HubSpot, an inbound-marketing software firm, has just announced a $35 million round of mezzanine financing, bringing its total financing to $100 million. The funds will be used to fund growth through hiring, international expansion and acquisitions. “We’re generating revenue at an annualized run rate of $60 million, up more than 80% over last year, and […]

Microsoft recently announced that it has 30 brands on board to spend their money on Windows 8 in-app ads. Coca-Cola, Ford, Samsung, Hyundai, LG and The Tribune Company are among the companies that signed up. “The interactive display ads can feature image galleries or video players and run within Microsoft’s own apps such as Bing, […]

Foursquare is reportedly looking to raise a Series D round of funding for an amount between $50 million and $100 million. According to TechCrunch, Foursquare is seeking this round at a pre-money valuation of $700 million-$800 million, which has a few venture-capital shops raising their eyebrows with skepticism, given the company’s less-than-awesome growth since its […]

The pervasiveness of 3G, the expansion of 4G, and the increasing usage of tablets and smartphones all point to mobile taking center stage in the next three years. This means bigger portions of ad budgets should be directed to mobile, but it also means that mobile should be integrated into the bigger marketing picture. With […]

According to a report from The New York Times, Twitter is planning to modify its mobile app by adding photo filters, which would put it in direct competition with Instagram and, ideally, enable its users to avoid Facebook’s popular app. Twitter considered a “photocentric product acquisition” before, but Facebook’s purchase of Instagram lit a fire […]

Balihoo, a provider of local-marketing automation technology, recently released the findings from its “National Brand Use of Digital in Local Marketing” micro-study. Among the interesting findings is that more than 9 in 10 brands are projecting steady or increased spending on local marketing in 2013 compared to spending in 2012. According to the study, 91.3 […]

Sekari, an international search marketing agency, created an infographic offering helpful background on content marketing for SEO. Among the tidbits of information included are: 92 percent of SEOs say content creation is effective for SEO, while 40 percent say white papers are effective Marketers spend the most time producing blog posts, social media content, and […]

Yelp’s journey to being the leader in local content has been uneventful, unlike the dramas surrounding the likes of Groupon, Google and LivingSocial. But as the leaders in the deals space try to expand their business models, and as Foursquare tries to boost its revenue, Yelp seems to have little competition in the local arena. […]

Groupon’s shares fell more than 8 percent on Wednesday on concern Hurricane Sandy will hit demand for the company’s deals. GRPN has since fallen even further, hitting an all-time low of $3.86 Friday morning. Small businesses in areas like New York City and New Jersey are struggling to reopen their doors and are unlikely to […]

Facebook is testing a new service that allows local-business owners to offer free Wi-Fi to their customers in exchange for a check-in. Credit this find to developer Tom Waddington, who noticed a new code entry called “social_wifi” to its Page Insights tool. This led to Facebook confirming a service that offers free Wi-Fi to a […]