Devcourt Media

Online search is a fairly standard tool for finding anything from directions to a restaurant to conducting price and feature comparisons on a new refrigerator. So it’s no real surprise that Canadian moms head online to conduct research about potential purchases large and small. And in particular, they go online to learn more about consumer [...]

It seems like social media is everywhere these days. But the 2010 Business Monitor United States report — commissioned by UPS — shows that when it comes to small- and medium-sized businesses, social media is still a missed opportunity. A mere 24% of respondents said they’ve received sales leads from social media, with just 1% [...]

There are so many creative ways for local businesses to get creative about marketing for dirt cheap, even free.  Google Maps is one resource forgotten to many local businesses.  Here are 5 ways local businesses can use Google’s user generated mapping functions, and social mapping tools to gain an edge in your area. Incentivize by [...]

When Google upgraded their Local Business Center to Google Places, it launched the opening salvo in what we expect to be a long war for local advertising dollars. With local advertising revenues expected to reach $144.9 billion in 2014 according to BIA/Kelsey — and more and more dollars are shifting away from traditional media toward [...]

Time and time again I find people in business trying to come up with new ideas, fresh ideas, something to bring in more clients and keep existing clients.   Teams of people sit around trying to come up with ideas people will like, services people will want, products people will buy.  In the game of simplicity [...]

Foursquare is a location-based application that works on the iphone, android and blackberry smart phones.  It brings a game aspect and some competition into the mix and you can use that to your benefit as a small business in regards to how you market yourself locally.  I’ll tell you how you can use it for [...]

The numbers this past year aren’t good.  Our current economy isn’t great, businesses are cutting back from their advertising/marketing spending and  many industries, including technology, are hemorrhaging jobs. This post isn’t about all that. It’s about the silver lining — the fact that, just as we saw 9 years ago when the first Internet bubble burst, [...]

How do you attract a flash mob of 150+ people to your restaurant?  Offer the possibility of a Foursquare Swarm Badge, of course! Last week, restaurant owner Joe Sorge attracted 161 Foursquare users at the same time to his burger joint in Milwaukee, AJ Bombers (pretty impressive considering there are approximately only 300-400 total Foursquare users [...]

Sometimes it’s helpful to verify something that seems obvious. In this case a new study from Chadwick Martin Bailey, a market research firm, confirms that people who associate themselves with a brand through online social networks are more likely, on average, to buy that brand and recommend it to friends. “No duh,” I hear some [...]

So it appears that local marketing is the new black of sorts when it comes to the Internet. Location based services, concentration on the SMB and now attention being given to large national advertisers whose lifeblood is local markets all over the map is bringing local marketing to the forefront of the Internet marketing mix. [...]