GoDaddy Launches Instagram Integration for SMB Users
In a move that’s indicative of the small business community’s increasing reliance on social media for organic growth and digital marketing, GoDaddy is launching a new Instagram product for its website builder designed to help its users attract and engage with customers across digital platforms.
SafeGraph Raises $45M to Democratize Access to Places Data
SafeGraph — which powers analytics for organizations like Sysco, Ares Management, Choice Hotels, US Foods, and Verizon Media — picked up $45 million from Sapphire Ventures, as well as returning investors from previous rounds like Peter Thiel and Alex Rosen of Ridge Ventures. The company plans to use the funds to capitalize on the expanding market of data buyers and offer new ways for customers to buy data. Through a growing partner network and new data delivery mechanisms, SafeGraph will be allowing interested parties to access the exact data they need, wherever they need it.
Brand Identity, Privacy, and First-Party Data
Lucid is a research technology, or ResTech, firm that hooks up companies with millions of customers to gauge customer sentiment at scale. I connected with Pauline Wen, chief privacy officer at Lucid, to understand the challenges brands are facing and how they can navigate a rising bar for privacy.
What Emerging Tech is Driving Localized Brand Marketing?
Running an emerging tech-driven digital agency, Maher is on the front lines of marketing innovation for brand clients like Panera and Bolle. For both of those campaigns, there was a local component, including Panera’s in-store AR integrations and Bolle’s local activations at Dick’s Sporting Goods.
To anticipate the upcoming Street Fight Summit and Maher’s speaking role, we sat down with him for his view on the drivers and dynamics of digital marketing. Here’s our dialogue with Maher on the biggest brand marketing trends and value drivers he’s tracking.
Marketers Weigh the Downstream Effect of Changing Privacy Regulations
Virginia became the latest state to pass digital privacy legislation when Governor Ralph Northam signed the Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA) earlier this month, but it won’t be the last. The piecemeal approach to privacy standards happening across the United States right now is creating a challenge for marketers who are faced with complicated, and sometimes conflicting, regulations.
AdColony: “There Is No Alternative Tracking”
Marketing tech companies are widely surfacing solutions to fill the data gaps that these privacy-oriented changes will yield. But companies differ on what approach will work best: IDs rooted in mobile devices or email log-ins, for example, or panel data that users consent to share with advertisers. Other companies and thought leaders are even more polemical, declaring that the era of targeting ads based on individual user behavior is coming to an end.
Digital Marketers Deploy AI to Break through the Noise
Chief among the newest strategies brands are adopting is the use of artificial intelligence in digital marketing. Brands are increasingly willing to try AI to gain a better understanding of customer behavior, so they can spend more time on creativity and delivering more relevant content, says Mary Schneeberger, director of the integrated marketing practice at Avionos.
What Gannett’s Partnership with Snap Means for Local Marketers
Despite its obvious benefits from a marketing perspective — with the ability to connect to more Gen Z consumers than Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger combined — Snapchat’s youth-focused advertising tools haven’t always been easy for small and mid-size businesses to take advantage of. A new deal with Gannett could change that.
Not Every Agency and Ad Tech Firm is Decrying Google’s Privacy Moves
The big question is what Google’s shift portends for users and advertisers. Is it actually a boon to user privacy? Will it undermine digital advertising? Or will models like Google’s Federated Learning of Cohorts, which will allow targeting of groups of users with similar interests instead of targeting of individuals per se, fill the gaps?
StitcherAds Offers a Digital Substitute amid the Paper Coupon’s Demise
National retailers like CVS and Walgreens are betting that the changes in shopping behavior they’ve seen during the Covid-19 pandemic will last long after vaccines have been rolled out, and technology companies are following their lead with a host of new digital products designed to accelerate the print coupon’s demise.
Setting Up A Post-Pandemic E-Commerce Boom Strategy
The previous year shattered expectations based on forecasts going into 2020. For e-commerce brands, it brought both challenges and opportunities with more shoppers than ever adopting new online buying habits. Still, it would be wise for businesses to think about what happens once consumers feel more comfortable venturing back into brick-and-mortar businesses. By having a strong D2C strategy that is agile and customer-centric and with the right infrastructure to grow globally, businesses can feel more confident for whatever the future holds.