand and the same holds true at every level of strategy – from local to global. We already know geo-targeted advertising campaigns equal success; it’s only a matter of jumping the hurdle of understanding before local businesses know it too…

How SMBs Can Capitalize on ‘Micro-moments’ in the New Path to Purchase

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A new Google and Ipsos study indicates that consumers use mobile devices more often, but for shorter periods of time. These short periods of time have been dubbed “micro-moments” and they are changing the ways consumers research and buy…

What the Rise of Slack and HipChat Mean for Small Business

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On the surface these messaging app seem to offer businesses better internal communication. In reality their value is rooted in real-time, contextual streams of business data within an environment that invites collaboration. That’s a fancy way of saying these are chat apps with loads of integrations…

Can Home Services Really Be Uber-ed?

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Homeowners don’t “Uber” a $15,000 window replacement job. They don’t contract for a new sunroom on their mobile phone. And they don’t sign on for a $30,000 kitchen remodel without spending hours of real time with a designer and salesperson…

Where Does Local Search Fit in a World of Apps?

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Where is Google’s place in a world where the browser is no longer the front door? On the desktop, trillions of web pages compel an index and a friendly entry point. But an app-heavy mobile environment — already siloed into neat little buckets — doesn’t beg for a core search engine…

Studies Find More SMBs Want to Manage Their Own Social Media

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There is compelling evidence that SMBs’ understanding and aptitude for social media is growing. More importantly, it seems that a significant number of SMBs want and may be ready to take the reins of their social media marketing.

Why We Still Search for ‘Starbucks’ on Google Maps

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With calendar integration, a generalized understanding of me generated from analyzing my geographic movements over time, and (perhaps) biosensor feedback from wearables, a mobile app may be able to predict my actual need, and suggest places that may be closer, higher rated, or otherwise more convenient than the Starbucks I now search for.

Exploits and Vulnerabilities Challenge the Integrity of Google Maps

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The recent run of bad luck for Google doesn’t lend itself to a simple comprehensive explanation, but each of the company’s recent issues in its own way highlights a key problem for Google: how to build and maintain an accurate local dataset on a global scale…

Notifications on Apple Watch: How the Onus of Relevancy Will Shift From Consumer to Apps

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The release of the Apple Watch puts greater emphasis on the need for contextual and helpful notifications, and if apps don’t answer this need with a more thoughtful approach to notifications, then Apple will very likely force their hand via the introduction of a filter for notifications…

Why Is the Local Market So Elusive for Tech Companies?

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The constraints of cost, critical mass, and time spawn a vicious cycle that hinders innovative new technology adoption in the local market. The promise of hyperlocal technology is alive and well, but any new startup aiming to crack the hyperlocal code needs to keep these things in mind…