News and Analysis

SafeGuard Privacy Raises $7M to Automate Data Privacy Compliance

SafeGuard Privacy, a SaaS platform that automates data privacy regulation compliance, raised $7 million to fuel its mission to simplify increasingly complex privacy regulations.

Google Pushes Maps in a More Visual Direction

Google has been making search more visual for years. One step in this direction was making photos more prominent in search results. Now, Google is making Live View more searchable (it is Google, after all).

How Co-op Advertising is Fueling Localized Marketing Programs 

Russ Mann, vice president of marketing at the Advertising Checking Bureau, checked in with Street Fight to discuss the state of multi-location marketing and the role co-op advertising has to play in the space.

Commentary

Location Weekly: GroundTruth and Yext Partner, Facebook Unveils Shops

In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association hosts Mike Peters, CMO, Optimizers, and Head of LBMA Sweden.

The team also covers GroundTruth and Yext announcing a new partnership, Reveal mobile releasing a free version of its Visit Local platform, and Facebook Shops launching in the U.S.

Location Data Companies Rise to the Challenge of Covid-19

The location data market has responded to many external pressures in recent years. Guided by new privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA as well as operating system updates by Apple and Android, the industry has put the consumer back at the center. The old days of capturing data and selling to ad tech firms without permission are over.

These shifts are good news for society. But they are also good news for the location industry, which has pivoted to thrive in this new world where squeezed supply impacts the quality of location data.

Now, Covid-19 has presented a new challenge, with movement data restricted to unprecedented levels. So, how are location data companies responding to the crisis?

Essential Business Foot Traffic: U.S. Grocery Store Trends

This article takes an up-close look at foot traffic to what may be the most critical of essential businesses: grocery stores. 

Grocery stores are crucial during the quarantine and will remain so as areas of the retail economy reopen and as we enter into a recovery period. According to the National Grocers Association, grocers are especially adept at making and executing contingency plans in the event a disaster strikes. This involves coordination with myriad producers, distributors, and wholesalers throughout the supply chain. It is no small task keeping eggs, milk, butter, and bread in stock and on the shelves of your local supermarket.

Latest Posts

Digital Signage Is All Grown Up Now, Speaking with the Consumer, Not at the Consumer

I’ve been attending Digital Signage Expo (DSE) in Las Vegas for quite a number of years, and now more than ever, the show organizers, Exponation, deliver on their promise: a highly impactful four-day event jam-packed from early morning to late at night. The show demonstrated that if content is king, context is definitely queen. Location is the new cookie, and all the out-of-home industry stakeholders are now finally aligned for much success in the years to come.

From Zero-Click SERPs to Rabbit-Hole SERPs

Mihm to Blumenthal: Answer Optimization and Zero-Click SERPs seem to be gaining traction as concepts in the SEO industry, but as you pointed out in our previous conversation on this topic, Google’s moving well beyond simple answers and into journeys. Cindy Krum highlighted several examples of these new search journeys, which as I saw her presenting struck me as “rabbit-holes.”

Toast Raises $250M, Securing Lead Position in Restaurant Management Software

Restaurant management software provider Toast announced $250 million in additional funding on Monday, valuing the firm at $2.7 billion and cementing its lead position in the SaaS market for restaurants. TCV and Tiger Global Management led the Series E round.

Listen to Podcast: Heard on the Street

Within 24 Hours, Further Signs That HUD’s Facebook Probe Could Upend Digital Ad Industry

What’s at stake in the Facebook housing discrimination probe and related investigations into Google and Twitter is whether the dissemination of online content—the news, product recommendations, advertising campaigns of all kinds, and entertainment—can and should be permitted on the basis of data collected on users’ personal characteristics and past behaviors. Should organizations, in industries as varied as entertainment, apparel, tech, and education, be permitted to use evolving technology to predict whom ads should target and thus who should see the content promoting Berkeley’s MBA program, the new housing development in Long Island City, or the hip sunglasses Warby Parker will never get me to buy? How does past human behavior and long-term inequality in various groups’ access to privileged resources shape ad targeting and the technology that automates it, and can the tech industry reach beyond those limitations to open up new futures instead of capitalizing on and reinforcing historical distinctions?

The news this week of the Trump administration’s first charges filed against a major tech company is the first step on our path to finding out.

LBMA Vidcast: PayPal & Instagram, Special Guest: Neil Crist of Moz

On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: 3D printed Sushi, PayPal + Instagram, Postmates Party, AirFrance SkyDeals, Macy’s goes VR, Sam’s Club Scan&Go. Special Guest: Neil Crist of Moz.

Automated Ad Targeting Ensnares Facebook in a Discrimination Lawsuit

The lawsuit is big news not just for Facebook or for housing-related ads but for the digital advertising industry as a whole. That’s because it marks the first major federal attempt to use the resources of the law to curb ad targeting on the basis of racial discrimination. As interest in regulating broad tech spreads across the country and political spectrum, the lawsuit could prove a harbinger of harsher laws to come.

3 CRO Techniques That Actually Convert Visitors

The web is filled to the brim with quick conversion rate optimization tips. These include changing the color of your CTAs, making headlines catchier, and changing the background image of your landing page, among many others. While these strategies have shown results, there are a few effective CRO techniques that are often overlooked. In this article, I discuss less common CRO techniques that have the potential to drive significant results. 

Heard on the Street, Episode 22: The Art and Science of Customer Data Platforms

As data science continues to collide with digital marketing, customer behavior metrics are reaching new levels of actionable insight. But counteracting that advantage is the growing fragmentation of devices and platforms used in the path to purchase, making it harder to get a single view of the customer.

This is the world of customer data platforms (CDPs), and it is where Amperity hangs its hat. With a technological edge and specialization in identity, VP of strategic services Matthew Biboud-Lubeck explains to us on the latest episode of Heard on the Street how the company helps brands get the insights they need to better serve their customers.

Going Rogue: The Value of Guerrilla Marketing

The appeal of guerrilla marketing for the entrepreneur lies in the creative freedom to express the essence of a brand that is not bound by the restraints of size, decorum or editorial slant of traditional advertising, as well as the option for a low-cost campaign with the potential to go viral. Guerrilla marketing can be a bit like rolling the dice on a five and turning it into thousands—if it gets picked up and goes viral, you’ve accomplished a national or even international marketing campaign for the cost of something local.

Here are some tips for crafting a low-cost guerrilla marketing campaign for startups.