News and Analysis
Sheeva.AI Turns Cars into Truly Mobile Devices
Watch out EZ-Pass, Sheeva.AI is coming for you. EZ-Pass is available in 17 states with approximately 35 million users. Sheeva.AI wants them all and more. Evgeny Klochikhin, CEO of Sheeva.AI, pointed out that the EZ-Pass transponders inside cars require state agencies or businesses to install hardware all along highways to enable a transaction at highway […]
Mastering Threads – 5 Brands with Winning Strategies for the Newest Social Platform
Less than one week after its public debut, Threads has already become the fastest-growing mobile app in history. More than 100 million users signed up for Meta’s new social platform in just the first five days — and now brand marketers are ready to get in on the action. While Threads looks nearly identical to […]
“Podcast Studio Near Me”: A Chat With Brian Howie Who is Bringing New Media to the MULO World
Multi-location (MULO) marketing services storefronts are nothing new. Brands offer printing and swag to small businesses and conference-goers, delivering flyers, brochures, posters, signage, and even tee shirts to consumers and companies. Companies like AlphaGraphics, Minuteman, Signarama, and Staples fulfill those needs. Custom Ink started as an online-only creative and production resource but now has multiple […]
Commentary
Retailing in the Post Covid-19 World
Throughout the pandemic, lockdowns and safety restrictions have forced retailers to tweak their operations and strategies in accordance with changing circumstances around them. AI has played a key role in helping retailers adapt to the conditions of today and those on the horizon.
With that in mind, here are three key areas where AI is helping retailers cope with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Contextual Ads and Brand Suitability Are the Future of Targeting
Cookies and blocklists put brands on the back foot. Brand suitability draws on perception and customization to make sure that surrounding content makes sense for the brand’s image and customer base. And, when you combine this with context-informed targeting and human intelligence, brand suitability is the more powerful approach to engage with today’s consumers and customers in a way that also helps to future-proof today’s savvy brands.
Clearlake Acquires Precisely in $3.5B Deal
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Google making hotel search listings free, WazeAds and Mojo’s coffee campaign, T-Mobile enrolling all customers in an ad-targeting program, and Clearlake re-acquiring Precisely in a $3.5B deal.
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GroundTruth Uses Location Data to Reach ‘Pick-Up Loyalists’
GroundTruth has mapped more than 2,900 Walmart Online Grocery Pick-Up zones within Walmart parking lots, which means brands using GroundTruth’s technology can now build accurate custom audience segments comprised of these specific shoppers.
Expanding on that concept, brands should be able to send different mobile marketing pitches to consumers who are picking up groceries via Walmart+’s curbside program and consumers who are getting out of their cars and shopping in-store. GroundTruth’s technology turns location data on Walmart+ shoppers into useful consumer insights for brands.
How to Turbocharge Social and Email via Cross Promotion
At a time when marketers have limited resources to create new content, social posts and user-generated content can be a welcome addition to email marketing campaigns and newsletters. Email and social media can also be used to cross-promote, creating two sticky channels that drive home important messages. What’s more, while everyone is at home and online more than usual, marketers can get creative with new forms of social engagement over email, too.
Power of Influencers May Be Growing amid Pandemic
As many as 21% of consumers have made their first-ever influencer-driven purchase since the Covid-19 outbreak struck the US, according to new research by martech firm Valassis.
The firm speculates that this apparent increase in the power of influencers may be related to a boost in social media usage among consumers stuck at home.
How To Get More Positive Google Business Reviews and Improve Your Google Rankings
In this article, we’ll take a look at how Google reviews can make or break your customer acquisition and retention efforts, and secondly, what you can do to encourage more customers to write the sort of reviews that keep the almighty Google algorithm happy.
Holiday Sales Are Starting Earlier Than Ever. Here’s Why
“Retailers are responding to social distancing guidelines [this] year and preparing for potential decreases in spending by kicking off promotions earlier than we’ve ever seen,” says Dosh CEO Ryan Wuerch.
Wuerch says Covid-19 safety protocols require a more elongated approach to holiday marketing. Kohl’s, L Brands, and Macy’s have all referenced pulling forward holiday promotions, and Amazon’s Prime Day later this month seems perfectly timed to pull in early holiday shoppers.
Making Local Content Work for Retailers
Customers expect businesses to answer their questions and meet their demands in one easy-to-find, easy-to-navigate-to location. They want to know what a store carries, where the store is located, and if they can easily buy a product online instead. Increasingly, especially since the advent of Covid-19, they also want to know if they have access to services like curbside pickup or what safety provisions a business provides. This is why, now more than ever, marketers need to leverage local content strategies to our advantage.
Location Weekly: Walmart Delivers Covid Tests via Drone
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Walmart delivering Covid tests via drone in Vegas, United Airlines launching an interactive flight search map, Amazon Sidewalk moving beyond the connected home, and Toronto-based WXM Tech cooking up TraffikFlo for Covid traffic management.
How McDonald’s is Using AI in Marketing to Better Understand Customers’ Needs
McDonald’s waited until it could produce an AI-driven app that provides customers with personalized deals based on their purchasing history. In other words, McDonald’s bet on quality over quantity. This, of course, is just one of the ways that AI presents opportunities and challenges alike in regards to martech.
As we’ve previously noted, as AI adoption increases, brands are searching for a competitive edge. McDonald’s is no exception to this, and a look at how the company is using AI is instructive as to the opportunities AI presents for other firms.
Street Fight’s October Theme: Home for the Holidays
Entering Q4 means many things, but to us it points to the media and commerce world’s annual culmination. That’s right — in this time warp of a year, we’re entering the holidays. Considering the oddities of 2020, what will this year’s holiday season look like? We know for sure it will not be normal.
Answering that question will be Street Fight’s October editorial focus. Branded with the cheeky title “Home for the Holidays,” (title credit: Damian Rollison), this month’s focus will be defining the holiday shopping dynamics of a socially distanced and sheltered-in-place world. What will be different?
Forever-Changed Buying Patterns Mean Rethinking Customer Loyalty
Online ordering and curbside pick-up became an essential service for everyone from major retailers like Home Depot and Target to restaurants and small specialty shops. Bookstores began delivering orders without a delivery fee. Even car dealerships have had to rethink their entire sales model, with many moving the full customer experience online.
While these business transitions were driven by the pandemic, the new consumer buying trends — and the business measures put in place to adapt to them — will likely become a permanent fixture even as the economy enters a recovery phase.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem