The internet has created tough challenges for businesses trying to manage what is being said about them on Yelp, Twitter and other review sites. Enter Marchex, which has developed a “reputation management” tool that media can resell to SMB’s, that allows them to monitor online mentions.
SMB’s consider word-of-mouth to be the source of 50% of their new business, but are frustrated by the increased importance of review sites and the internet.
“Twitter, blogs, yelp, every SMB has to deal with,” says Mathew Berk, Executive Vice President of Product Engineering at Marchex.
“The reality is that SMB’s feel victimized, sites do everything for the consumer and nothing for the businesses.” He noted that a business with multiple locations has a nearly impossible task in trying to monitoring dozens of online mentions without special software. Read More »
Posted by Alisa Cromer |
02/26/10 | 1 Comment »
Yellow page directory companies are far ahead of other media types in transforming their companies and converting their sales forces. In particular, yellowbook.com is on track to almost double 2009 online sales to $400 million in 2010. At Borrell Associates Local Online Advertising conference, Patrick Marshall, Chief New Media officer, gave his keys to success:
1. Convert the entire sales force to integrated print/online sales. With hundreds of sales people, “starting over” with online only sales people was not an option; the strategy works (as others have pointed out, separate staff often integrate, but integrated staffs rarely segregate). Read More »
Posted by Alisa Cromer |
02/13/10 | 1 Comment »
Ever wonder what pure play subscription sites know that local media sites can learn as they begin to charge for access? The new Subscription and Membership Site Benchmark Report, released by Anne Holland yields some insights. The study surveyed 302 paid subscription sites, from monsters like Match.com to the clientele of membergate.com, whose sites include a large number of very small (less than $50,000 a year) one or two-person companies. Local media sites who are members of SIPA were included, but not “shovelware…sites with identical content to print editions.. except archives”. Ouch. Here’s a summary of key take-aways:
1. No Free trials without a credit card
Don’t do it. The WSJ.com proved this in earlier studies but for local
media considering paid, get the credit card with the first
registration.
Read More »
Posted by Alisa Cromer |
01/31/10 | No Comments »
An interesting case study published on NichedOut.com, posted by Prescott Shibles of Vital Business Media, deserves some note: A publisher of local print and online real estate magazine, Network Communications Inc (NCI) wanted to shake up its model and increase online reach in the hyper-competitive real estate niche. The company instituted a new policy for everyone in sales and editorial to share their interactions in the community via social media — that is blogs, Twitter and Facebook. The strategy paid off, driving a 30% increase in reach for the sites in the first two months. Read More »
Posted by Alisa Cromer |
10/16/09 | No Comments »
When the Red River overflowed its banks creating a civic emergency in Fargo, North Dakota the local television station Web Site found a way to let viewers help cover the news, more than tripling traffic to the site. Read More »
Posted by Alisa Cromer |
10/12/09 | No Comments »
McGraw-Hill’s three television web sites needed to increase Web traffic and penetrate the local advertising market. They partnered with CityVoter.com to create the A-List, a version of the Best of the City contest, where consumers vote for their favorite local businesses in 11 core categories. By adding a video marketing program that includes data collection tools, the stations generated 100 new long term sales contracts in the first six months of 2009. Read More »
Posted by Alisa Cromer |
10/09/09 | No Comments »
The increasing power of Google’s “ten pack,” the group of business listings that appears with a map in local search results, may be diminishing the power of local directories. Ten packs now show up even when a city or area name is not in the search query. Search Engine Land makes the case media sites with directories need to rethink their strategy.More…
Posted by Newswire |
09/14/09 | No Comments »
You already know why news organizations need a Facebook strategy. Here’s how to create a social media strategy that defines basic business and editorial goals. More…
Posted by Newswire |
09/08/09 | No Comments »
A recent post on Minonline is aimed at the magazine industry and gives five ideas for iPhone applications that could be a source of revenues for media but are largely ignored by publishers. Now you can’t say you never thought about it. More…
Posted by Newswire |
08/14/09 | No Comments »
Even with e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and other tools, phones are still the primary reporting tool for many journalists. Espcially cell phones, which unlike office phones, have Caller ID and voicemail mail selected by name. Google Voice kicks that up a notch, so much so that some in the trade press (Mike Arrington for one) have sworn off Apple which doesn’t allow Google Voice, so if your organization is IPhone heavy, read no further. Otherwise, here is Eaton Horowitz’s case for using Voice. More…
Posted by Newswire |
08/11/09 | No Comments »
