News and Analysis
BOOM: Multi-Location (MULO) “Needles” Businesses: Part 2
We’ve already established that people will overcome a childhood fear of needles (or at least cope with it) if they see an upside benefit — like vitamin therapy. The other reason people will allow themselves to be poked with a sharp metal object (in addition to vaccinations and blood tests) is beautification. Multi-location (MULO) aesthetics businesses […]
The DOOH Renaissance: Why Out-of-Home Ads Are Dominating in 2023
Podcasts, social media, and AI-created ad copy have all created excitement and buzz in the adtech community in 2023, but nothing has generated results like digital out-of-home. DOOH is experiencing a renaissance, emerging from the pandemic as one of the hottest areas in advertising. The DOOH market is expected to grow at a compound annual […]
The Shopping Cart of the Future is Now at ShopRite and Fairway
As driverless cars have hit the highways, the “human-free” shopping experience is becoming a reality. The Caper Cart, 65 percent lighter than previous versions, debuted this month at ShopRite and Fairway stores in New Jersey. These carts, developed by Instacart and powered by AI and computer vision technology, are tied to the ShopRite loyalty program. […]
Commentary
Standard Cognition’s Big Round and Retail’s Future
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Standard Cognition raising $150M for automated checkouts, WaitWhile raising $12M to help retailers manage wait lines, Revolution360 re-inventing the street poster, and Google’s Jacquard data system for wearable clothing.
Pandemic Marketing Staples for Brands and Small Businesses
How are companies structuring their coronavirus digital marketing approach? Is there a one-size-fits-all method that they’re using? Or is every industry different? Let’s take a look at a few of these pandemic marketing strategies and how you can apply it to your own business.
Growing Your Local Business While Keeping Consumer Privacy Top of Mind
Feeling overwhelmed by the apparent complexity of data privacy laws is understandable. But these issues are experienced by marketers throughout the country, and there are many resources available to help your business become compliant.
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New Study Shows the Impact of Transparency on Consumer Trust
It’s time to start proactively addressing consumer privacy concerns. The data shows that people are becoming more concerned about privacy, and all signs point to the continuation of this trend.
Start with building trust through simple actions like better communication and user experiences. Bake consumer trust initiatives into your corporate strategy by investing in technology, creating formal KPIs, and educating your internal audiences and stakeholders about its importance.
How Are Brands Preparing for Native Ratings in Apple Maps?
A foundational element of local marketing strategy could be changing. Rumors began circulating last week that Apple would be giving users the ability to add ratings and photos to local business listings on Apple Maps when iOS 14 releases this fall. That could mean big changes are in store for brand marketers who’ve grown accustomed to monitoring reviews and ratings on a core group of third-party platforms.
Apple’s move into the ratings and review space isn’t totally unexpected, but it’s still causing the local marketing community to question how the update will impact local search and discovery.
How Local Businesses Can Survive Without a Website
It is hard to imagine operating a business without a website. However, it can be done. In fact, it is already being done by the over 40% of American small businesses that still don’t own a website of any kind. It should be noted that the lack of a website by some businesses isn’t usually due to choice, but rather due to cost.
Even so, local businesses that lack the wherewithal to launch and maintain a website need not despair because there are a host of other viable marketing and communication methods at their disposal to bring awareness to their goods and services.
Location Weekly: Unilever and Orbital Insight Deploy Location Tech for Supply Chain Management
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Mars/Wrigley getting ready for virtual Halloween trick-or-treating, Unilever and Orbital Insight piloting the use of location tech to monitor their supply chain, Foursquare using location data to increase shopper safety with LinkNYC screens, and CVS rolling out an in-house digital advertising network.
Meliá Hotels Uses Local Influencers to Drive Covid-19 Awareness
Brochures and signage are easy to overlook, but social media influencers are harder to miss. As they work to bring back guests during the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of hotel chains are relying on partnerships with social media influencers to educate guests on the new safety protocols they’ve put in place.
Street Fight’s September Theme: Mapping the Future
What does “Mapping the Future” entail? As a primary tool for consumer local search and discovery, mapping continues to undergo UX innovations and structural changes. We’ll examine these areas as well as mapping’s interplay with local search and SEO strategies.
Though mapping is more of a Street Fight staple than a trending topic, market signals indicate that the timing is right. In fact, we already got started last month with a look at Snapchat’s moves into local mapping — not just UX upgrades to Snap Map but also self-serve advertising for local businesses.
Blocking Third-Party Cookies Will Not Mean the End of Marketing Attribution
The demise of third-party cookies will not mean the end of digital advertising and the ability to assign proper attribution to individuals engaging in various touchpoints along the buyer journey. Several entities are currently hashing out other methodologies brands can leverage to retrieve audience analytics.
Marketing attribution providers will continue to provide reliable data to enterprise marketers on consumers and their customer journeys through the sales funnel. Attribution providers worth their salt will not only make sure they are compliant with the tightened rules around cookies but also ensure their clients are following the letter of the law.
Ditch the Department Store: How DTC Brands Take Back Control
We are anticipating monumental online sales volume for brands with the approaching holiday season. To capitalize on this transition to online shopping, DTC (direct-to-consumer) brands must take back control of their sales channels. DTC brands can’t control whether big-box retailers open their storefronts or the number of consumers they allow inside. They also can’t manage the customer experience with the brand, especially given the many variables Covid-19 has thrown at brick-and-mortar retail.
The one thing brands can control is their online sales channel.
California Attorney General Targets “Low-Hanging Fruit” for CCPA Non-Compliance
The California Consumer Privacy Act enforcement period began July 1, and two months later, numerous firms have received letters from the attorney general’s office about noncompliance. Multiple major companies, including Walmart, Sephora, and Ring, have been hit with class-action lawsuits.
But there’s no great mystery or nefarious agenda tied to the companies that have been targeted as this point, says Dan Clarke, president at IntraEdge. To avoid meeting the same fate, companies need to adhere to the fundamentals of the nation’s first major statewide privacy law. Clarke spoke with Street Fight to explain.
More Brands Are Scaling Digital Channels for Customer Engagement — Here’s Why
Communicating with brands on social media has become the norm for consumers. Surveys show that roughly half of all consumers who engage with brands on social media are reaching out about customer care concerns, and more than 65% of social media users across all platforms expect brands to respond, regardless of whether the initial outreach was via private messages or public posts.
Those expectations have only heightened over the past six months, and many brands have had to pivot their customer support and engagement priorities on the fly.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem