News and Analysis
Looking Into the Future of Cashierless Retail
Are the perceived privacy issues that go along with shopping in a cashierless environment causing retailers to hold back on adopting smart checkout technology?
Chatbots Get Faster and Supply Helpful Data
Deploying chatbots effectively will require smarter, faster-learning chatbots. And that’s what Botco.ai is bringing to market with Instachat Builder, “a new product that accelerates AI chat deployment by allowing Botco.ai customers to directly train Botco.ai’s chatbot on any type of text information.”
Retailers Turn to AI to Combat Burnout, Decrease Merchandiser Workloads
As retailers look at getting more done and freeing up their staff to focus on high-value tasks, interest is growing in the use of AI to handle the mundane tasks that take up too much of a merchandiser’s time — like fixing typos on e-commerce websites and researching underperforming product categories. Retailers are also using AI to flag when new products show signs of being more popular than expected, so merchandisers can act quickly and notch strategic wins.
Commentary
How B2B Companies Can Survive in a Clickless Search Ecosystem
The dawn of the clickless world might raise alarms for B2Bs companies, and that’s fair. This trend will likely pose a challenge for companies that rely heavily on Google for new business leads — especially small businesses that generate a majority of leads from search traffic.
However, the clickless world also presents an opportunity for B2B brands to streamline their online presence. In this new ecosystem, B2B brands can generate awareness and encourage customers to contact their business even before a customer actually sees their website.
Location Weekly: Foursquare Partners with Vistar Media, Yelp Launches Store Visits
In this 452nd episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Foursquare partnering with Vistar Media, Al Arabia Outdoor using Streach to measure OOH in Saudi Arabia, Walmart shutting down its Jetblack text service, Panera reaching 9.3M with AR campaign, Unilever piloting drones for ice cream delivery, and Yelp launching a new Store Visits product.
Privacy Regulations Shift Location-Based Approaches from Push to Pull Marketing
With the regulations and changes that limit marketers’ ability to reliably track users, location marketing must evolve. Push marketing is likely to become less effective as brands continue to lose access to consumer data.
A tried and true alternative is pull marketing. Pull marketing is an approach that attracts in-market customers to your brand or product. Rather than pushing a brand on the audience, pull marketing draws in customers by using less intrusive methods that don’t rely on personal data. One of the most common forms of pull marketing is search advertising (paid and organic).
Latest Posts
Local News Gets New Resource Center With Special Focus on Social Media
A Local News Resource Center to give publishers direct expertise on the “challenges and opportunities” of social media and other issues that confront the embattled industry has been set up at the Local Media Association.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook May Have Knowingly Inflated Video Metrics, Programmatic Prices Rise
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Facebook May Have Knowingly Inflated Its Video Metrics for Over a Year… No Wallet, No Problem. Yombu Scans Your Fingerprint for Payments, Loyalty Rewards… First-Price Auctions Are Driving Up Ad Prices…
Despite AI Advances, Consumers Crave Human Interactions
Using the latest artificial intelligence technology, brands are finding new ways to streamline and automate the customer experience. But a new report shows that type of streamlined experience might be the exact opposite of what consumers actually want when they interact with their favorite brands.
Street Fight Daily: Mobile to Surpass Traditional Media Combined; Brands: Be Wise About AI Use for Customer Engagement
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Mobile Ad Spending to Surpass All Traditional Media Combined by 2020… Despite AI Advances, Consumers Crave Human Interactions… Google Assistant, Search Add Best Buy and Nike as Shopping Partners…
AUDIENCEX Launches Fund to Accelerate MarTech Innovation, Capture Mid-Market Brands’ Attention
AUDIENCEX announced today that it’s launching a new fund to accelerate innovation in the marketing technology space and encourage mid-market advertisers to try out the latest solutions. The advertising technology and marketing firm is committing $5 million to the fund, with $50,000 in free media and services going to each participant between now and the end of the year.
How AI Can Help CPGs Meet Millennial and Gen-Z Expectations
Last year, almost half of Amazon’s private-label sales were in consumer-packaged goods. Pre-Amazon, legacy CPGs once would’ve been the beneficiary of that demand. CPGs have struggled to evolve with younger consumer preferences. Here’s what I mean, along with ways AI can help them improve.
Street Fight Daily: SMBs to Spend on Social, Location for Holidays; How AI Can Help Revamp CPG Brands
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Reveal Mobile Predicts Big Holiday Season Ad Spend for SMBs, With Social, Location At the Top… How GDPR Helps Consent Management Platforms… How AI Can Help CPGs Meet Millennial and Gen-Z Expectations…
Reveal Mobile Predicts Big Holiday Season Ad Spend for SMBs, With Social, Location At the Top
This coming holiday season, social, location-based advertising will dominate small business ad spend, according to a recent survey conducted by Reveal Mobile, a location-based marketing company. The survey also indicated that brands are increasingly comfortable with location-based tactics like geotargeting.
Semcasting Offers Proof of Performance with New Attribution Platform
Walled gardens have traditionally prevented marketers from using attribution for audience verification, similar to viewability or fraud detection, but a new platform from the data-as-a-service company Semcasting is changing that.
Use Mobile Coupons to Get Above the Noise this Holiday Season
Since many retailers use the same strategies and tactics to capture consumer attention during the holidays, rising above the noise happens only for a few. This may be the season to plan smarter, not louder, and the answer may be the use of mobile coupons.
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