Listen Up! Voice Makes Itself Heard in Delivery of Local News

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“Voice is still in its early innings, but Edison Research data on smart speakers shows that the top things people are calling for is news. That’s enough for me to know that the time to get moving on this is right now,” says Amplifi Media CEO Steve Goldstein.

LBMA Podcast: New LBMA Research, Foursquare & Tinder, Verve & Receptiv

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On this week’s edition of the Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: iQiyi, Location Sciences, Foursquare + Tinder, Google Expeditions, Verve buys Receptiv, Kohl’s + Amazon returns, London goes iZettle, and new research from The LBMA.

How Peoria Journal Star Did a Lot More With Less After Deep Cuts Shrank the Newsroom

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“We made it our mission, working with our publisher at the time, Ken Mauser, that we would reach out to the people of the South Side and make sure they had a place where they could tell us about the good things happening where they live,” Peoria Journal Star Executive Editor Dennis Anderon says of reaching out to neglected community members.

Most Local Merchants Unfazed by Facebook Controversies, Though Some Signs of Trouble

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By now, consequences of the negative aura surrounding Facebook’s role in customer info abuse, fake news, and Russian political meddling should have started to take hold. Yet over half of local merchants we polled said they would continue to use Facebook as they had previously, and only one in five said they may use it less.

Google’s Local Improvements—Posts Become Essential, and Mike Wins the Bet!

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“Google’s made plenty of laudatory improvements to Google My Business and associated products over the past 24 months, and there does seem to be a qualitative shift in the way it’s approaching the space,” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal in their biweekly column.

LBMA Podcast: Mapbox, GasBuddy, IKEA

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On this week’s edition of the Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Propellant Media, Singapore’s Lifesight, Mapbox API, Gasbuddy, IKEA’s sleepiest ad ever, Swrve + Bluedot.

GateHouse Media’s Kirk Davis Argues Chain Is Becoming a ‘Leader in Community Engagement’

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Cost-cutting equity funds have hollowed out scores of daily newspapers, turning their communities into “news deserts,” the critics say. But Kirk Davis, CEO of GateHouse Media, counters that the equity-funded conglomerate is transforming its 144 dailies into tribunes of the people. He makes his case in this Q&A.

Customer Feedback: Authenticity as the Final Frontier

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Coherent feedback cuts the distance between a company and its audience. But all that is compromised when paid reviews and rigged ratings enter the scene. Authenticity therefore remains the final frontier for marketing and client-oriented strategies.

How Not to Respond to Reviews: 10 Common Pitfalls

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Contrary to the popular saying, all publicity isn’t good publicity. It’s quite possible to go about review response in a way that does more harm than good. Listed below are 10 common practices that won’t do your business any favors and are arguably worse than no response at all.

LBMA Podcast: Gimbal & Drawbridge, Brightcodes, Wirecard & Garmin

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On this week’s Location-Based Marketing association podcast: Phunware + Kontakt.io, Dstillery teams up with Captivate, Gimbal buys Drawbridge, Brightcodes, Wirecard + Garmin, Ericsson Emodo, Sao Paulo’s Yellow Line, Circle K goes Coke, Locomizer patent.

Local News Pioneer Mike Orren on Industry’s Future: A Steep but Climbable Hill

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“There are no silver bullets,” Mike Orren tells Tom Grubisich. Local news “has always been a complex industry, and advertising, marketing services, managing the print demand—all are going to continue to be a part of the equation.”

What Happens When Knowledge Panels Aren’t Actually Knowledgeable?

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In the latest of their biweekly columns, David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal explore what they find to be a troubling practice on Google’s part: granting select platforms the power to insert themselves into a local business’ knowledge panel without any recourse for the business or verifying that the information is accurate.

Selling to Multi-Location Brands: Building on Omnipresent Email

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In the face of sexier technologies like messaging and social media, email still has tremendous staying power. So helping brands incorporate it alongside digital and traditional marketing tactics won’t be a wasted effort for agencies and marketing tech providers.

LBMA Podcast: Google Pay, Rival & Ticketmaster, Sears & Amazon

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On this week’s edition of the Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Urban Airship + Google Pay, Aceby app, JetBlue’s pizza to LA, Rival takes on Ticketmaster, 7-Elven goes AR for Deadpool 2, Google Duplex, Sears and Amazon team-up.

With Rover, David Arkin Takes a Mobile-First, Enjoyable Approach to Local News

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American Hometown Publishing details how the company’s brand-new publication Rover—launched two weeks ago in suburban Nashville—aims to present news to its readers as an “enjoyable experience.”

Google Maps Is Becoming More Personal and Useful, and Businesses Can Reap the Benefits

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In recent months, Google has launched a number of changes to Maps. Users will win with the more personalized and intuitive future of the app. Businesses will win, too—so long as you manage your location data, content, and reputation.

LBMA Podcast: Thinknear, Facebook & Nike, Groupon Buys Vouchercloud

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On this week’s edition of the Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Thinknear, Facebook + Nike, Groupon buys Vouchercloud, Clear Channel launches RADARView, Oscar Meyer’s Bacoin, Coca-Cola teams up with Cargo.

5 Location-Based Tips for Brands Looking to Boost Mobile Visibility and Sales

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Centralization of location data is key. With correct information at hand, a brand’s corporate office can effectively channel information to individual store/business locations for events like regional holiday sales. At the same time, stores can manipulate their own unique data and funnel that back up to corporate.

Four Years After GateHouse, Brad Dennison Has Become a Local News Rover

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There’s a new nameplate in hyperlocal news publishing, and just about everything about it is boldly different, including the name—Rover. This combination digital daily and print monthly was launched in suburban Nashville last week. In this Q&A, Tom Grubisich talks with one of Rover’s architects, Brad Dennison.

Selling to Multi-Location Brands: Streaming Video Is On the Rise

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Suppliers of local marketing technology and services should move streaming video up on their priorities lists and help their brand customers apply it effectively.