Scorpion Expands Its Toolbox with Yelp Partnership
The digital marketing services provider Scorpion announced a new partnership with Yelp this morning, in a move that demonstrates just how important Yelp’s advertising platform has become to the local ecosystem. Scorpion clients will have access to Yelp tools like zip code targeting, campaign goals, negative keywords, and other pilot programs that take a granular and customized approach to ad delivery. They will also be able to optimize their Yelp presence and unlock new profile optimizations that weren’t previously available.
Global Brands Get Creative with Post-Pandemic Loyalty Strategy
As the country reopens and consumers step outside once again, brands are beginning to reimagine their loyalty programs for a post-pandemic world. That means pivoting away from strategies that rely on third-party data and providing more customers with relevant experiences in owned digital channels.
6 AI-Based Mapping Systems for Efficient Logistics
Already, businesses are using AI-based mapping systems to find the most efficient routes, which saves valuable time and fuel costs. AI-based mapping systems could also be useful for companies that want to create more optimized truckload plans based on market situations and cargo specifications.
Vungle Acquires Influencer Marketing Platform JetFuel
Just this morning, the mobile performance marketing platform Vungle announced its acquisition of JetFuel, an influencer marketing platform headquartered in San Francisco. JetFuel’s platform provides app developers and other advertisers with a way to scale marketing campaigns across an expansive network of verified influencers, with a combined reach of more than 4 billion Instagram followers, 1.5 billion TikTok followers, and 100 million daily Snapchat views.
What Colorado’s Privacy Act Could Mean for Brands
Colorado’s privacy regulations are just the latest in a string of privacy rights laws in the United States and Europe designed to protect consumers’ online data and the way digital information is shared. While the CPA is similar to Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act and the California Consumer Privacy Act, it also differs in some key ways that will have a major impact on businesses and brand marketers more specifically.
Brands Turn to Zero-Party Data Amid Privacy Restrictions
Tighter privacy restrictions are leading brand marketers to consider data collection opportunities they may have overlooked in the past, including some zero-party data collection methods that involve partnerships with subscription box companies and legacy media publishers. Unlike first-party data, which involves a company collecting insights about a customer or user, zero-party data is information that the customer or user proactively hands over to the brand.
SMBs Scramble to Capitalize on an Early Amazon Prime Day
Small and mid-size businesses saw record-breaking sales during Amazon’s Prime Day in 2020, with an increase of nearly 60% year-over-year. But with so much of the retail space currently in transition and an early Prime Day on the horizon, SMBs are scrambling to ensure they can take advantage of the corporate holiday this year.
Yubo’s Commerce-Focused Strategy Could Be the Future of Social Media
With 45 million users worldwide, Yubo is not the largest live streaming app on the market. It’s also not the newest. But the company’s founders still think they’ve got an edge in an otherwise crowded space, thanks to a unique business model that replaces in-app advertising with social commerce.
Peer39 Uses First-Party Audience Data to Power Contextual Ads
Peer39 became one of the latest entrants in the contextual AI space just this morning, launching first-party contextual onboarding to turn advertiser intelligence into future-proof targeting categories. In practice, this means advertisers that can no longer track customers across the Web with cookies can use first-party information about them to serve them ads based on their interests.
DevHub Acquires Brickwork Software to Expand Online-to-Offline Marketing Power
Brickwork will be operated by DevHub going forward, and the company’s software will become a product in DevHub’s lineup of solutions. DevHub CTO Daniel Rust believes that Brickwork’s software will make DevHub’s current offerings to local marketing brands even stronger by enabling new online-to-store conversion actions, such as appointment booking and event RSVP.
Airkit Raises $40 Million to Fuel the Future of CX
Just this morning, the low-code digital customer experience platform Airkit announced a $40 million round of Series B funding, led by EQT Ventures. The Series B will be used to accelerate the company’s investments in go-to-market and product development. The announcement comes just seven months after Airkit came out of stealth with a $28 million Series A.
6 Touchless Payments Apps for Small Businesses
The latest wave of touchless payment solutions are designed for small merchants dealing with the fallout from the pandemic. Contactless payments went from being “nice to have” to a being an essential service for retailers in 2020, as consumers around the world discovered that they really didn’t want to touch cash or POS hardware while they were making purchases at local stores.
6 Buy Now, Pay Later Solutions for Retailers
Retailers that don’t start offering flexible payment options on their checkout pages soon risk losing shoppers who prefer the unconventional approach to financing, especially for more expensive items. Flexible payment solutions tout bigger carts, customization, and faster transactions among their benefits.
Retailers Turn to AI to Assist with Forecasting Challenges
With machine learning and AI, retailers have been able to navigate the continued imbalance between supply and demand. This is especially true for digital-first retailers and on-demand businesses. The number of online grocery shoppers increased by 35 million during the pandemic. That opened the door to new opportunities, but it also opened the door to certain logistical challenges that grocers never experienced previously. For example, online grocery shoppers expect the items in their mobile apps to be in-stock and available for delivery immediately, which is different from a shopper who casually browses store aisles to see what’s available at a brick-and-mortar location.
