How Badly Do Consumers Really Want Grocery Delivery?

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Instacart is bumping up against the realities of the economy. There are two countervailing trends that are working against the idea of grocery delivery: frugality, and shopping-as-entertainment.

The Changing Role of Local Search Ranking

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As mobile searches outpace desktop-based searches, proximity throws a wrench in the works of traditional rankings.

National-to-Local Marketers’ Top Pain Points Center on Integration

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Nearly half of those who responded said they spend 1/3 or more of their digital marketing dollars to support their branch offices, franchises, and distributors — and 40% of them expect that budget mix to increase.

When Will We Be Able to Say That Cashless Payments Have Finally ‘Arrived?’

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The ubiquity of smartphones, new payment technology platforms, and ease of use have clearly caught the eye of many technology innovators and consumers. But why is this the year that cashless payments will go mainstream?

The Physical World Is Eating the Web

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Most beacon scenarios require users to jump through a set of compatibility hoops. But Google has been quietly working on an antidote: The physical web. To sidestep some of the opt-in friction, it positions the browser as the beacon interface and it transmits beacon content using URLs.

What the C-Suite Needs to Think About When It Comes to Delivering On-Demand

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Today over 2 billion local deliveries are made annually in the U.S. And every delivery company that wants to remain competitive in this space must be able to offer an on-demand experience to their customers — whether it has its own fleet of drivers or uses independent contractors to provide its service. In a complicated […]

Lessons Learned in the Email Marketing Wars About ‘Selling to SMBs’

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Constant Contact’s recent announcement that it would be acquired by EIG, got me reflecting on the past 15 years and how much the industry’s evolution has taught me about what it takes to effectively sell to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Will ApplePay Be the Company’s Next Mega-Business?

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that Apple is currently in need of a really big new product (a la iPhone or iPad) to keep growing. I think the company has ample opportunity to turn the payments industry on its head and make ApplePay its next big product.

How Data Is Poised to Significantly Transform Local Marketing

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It is becoming clear that this is the year when our industry effectively leverages data integration across the marketing ecosystem. One significant aspect of this industry evolution is the injection of physical-world data with other data sets, as well as mobile. Mobile data is the glue that connects all data with the broader ecosystem.

Making Sense of Google’s Changes that Just Blew Up Online Ads for Local Businesses

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There’s really no way to overstate what a massive change Google’s ad reconfiguring is for everyone in the SEM industry. But it’s going to have a more profound — and even devastating — effect on locally-oriented businesses who had relied on Adwords as a key marketing tool.

How the Google My Business API Changes the Local Ecosystem

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The move is a good thing for business owners but even more so for Google itself, which in providing a better means to gather data from business owners will improve the freshness and accuracy of its data.

Location Data Management 101: Seeing the Bigger Picture

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Many brands make the mistake of viewing location data as nothing more than plumbing for their local listings — or a component of a listing management strategy. But location data management is much bigger than listing management and data syndication.

Inside Facebook’s Push to Make Pages the Dominant Mobile Tool for SMBs

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Sheryl Sandberg says SMB advertising remains one of Facebook’s “biggest opportunities,” and the company plans to use its Pages product to help corner that market. Street Fight spoke recently with top Facebook execs about driving value for SMBs.

Lesson From Yodle’s Acquisition: Scaling SMB Performance Marketing Isn’t So Easy

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While the acquisition is likely welcome news for Yodle’s backers and Web.com’s shareholders, the resounding message for SMB performance marketing vendors is one of caution. The real problem facing large performance marketing vendors like Yodle is that of customer retention.

The Physical Web: How a New Type of Beacon Is Disrupting Proximity Marketing

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The newer Eddystone-URL is truly disruptive. This web approach, also called the Physical Web, follows the unstoppable trend toward lessening friction, and will ultimately be the dominant beacon technology. Marketers should be aware of this trend.

Is Apple Quietly Assembling an SMB Trojan Horse?

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Apple is co-promoting Square’s NFC reader for SMBs. and selling the readers in Apple Stores. The $49 reader accepts Apple Pay, which significantly lowers the barrier for SMBs to get in the game. The move should boost Apple Pay, but there also may be much bigger ambitions to lock in market share in new areas.

How the SMB/Local Advertising Community Can Avoid ‘Bad Ads’

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Google’s recent “Better Ads” report demonstrates that while digital is a great channel for reaching consumers, a positive experience is perhaps the most crucial component of a successful ad campaign, especially for advertisers using programmatic to buy and serve their ads.

Understanding the Context of Local Advertising’s Supply and Demand

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The current election cycle, if nothing else, has demonstrated the importance of context in the supply and demand of local media. In this type of market, the early bird gets the worm. Consumer brands are learning this lesson the hard way and getting shut out of local opportunities that otherwise might have been available.

Is Uber Paving the Way Toward Verified Consumer Reviews?

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In an atmosphere where fake reviews are all too easy to create, we need tools that help distinguish real opinions from garbage. Moving beyond the limitations of data algorithms, fact-based approaches hold out the promise of grounding review services in observable truth.

For Brick and Mortar to Beat Ecommerce, It Takes Mind, Body, and Spirit

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While many onlookers think that increased comparison shopping, faster and cheaper delivery options like drones, and the convenience of shopping at home equal doom for physical stores, the reality is that the economy (like the people behind it) is largely driven by the irrational.