“At the end of the mobile revolution, we will look back and realize that the big winner from the revolution is local business.”

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Philip Krim is the Founder and CEO of VocalizeMobile.com and VocalizeLocal.com. Philip is a successful serial entrepreneur who has founded and grown numerous Internet and technology related businesses.

VocalizeLocal is the drop-dead simple way for you to update your local business information across 60+ local, online, and mobile directories such as Google Places, Yahoo Local, Yelp, Mapquest, YellowPages, and many others.

Vocalize Mobile is a Professional Mobile Marketing Company. Their focus is on getting their customers calls from users of mobile devices.

MO: How has your background as a serial entrepreneur helped contribute to the direction and focus of your current two companies?

Philip: Every experience helps you be better prepared for the challenges associated with starting and running a business. The great part, and often scary part, of starting a new company is that there is no roadmap for you to follow. A big part of what a founder does is driven by instinct, and that instinct only gets better with age/experience.

MO: What inspired you to focus your efforts on directory optimization?

Philip: I truly believe that directory optimization efforts are THE critical marketing undertaking that every local business owner much undertake to stay competitive today and into the future. With the proliferation of smart phones throughout the US and the rapid adoption in which consumers use their smart phones to search for local products and services, local businesses must have a presence. Search engines have increasingly embraced directory search results when they identify a search query as having local intent. A local business that achieves a high ranking within the directories will benefit from gaining new customers for years to come.

MO: Can you provide a recent example that supports the shift and importance of mobile marketing?

Philip: Overall we have generated over 100,000 leads for our clients EXCLUSIVELY through mobile marketing. Consumers are searching for local businesses every single day. Specifically, we have had clients who told us they have had to actively expand their business because of the number of leads we are generating for them.

MO: Learning from mistakes is critical for entrepreneurs. Can you share some lessons learned from your past or how you would have approached things differently?

Philip: Learning from mistakes is absolutely critical and I have certainly made plenty of them. While they seem cliché, I think the most important ingredients for success are the people that you have on board with you when you are trying to accomplish something unique or challenging. The people are absolutely critical to the success of the organization. Hire smart and fire quickly. Also, controlling growth relative to cash flow is difficult and challenging, but something that should always be top of mind.

MO: What are some mobile marketing trends that you’re excited about?

Philip: Mobile, mobile, mobile! Ha. At the end of the mobile revolution, we will look back and realize that the big winner from the revolution is local business. Traditional marketing is simply no longer effective because consumers are not utilizing them as they have before. People use their phones to look for products and services. They make purchases quickly and in their local area.

MO: What’s the most exciting thing on the horizon for you personally or professionally?

Philip: I am extremely excited about VocalizeLocal.com – it is a game changer for local businesses. It is the first tool of it’s kind to help local businesses actually optimize their directory listings in order to rank ahead of their competitors within mobile and desktop local searches.