Secret pinboards are the latest do-da from Pinterest offering an element of mystery for brand marketers to tap into in a number of interesting ways.

To meet rising customer expectations, brands need to engage consistently across established and emerging communications channels in a meaningful, personalized and interactive way. The reality can sometimes feel like the complete opposite, and that reality is creating pressure on CMOs

Groupon is in trouble, an observation that can be made just by seeing the decline of the daily-deals company’s emails. Chances are, Groupon will be dead in 2013, according to one writer. There are three reasons why: 1) Groupon was and is a bad deal for most businesses, 2) businesses that need Groupon’s services most…

This continues our series of profiles of local-commerce companies. The purpose of these Q&A profiles is to give merchants, marketers and others in the industry a look at what some deal platforms out there are doing. These profiles are also meant to offer different perspectives on the future of the local-commerce industry. This week we’re…

In its latest Local Commerce Monitor tracking survey, BIA/Kelsey found that more than half of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) currently utilize or plan to utilize customer loyalty programs. The survey also found that less than 15 percent of SMBs say they have a mobile website. According to Wave 16 (Q3 2012) of the Local…

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.

LocBox has raised $5.1 million to help it in its quest to assist businesses running marketing campaigns to build long-term loyalty. The San Francisco-based startup positions itself as an alternative to Groupon and LivingSocial, one that is aimed at building loyalty and not running one-time promotions. LocBox aims to offer businesses a single dashboard to…

In case you missed some of our coverage of all things lead generation and local commerce, here’s a handy roundup of all our content from this past week. Exclusive: The 12 Most Interesting Slides From the FTC’s ‘Robocalls: All the Rage’ Summit: Marketers should get themselves familiar with the laws and lines of engagement regarding…

Every day, we try our best to post valuable content for marketers who are interested in learning more about lead generation and local commerce. While it’d be great if everyone could stop everything they’re doing and give their full attention to all our posts the moment they go up on the site, we know you…

Zendesk, a customer service software and support ticket software provider, put together an infographic about the importance of loyalty rewards. The company says loyalty rewards are marketing tools that encourage people to become repeat customers (e.g., punch cards). But brands also need to focus on providing great products, services or customer service to foster loyalty.…