Bing It On

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At Yext, we work directly with some of the best sites on the internet and are always adding new ones to the PowerListings Network, so the most customers possible find your business details. And today we’ve made the PowerListings Network even more powerful by adding Bing.

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Bing is one of the largest and most used sources of information online with more than 165 million unique visitors every month. It sets itself apart by the massive number of people searching every day and the quality of its results, on the web and on mobile.

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Starting today, you can sync your basic business details (including name, address, and phone number) automatically. And we’re offering this important PowerListing free of charge with an existing complete subscription.

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Log into your Yext account today to see your listing on Bing. For help or more information contact customer support.

So now, Bing it on!

Navigating Internet Week

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There’s nothing Yexters love more than New York City and the Internet (well, except maybe karaoke). So we’re excited that it’s finally Internet Week here in NYC.

For those unfamiliar with Internet Week, it’s “a week-long festival celebrating Internet business and culture and will attract more than 45,000 Internet professionals, working across all sectors, attending 250+ events produced by IWNY and 150+ citywide event partners.”

There’s programming for everyone from designers, marketers, and engineers to those who just want to learn more about tech in NYC.

This is one of the biggest events for technology with events all over the city, and Yext has signed on as a sponsor to help you navigate Internet Week. For the past few months we’ve been working closely with the Internet Week team to develop some great and useful resources for the week all powered by location information:

  • The Official IWNY iOS App

    • This is your guide to the week with important information about talks, panels and most importantly – when and where they are

  • Interactive Map

    • Internet Week wouldn’t be complete without the coolest technology – so there is an interactive touch-screen map of all the events around the city for the week, including listings with all the detail you need

  • 2013 Print Poster

    • Design distinguishes NYC technology from the rest of the world, so the IWNY print poster has become a favorite. This year we worked with the team to create a map like you’ve never seen before. After all, where you are matters.

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To see Yext in action stop by the IWNY HQ for talks from our executives:

And sign up for OpenCo to visit our new office and hear a presentation about our company and our vision for the future.

Finally, the reason we’re so excited for Internet Week is because it’s a chance to celebrate the important technology in the city. Our company wouldn’t be the same anywhere else and we are proud to be part of the community. Yext is Made in NY - see for yourself.

There’s a lot going on this week all around the city for Internet Week and we’re looking forward to helping you navigate it.

The Design Behind Our Mobile App

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The Mobile Challenge

We’ve added a number of new features in the past few months that have made our software more powerful and easy to use. So, we knew we needed to create a mobile companion app that would be as useful and simple for our customers, for when they aren’t in front of the computer.

We set an aggresive timeline and goal because, at Yext we love nothing more than challenges.

Customer Feedback

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We started with design-research by speaking with our customers to learn about the things that matter to them, often face-to-face via video.

What are their current behaviors? How do they publish their location information today? What tools do they use? How do they perceive and use Yext?

We learned that our customers are incredibly mobile – they are on the go and they use mobile technology. They take pride in their work and are looking for ways to share their business stories with their customers. A business, just like our personal lives, has high and low moments. Interestingly, what’s actually shared on social networks includes only the highs.

It became clear to us that expanding Yext’s mobile app capabilities to capture those moments of success and share them on social networks would address our clients’ needs. That combined with our PowerListings Network of nearly 50 publishers offers a unique solution.

Business and Pleasure

Great apps are not only about function though. The actual design was inspired by Maslow’s pyramid of needs, from Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter (a great read on its own), who explains that today’s software needs to be more than just functional, reliable and usable. It also needs to be pleasurable.

Yes, at Yext, we believe that business should be mixed with pleasure. Our customers are not just “users”. They are people.

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Design for Emotion – In this adaptation of Maslow’s pyramid of needs, the top part of the pyramid that many applications are missing, however it’s what contributes a great deal to customer engagement.

Concealing Complexity

We also know that our business owners are—not surprisingly—very busy people. So any app we design needs to be very straightforward and simple. Just a tap and you’re done. But that “tap” needs to be powerful.

The GM and CEO of Vine, Dom Hofmann, put it well at the latest NYC Mobile Apps Meetup. He said, “great apps need not avoid complexity, they need to conceal it.”

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With this in mind, we got our hands dirty. Collaboration is key at Yext, and the team participated in a “Design Studio”. For a couple of hours, we all left our computers and performed rapid visual brainstorming in our Fun Room. We had a great group of people from different departments of the company all working together: visual and UX design, marketing, customer support, developers, QA, and product.

After 190 sketches, we reached a rough consensus of the main information architecture and screens. Designers and developers continued to collaborate as the team iterated the design and the actual code. We used the whiteboard extensively as the place to discuss and wireframe any user-facing element of the app. And at the end of this process, we had a fully functional and designed app, but it didn’t seem quite finished…

Adding Fun

There was one small yet important detail missing: fun. We wanted to add a discovery element to our app, one that would be appealing and engaging, but wouldn’t hide or interfere with functionality.

In the first set of wireframes, we had a standard iOS button on the screen with a plus sign inside. It was a placeholder annotated “Sexy Plus Button”. That button would open a menu to select the type of information they wanted to share: a photo, a thought, a Featured Message, and more. We wanted to make this interaction delightful and fun, but also clear. If business owners aren’t sure how to use our app, they might close it and never open it again.

The main action button as it looked in one of the initial low fidelity wireframes.

The main action button as it looked in one of the initial low fidelity wireframes.

So we used Keynote to prototype some of the possible animations, along with our trusty whiteboard. Eventually, we found an animated design that worked. It’s simple, elegant yet cool, sexy and fun.

Evolution of screens from whiteboard prototyping to a full, polished Yext App.

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We are very excited about the launch of the new Yext app and are looking forward to roll out more exciting new features. Click here to download and stay tuned for more!

Capture Business Moments With Our New iPhone App

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Your business isn’t defined by only your address, phone number or hours of operation. It’s when a customers visits for the first time, new products in stock or when someone finds what they need. These are the moments make up your business.

Capturing and sharing those experiences is the best way to engage your customers. In fact, listings with updated pictures receive 247% more clicks.

What to Share

For businesses, it’s clear that creative, ‘behind the scenes’ photos perform better than formal marketing pictures.  To reach and engage your customers, capture and share those business experiences. Take a photo of the new dish, product display, or seasonal sale.

You should share them where you customers are looking: social media and business listings. Adding them to your digital profiles makes your business look more appealing and active, so customers feel connected and compelled to choose you.

Your profiles will look more complete with photos and rich information, so they actually become your mobile presence.

Changing your website and optimizing for mobile is hard, but updating your profiles – where your customers are already looking – is a simpler and more effective solution for your mobile presence. And the photos of your business moments are the key to your mobile strategy.

Redesigned Yext iPhone App

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We knew we wanted to create a companion app as useful as the web product – because business doesn’t always happen in front of a computer screen. So we started from scratch and completely redesigned our iPhone app to make it easy to capture and share business experiences.

We ended up making the first of its kind business app for capturing and sharing content with customers. With it, businesses can:

    • Easily to capture photos of your business moments

  • Apply custom filters to make your photos look professional

    • Create text posts

    • Share your photos and add them to your photo albums

  • Optionally share the photos across your PowerListings Galleries

  • Set their profile picture and cover photo for your Facebook Page

The new iPhone app is available for download on the App Store here and is included in your PowerListings subscription. Once you have activated Yext Sync for Facebook, you can begin capturing and sharing the experience that define your business from the palm of your hand.

For more information, contact us at service@yext.com.

Introducing, Yext Sync for Facebook

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Facebook Is Huge in Local

When we started thinking about what we wanted to do next, we asked ourselves, where do we spend the most time?

The first answer is, of course, physical places. But the second is digital destinations – like Facebook.  And then layer those two… the digital versions of those physical places.  At Yext, we love to check-in, to comment, to post photos, etc. from our favorite spots.

Today, Facebook is one of the largest sources of local information online. With more than a billion users worldwide, it’s capturing about 13% of all local search (which is a lot!) as people check into locations, see where their friends visited, and look up their favorite spots for deals and information.

Local search is also closely tied to mobile usage. As 25% of time across all mobile devices is spent on Facebook, it’s an ideal place to find people when they are on the go. And with its new products, Nearby and Graph Search, Facebook is getting more local every day.

So it’s essential that your business takes control of your presence and get into local search on Facebook. And we’re making it easy with Yext Sync for Facebook.

Yext Sync for Facebook Gets You in Local Search

Facebook populates its local search results with location Pages from businesses as well as  user-generated Pages. So even if you haven’t built Pages for your locations, chances are, they exist and are appearing in search results, but not accurately representing your business.

Our software makes it easy to take control by creating and organizing location Pages for your business.

With Yext Facebook Sync you can:

  • Instantly update your location information on Facebook from your Yext account
    • Choose what fields to sync from your Yext account, so that you can decide if there are sections you want to manage separately (and word differently) in Facebook
  • Add your category, business descriptions, hours and more to your Facebook Page
    • Your customers come to your Page to learn more about you, so show them what makes your business different
  • Share up-to-date photos of your business
    • The digital representation of your business should change as quickly as your physical business does
  • Add your Content Lists (your Products and Services, Events, Bios or Menus) as custom tabs
    • Customize your location Page with your PowerListings+ Content Lists so your customers have information at their fingertips about why to choose your business – and your Page stands out with custom content
  • Post reviews from across the web on your Facebook Page
    • Make your great reviews go further by sharing them as posts with two easy clicks on your Facebook Page. There’s no reason the review on Yahoo! should stay on Yahoo! – share it with all your customers to help them make purchasing decisions
  • Create and share your business moments with our new iPhone app
    • Your business is made of moments – from the first time a customer stops into your business, to the smile of a job well done. Capturing and sharing those authentic business moments is the key to engagement online and on social
    • Our new Facebook-first iPhone app makes it easy to capture those business moments with our custom camera and filter no matter where you are and share them with your customers on Facebook or any of your PowerListings 
  • Monitor your Likes, Check-ins, and more on your Facebook Page in Yext
    • We know you care about more than just Likes on your Facebook Page, so our technology includes ‘Were Here’ and “Talking About’ in the Reporting section of our platform to help you optimize
    • If you have more than one Page, you can monitor metrics from them all in one place – including Likes across all your location Pages

Pages that include updated information and fresh content receive higher levels of engagement, which will ultimately determine search result ranking, so get started now for an early mover advantage with Yext Sync for Facebook.

Sync for Facebook is included at no extra change and it takes minutes to get set up. Learn more about Yext Sync for Facebook here and contact your Account Manager.

Yext Welcomes Christian Ward to Lead Channel Partnerships!

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Getting perfect location information into every hand requires touching tens of millions of small businesses globally.  While Yext sells its products directly, we work with over 1,000 digital agencies, social media consultants, and local SEOs who offer a complete Small Business marketing solution.  Our focus on one use case – syncing location info everywhere – means that our partners can bring an efficient and reliable updating engine to their own customers.

Today we are pleased to announce that Christian Ward has joined Yext as EVP of Partnerships to run these important partnerships.  Most recently Christian served as Chief Data Officer of InfoGroup, and prior to that, as head of content innovation at Thomson Reuters.  Like all Yextlings, Christian is a data product junkie. He understands unique product, data, and operational challenges faced by our partners looking to manage location data for their own customers.  We’re delighted to welcome him aboard.

Our business wouldn’t be possible without our partners.  We look forward to continuing to bring our partners the most innovative location information technology on the planet.

Yext Expands PowerListings Network to Include YP

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Our goal is to get perfect location information into every hand, and to do that we’ve brought together some of the best websites on the internet as part of our PowerListings Network, so your location information and content reaches the most customers possible.

Today, we are excited to announce another leading site as part of the PowerListings Network for our enterprise customers: YP.

Here’s a little more information about YP:

YP is North America’s largest local search, advertising and media company. And its wide range of print and digital advertising products is designed to address customers’ evolving local search needs and help advertisers grow their businesses. YP knows that managing location information is particularly challenging and important for businesses with more than one location.

For current enterprise customers, your listings will automatically be added to YP. Please contact your account manager for more information.

Check out the press release for full details about the partnership here.

Mobile + Location: Where Will the People Go?

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Working to get perfect location information into every hand is never as relevant as it is when we talk about mobile.  The more customers use their devices, the more places they can go, and the more need they have to find new locations.

One of the most popular activities on mobile devices is search, especially local search. When you are out with your phone, you are likely to look up a place you are headed – for directions, for a phone number, for information about whether you can buy what you need.  In fact,

  • 50% of all local searches performed on mobile device
  • 7 of 10 mobile searches = action within one hour
  • 9 of 10 mobile searches = purchase or visit

What We Are Seeing From Businesses – As mobile and local decision making get more closely tied, how are businesses reacting?  At Yext, we see three best practices from our customers:

  1. Ensuring mobile location hygiene to capture the intent of local search – Mobile is not only the place where a customer searches for somewhere she already knows; accurate location information is also the way to connect to more general local searches.  When businesses come up on mobile screens at the right time – on a map, in an app, or in a search engine – it might convert into the sale, or room booking, or dinner option.
  2. Enabling local discovery with fresh content – For many local businesses, mobile is the key to being discovered, the key to finding new customers.  On mobile and in local, people are often looking for specific information around a location near where they are – for a seasonal food item, for what’s happening on Tuesday, for what’s on sale.  In the store, sales teams can use their devices to update their location information – from open hours to events – in real-time to keep listings fresh and relevant.
  3. Differentiating with content creation – The killer feature of the smart phone is, of course, the camera, and the impact for business is that all employees can become local content creators.  With the right permissioning for brand protection, adding photos and videos to business listings is often the easiest way to create immediately richer, engaging experiences right when customers are looking.

What We’re Doing About It – At Yext, we are working to make mobile easy to manage for businesses in two ways:

  • First, we want to make it easy to reach customers with the best location information using our Network.  On mobile browsers, we connect our through 45+ publishers of maps, apps, and local search experiences and within apps environments, we work with 20+ applications, from HopStop to Foursquare.
  • Then, we want to make it easy to update and post new information – with our Android and iPhone apps.  Our apps allow you to:
    • Review your mobile listings
    • Update your Featured Messages as deals and products change day to day
    • Take new photos and videos as local content and automatically upload to your profile

We have built our network and our tools to help our customers grow their businesses through local search and local discovery.  By doubling down on mobile, we further our mission: to put perfect location information in every hand.

Find more information about Yext Mobile here.

Where Small Businesses Should Spend, and Save, Marketing Money

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Where Small Businesses Should Spend, and Save, Marketing Money

Owners of small businesses are generally strapped for time and money. They have to pick and choose carefully where to spend both. Setting marketing priorities is the key to making the most of small business budgets and time management. Here is a look at some small business marketing tactics to embrace or avoid:

Do: Include your company in online directories. The more legitimate sites you have linking back to your company, the better. This will improve your search engine rankings and also ensure that potential customers are able to find you, both physically and digitally. There are plenty of free directories, but you may also find that you get better results with directories that charge a reasonable fee.

Don’t: Spend a lot on outbound marketing. The pre-internet traditional marketing tactics like mailing out coupons or taking out print ads simply do not have the same impact they once did. There is no way to measure their effectiveness either. You may find that certain traditional ad campaigns do help improve business, especially if you are a local establishment. Definitely stick with these initiatives, but avoid others that have unknown results.

Do: Have a company blog. A website is simply not enough. If you want to attract the attention of people with a vested interest in your industry, you need to have a blog with quality content. Clearly label the blog as part of your business but avoid “selling” things on it. Instead, provide expert content for free and build credibility that will lead to future sales.

Don’t: Rely on social media. Yes, social media is a great place to foster relationships with your current and future customers, but it is not enough. You want to put your small business information in as many places as possible and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter represent just a small portion of what is available out there for digital marketing.

Do: Partner with others. A great way to stretch your marketing budget is to collaborate and co-market with other small businesses. Look for inexpensive, or even free, ways to promote your business that is mutually beneficial to another one. The simplest example would be allowing each other to leave business cards in the lobby of each other’s offices. A more advanced partnership could include link building through each other’s sites or allowing free advertising on each other’s websites.

Don’t: Discount the power of word-of-mouth advertising. You can have the most advanced, strategically relevant marketing plan in place but without actual customers recommending you, it will not work. Obviously you want to avoid bad reviews, especially online, but you also want to encourage happy customers to take the time to praise you in cyberspace. Consider giving incentives to customers and clients that are willing to write a positive, genuine review for you. Let potential customers know a little bit about you before they email you, call you or show up at your location.

Every small business will have to customize a marketing plan that best fits its needs and target audience. Remember that just because a tactic works for others or is all the rage, it may not be a good choice for you. Keep your own business goals in mind and spend your money and time on the most effective marketing for your company needs.

(Photo Source)

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

 

The Women of Yext: Leaning In

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This week, our own EVP of Sales & Service, Wendi Sturgis, was on Good Morning America in a Town Hall meeting with another woman leading in technology: Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook.  In her recently released book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Sandberg shared research and anecdotes encouraging women to lead at work.  On the video segment, a group of women got together to discuss the many issues still to be tackled.

Questions arose from issues around working moms (and all people) setting boundaries to create more balance and confidence in asking for new opportunities.  A particularly important topic was the role of men in supporting women, especially in mentorship.  Sandberg noted that with many fewer women in leadership positions, senior men need to provide equal access for men and women in getting advice to shape their careers.

For her question, Sturgis asked about how Sandberg deals with the embarrassment that can come from all the acclaim.  Her response was clear – women have to own their success.  When a man succeeds, he takes credit, and often when women succeed, they give credit away.  In a work environment, women need to acknowledge when they have earned it.

At the end of the session, Sheryl asked for the women to support other women in their workplaces and to join the movement at LeanIn.org.  And Wendi spent a few minutes to speak with another inspiring woman, ABC’s Robin Roberts.

We’re looking forward to continuing the conversation back at Yext and on building on the mentorship and leadership we need for a stronger team and a stronger company.

For more, see the full segment on Good Morning America here.