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 […]

Litmus, an email testing and email marketing firm, has created this helpful infographic offering some insights into how to encourage email subscribers to forward campaign messages to others. While tracking forwarding and sharing behavior is pretty straightforward, Litmus takes a closer look at what it takes to encourage sharing. Here are some of the tidbits […]

By Tim Riesterer, chief strategy and marketing officer, Corporate Visions, Inc.

Mr. Clean. Aunt Jemima. The Pillsbury Doughboy.

Consumer brands seem to have a knack for creating a brand mascot and having it resonate almost instantly with their customers. The business-to-business (B2B) world, however, doesn’t seem to work that way.

Apple’s iMessage service and Game Center have had issues lately, denting its credibility as a service provider. This is emphasized when you look at Apple Maps, Siri and iCloud syncing, each of which has its own share of problems. The areas where Apple falters are exactly where Google excels. The truth is that Apple and […]

Pirq, an instant-deals and local-commerce company, announced that it closed a $1.2 million round in venture financing, bringing its total funding to date to $3.2 million. The company also introduced version 2.0 of its mobile real-time deals app, which includes four new verticals in which users can use their digital punch cards. Up until now, […]

Fab, which now has up to 9 million users, is introducing Holiday Shops to help users find gifts for the holidays. The Holiday Shops are organized into 12 categories covering gifts for best friends, parents, design or pet lovers, him or her, or gifts for specific amounts. These shops were introduced last year but were […]