Earlier this week, Apple acquired a two-year-old GPS start-up called WifiSLAM. The geo-location space is rapidly growing with GPS technology being used widely from smartphone apps to in-car dashboard technology. What sets WifiSLAM apart is its focus on indoor-GPS.
Most GPS models use cell towers to measure location which can be about 10 meters off. When driving or walking 10 meters don’t make much of a difference but when trying to measure location inside a building, those 10 meters can be troublesome.
The Next Web dug up how WifiSLAM is able to pinpoint indoor location using multiple methods then create maps from data gathered from users:
“WiFiSLAM uses a combination of various methods to get better indoor locations. Obviously, WiFi and cell tower trilateration doesn’t work indoors. Instead, WiFi signals can be measured by any device to get an approximate location. In order for that location to be accurate, though, you have to use WiFi fingerprinting to get an idea of what the materials and construction of a particular building are going to do to WiFi signals. Enough scans in one place and you’ll have an accurate profile of a building that can be used to make a map.”
Apple quietly acquired the Silicon Valley company for a reported $20 million but hasn’t revealed its full plans just yet. Analysts are reporting that this is another step in building a mapping platform more competitive with Google’s, which already offers indoor mapping for select venues.
Imagine the possibilities for this new, more accurate technology – perhaps in the future indoor spaces like malls, shopping centers and department stores could pinpoint customer location to send geo-triggered alerts, deals, and advertisements at exact points within the venue. The company has already been offering its platform to app developers for indoor mapping and social networking.
There is certainly more to come on this and it will be interesting to see how Apple uses it in the near future.
Please join LSA and geo.to for an exclusive webinar presentation this upcoming Thursday, April 4.
In this webinar, geo.to will discuss the phenomenal increase in mobile local search, the primary wants and needs of mobile users, and the data that is reinforcing the importance of providing instant access to extremely accurate and timely location based information. Whether you are a single location business, a large brand with thousands of locations, a publisher, or an agency representing businesses, geo.to will explore tools you can use in traditional print, display and digital marketing to increase click through rates, conversions, calls, visits, sales, customer satisfaction and loyalty, including a new type of digital web presence for every business location.
geo.to is a mobile, local, social media technology platform company enabling businesses to make it easier and faster for customers to find, share and interact with their locations. geo.to specializes in providing an easy to use, special purpose mobile website for every location dedicated to helping customers instantly find, visit, call and share business locations when they are on the go and ready to buy.
Our conference has really come together nicely and with such great content, it got me thinking about all the compelling reasons local search professionals should come. Here is my top 10 and while it doesn’t capture every benefit of attending, it gives a good glimpse into the relevancy and importance of our event.
10. Venue: The dynamic Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in the heart of Las Vegas is a one-of-a-kind venue for a one-of-a-kind conference. Book your room today!
9. Las Vegas: Shows, clubs, dining, tours, shopping, gaming, golf, spas, hiking, attractions and more! Take in the great content of our conference while taking advantage of the exciting city of Las Vegas.
8. Industry Excellence Awards: See some of the most innovative and creative work taking place in the local search space during the Industry Excellence Awards.
7. Strategic Exchange Sessions: Whether you registered for an SES or not, these are great for networking and making connections with executives from influential local search companies. There are still tables and poolside cabanas available. For more info, check out our SES Brochure or contact Terri Stabnick (terri.stabnick@localsearchassociation.org) today at (248) 244-0743.
6. Networking Events: With all the networking events planned for the conference, you can catch up with old friends, make some new ones, and, most importantly, develop partnerships with the companies that will help drive your business forward.
5. Vegas: Just in case you forgot, the conference is in Vegas!
4. Workshops: The subject matter and panelists for this year’s workshops are particularly relevant. Come learn about the latest and greatest technologies and innovations that are impacting areas such as mobile, SEO, social media and more.
3. Speakers: The biggest names in digital, mobile, social and print media will discuss many strategic and tactical topics that are driving the local search industry forward.
2. Attendees: With an expected attendance of about 400 people, our conference puts all of the biggest names in local search in one place. Don’t miss your chance to network with this influential group.
1. Search Starts Here: Local search is evolving and so are you. Get ahead of the latest trends and be part of the conference that influences the industry. Search truly does start here…
During their webinar last week, Amdocs discussed current multimedia selling practices – what is working, what is not – and demonstrated some innovative capabilities to help the local search publishing industry enhance its value contribution to small and medium sized businesses. Check out their presentation below.
For access to all of our past webinars and a look at what’s to come, visit http://bit.ly/LSAwebinars.
We are pleased to announce even more enhancements to LSA’s Directories Online (DOL) that were implemented over the weekend. The enhancements improve the ‘Search Results’ directory and heading selection experience as well as the Cart appearance on DOL.
The Search Results screen will now allow the user to ‘Select All’ directories or headings, select/unselect specific directories and associated headings, or re-select/unselect specific headings within a selected directory.
We removed the unselect/select icons from the far left side of the screen making the application more intuitive.
The repetitive text “* COMPLETE HEADING” from the Listing Name section was removed.
The Listing Name section will now be blank unless a Listing search is performed on Listing Searchable directories. If a match is found, the listing name will appear in the Listing Name section.
The Search Results screen will now show when a search generated a Listing Name in both the Yellow Pages and White Pages.
Finally, the Cart has been changed to look and feel more like the Search Results screen. We added the same select/unselect functionality as the Search Results screen and reformatted it accordingly.
I attended BIA/Kelsey’s “Leading in Local: The National Impact” conference in Boston on March 18-20 and really enjoyed the terrific content and speakers. David Sharman, Dex One senior vice president and chief strategy officer, was particularly interesting during his keynote presentation.
Sharman discussed Dex One’s growth opportunity — providing SMBs with the latest marketing services. Using more than 1,000 sales reps, Dex One is making strides to build on its long-standing relationships with local businesses. While print still is an important aspect of the business, Sharman acknowledged the necessity of offering digital solutions that work for SMBs. To show its commitment to digital, Dex added digital expertise to staff and started to report digital revenues separately from print revenues.
Dex also has made some new partnerships with companies such as xAd, PaperG and Google to offer products that are fast, flexible and capital efficient. Dex’s digital product portfolio includes SEM solutions, Internet Yellow Pages (IYP), SEO, and websites which have helped Dex’s digital business grow by 30% making it worth around $300 million. Sharman attributed much of the digital growth to product bundles, which have a renewal rate of about 70%. Another driving force is the company’s Guaranteed Actions program, which is Dex’s commitment to deliver a certain number of leads across multiple media.
According to Sharman, Dex One still faces some challenges including finding new customers, identifying a way to soften the decline in print yellow pages revenue and being smarter with book distribution.
On the financial front, Dex reduced its debt by $1.8 billion, and the company has met guidance every quarter. Regarding the merger with SuperMedia, Sharman said it provides “more runway to transition to a growth company,” and both companies are focused on delivering value to their customers.
Local media advertising revenues will climb from $132.5 billion in 2012 to $148.8 billion in 2017, according to a new study from BIA/Kelsey. Interestingly, the firm predicts that national advertisers will make up a significant portion of that increase, accounting for nearly $51 billion of local media ad revenue by 2017.
“Local media has become a key channel, not only for local small businesses, but for regional businesses, national franchises and national brands targeting locally,” said Mark Fratrik, vice president and chief economist, BIA/Kelsey. “This is clearly seen in our tracking of market shifts in mobile, social, search, promotions, coupons and deals, native ads and sales transformation.”
Though increased focus from national brands could create more competition in the local advertising space for small- and medium-sized businesses, the additional investment will surely spur innovation, likely positive for all.
According to a press release on Yellow Media’s website, the Board of Directors and Marc Tellier have collectively agreed that Tellier will be leaving the position of President and Chief Executive Officer.
“We thank Marc for his leadership and many years of devoted service to Yellow Pages Group and his agreement to remain in order to assist in effecting a smooth transition,” said Robert MacLellan, Chairman of the Board.
The board has created a search committee responsible for finding Tellier’s successor. Tellier will support the transition process and will remain CEO until August 15, 2013 or when a replacement is selected.
The Search Agency just introduced a fully automated search engine marketing solution called AdMax Local that helps small businesses benefit from high quality and profitable local search campaigns.
The platform is designed for use by marketers, media resellers, directory publishers, CMRs, franchisors and others who want to manage search campaigns for their SMB clients. According to their website, AdMax Local “produces, manages and reports on hyper-local, optimally structured, highly relevant and performance-focused search engine marketing campaigns.”
The automated approach is intended to make it easier to manage tens of thousands of SMB accounts while allowing resellers of paid search to offer more affordable SEM services. The Search Agency says that their automated process of campaign creation and management can reduce cost of ownership by up to 90%.
In addition to providing detailed insight into SEM campaigns, AdMax Local helps local advertisers manage inventory from various media owners, including popular search sites like Google and Bing.
The Search Agency is an online marketing firm that offers services to support the multi-channel online marketing strategies of their clients. They have been recognized as the largest independent search marketing agency by Advertising Age and the number 294 fastest growing company in North America on Deloitte’s 2011 Technology Fast 500™.
We are really excited to hear from Ben Gibson, Managing Director of The Search Agency, who will be participating in a workshop at our conference titled, “Automating Local Marketing for Efficiency at Scale.” We have many great speakers and content planned for our conference April 13-16 in Vegas. Check out the Agenda Page for more information.
YaSabe, America’s largest and fastest growing local search destination that caters to Hispanic consumers, announced today that they have closed a seed round of institutional and angel funding totaling $2.7M. According to the press release, they plan to use the funding for product development, marketing, and continued development of content, traffic, and advertiser partnerships.
YaSabe, which means ‘now you know’ in Spanish, connects millions of users annually to online listings, cultural content and community-sourced information with their fully bilingual interface. They provide content publishers and advertisers with syndicated, relevant content, revenue opportunities and expanded audiences. Because of its scale and focused bilingual content, YaSabe has helped to elevate search rankings across the Web for information that targets U.S. Hispanics.
Azim Tejani, YaSabe’s Executive Vice President, will be leading a workshop titled “Winning the Hispanic Market” at our upcoming conference in Las Vegas and we are really looking forward to his discussion.
For more info on YaSabe, visit YaSabe.com and to see all of the great content planned for our conference, check out our jam-packed agenda. See you in Vegas!
Please join LSA and Amdocs for an exclusive webinar presentation this upcoming Thursday, March 21st.
In this webinar Amdocs will discuss the many multimedia selling practices being used today and will provide insight into what is working and what is not. They will also cover the value of getting the right sales tools into the right hands in order to increase customer satisfaction, increase sales productivity and decrease churn. Finally, Amdocs will offer a look into the day in the life of a multimedia sales person and how to overcome daily challenges using the right sales methodology and strategy.
Amdocs Advertising & Media is the market leader in software and services for the local media industry. With an extensive product portfolio and wide-range of proven services, Amdocs enables local advertising providers to leverage their natural resources to address the increasingly complex needs of small and medium sized businesses. With revenue of over $3.2 billion in 2012, Amdocs and its approximately 20,000 employees serve customers in more than 60 countries.
Today’s highlight was the delegates lunch. Speakers included Sen. John McCain, Secretary Tom Vilsack of the Dept. of Agriculture, Hon. J.C. Watts from Oklahoma, and Vice President Joe Biden.
A good sign of my progress here is my ability to find someone I know, whether it be while waiting in line for 45 minutes to get through security detail, or when looking for a seat amongst the 2000+ attendees. I sat with Aldermen from Evanston, Illinois and council members from San Leandro, California.
I’ve also been very impressed with the “pedigree” of some of the local officials. David Lee of Medina, WA is finishing up his Masters in Urban Planning at Harvard (he commutes cross-country weekly), and Leland Cheung of Cambridge, MA has an undergraduate degree from Stanford and an MBA from MIT. Maybe if I spend enough time with them some of it will rub off on me.
Ultimately, this has been a very productive trip and I was happy to represent LSA and our members while building goodwill amongst city leaders.
In addition to all the great speakers and workshops, our conference is a great opportunity to network with decision makers from some of the most influential companies in local search. We offer a variety of networking events ranging from formal, informal and everything in between. The events planned are as follows:
Conference Golf Tournament (Sunday, April 14)
Sponsored by Yellow Pages Group This year’s conference golf tournament will be held at the beautiful Arroyo Golf Club nestled alongside the breathtaking Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas. Make some new connections and enjoy a nice relaxing round of golf on a course designed by Arnold Palmer himself. For just $250, you get 18 holes of golf, breakfast, transportation from the hotel and a chance to win some great prizes! You can sign up for golf when you register for our conference.
Women’s Round Table Event (Sunday, April 14) Sponsored by Ponytale Talk and Global Business Therapy Come and hear from Kimberli Lewis, President of the European Association of Data Base, Search and Directory Publishers (EASDP), for her talk titled, “10 Problems Women Face in the Workplace and their Similarity to Hot Dogs.” Yes, we know it sounds strange, but Kimberli offers some great insight into the topic.
Night in Black and White (Sunday, April 14)
Sponsored by YP Join us for a “Night in Black and White” as we honor the most innovative and creative work in local search during the Industry Excellence Awards. Watch a brief silent film that highlights all of our winners and stick around for drinks and networking after the show. (black & white business casual attire)
Viva Las Local Cocktail Party (Monday, April 15) Sponsored by Local Market Launch Before the “Viva Las Local” dinner, join us for cocktail hour just above the casino floor on the mezzanine level. This casual setting is a great opportunity to unwind after a packed day of great speakers and presentations. Talk business or anything but, and make some connections that are sure to continue after conference.
Viva Las Local Dinner (Monday, April 15) Sponsored by SuperMedia – Celebrity look-alikes sponsored by hibu
After cocktail hour, the party continues during the “Viva Las Local” dinner. Join us for food and drinks at The London Club. And Vegas just wouldn’t be Vegas without some celebrities. Get pictures with some special guests and take advantage of even more opportunities to network.
I sat with council members and city managers from South Carolina, Georgia, California, and Washington to listen to today’s breakfast speaker, Rev. Al Sharpton. Whatever your political views, there’s no denying that he is a dynamic speaker. He shared this one story about how a celebrity asked him to preside over their funeral to which Sharpton replied, “Well, you better give me something to work with!” His talk was about the importance of living a meaningful life and I couldn’t help but feel inspired.
I continued to attend sessions and receptions throughout the day where I had the opportunity to meet local leaders from all over the country especially Texas, California, and Washington. I ended the day by going to dinner with two local leaders from Washington State: Mayor Conrad Lee from Bellevue and councilman David Lee from Medina. I’ve really enjoyed spending time with some really impressive leaders and sincere people.
I also got to hear from General Martin Dempsey who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and one of only a handful of military leaders who has served in every rank of the military. He talked about the one thing that soldiers must have in order to operate effectively; trust. Similarly, my time here at the conference is all about building trust with local leaders and I look forward to continuing these relationships after I leave DC.
Paul Plantof Radicle Consulting returns to guest blog on Local Search Insider. Paul has over 30 years of experience in directive media and advertising. Since launching Radicle Consulting in 2010, Paul has acquired a diverse client portfolio, which he advises on all aspects of organizational and transformational change. Paul previously spent almost 20 years in senior management at Yell Group, in key marketing, sales and strategic operational positions in both the U.K. and U.S. See Paul’s previous post here.
The past decade has witnessed levels of new and disruptive technological and social change on an unprecedented scale, with the effect on the media sector being felt perhaps harder than most.
All companies, large and small, old and new have been affected, including traditional media providers such as Yellow Pages companies, as well as a number of the newer digital players, Yahoo being a good case in point.
Large numbers of Yellow Pages companies have made bold forward-looking visionary statements along the lines of, “We are transforming our business from print directory publisher to media solutions provider for SMBs.” Yet to date, the industry is still facing headwinds in its efforts to transform.
The troubles encountered by many publishers around the world are proof that to bring about a successful transformation is not easy. It calls for courageous and committed visionary leadership, combined with an energised and aligned workforce dedicated to creating a new digitally-enabled customer-centric organization. CEOs and their Boards must understand and mitigate the risks, something that cannot be delegated.
I’m looking forward to sharing my observations on the topic of Transformation from both inside and outside the Yellow Pages industry with attendees at LSA’s annual conference, “Search Starts Here,” next month in Las Vegas. My presentation will take place Monday, April 15 from 9:45-10:15 a.m.
I recently wrote a paper entitled “Making Transformation Happen”, in which I exposed some of the common issues facing large organizations when confronted by disruptive change. I put forward some sound guidance as to how companies should respond.
My work also outlines the new performance drivers, required behaviors and key measures for retaining salience with customers and building a sustainable future in the new digital economy. I am optimistic that traditional media publishers can carve out a strong positioning in the new digital environment, and will detail how the industry’s core strategic assets can be leveraged and adapted in order to achieve competitive differentiation.
I believe my presentation will serve as a tasty appetizer for the conference’s Keynote Address from Solocal (formerly PagesJaunes Groupe) President & CEO Jean-Pierre Remy, who will share the story of his company’s transformation journey from traditional directory publisher to become one of the world’s most successful digital media organizations.
But it is not only traditional media companies who have had to face up to change and competitive threat. One of the founding pioneers of the Internet revolution, Yahoo, had hit on difficult times until the arrival last July of Google’s “first lady” Marissa Meyer as President & CEO.
Yahoo, since Mayer’s appointment, has shown how a troubled media company can right its course. Her turnaround plan had just two central themes: 1) focus on the company’s core competences; and 2) nurture and re-energize the people throughout the organization, recognizing that they are the most important asset in any transformation. For more on Mayer’s efforts, check out this Forbes article.
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