News and Analysis
Locally Satisfies Shoppers’ Demand to Find Popular Online Items Near Them
Popular brands with successful online storefronts can integrate Locally’s technology to show shoppers where they can pick up specific product merchandise immediately at retailers in their own neighborhoods. For example, a shopper who clicks on a 30oz Rambler Tumbler on YETI’s website would see a link to purchase the product online, alongside a list of retailers that have the product in-stock nearby.
AUDIENCEX Rolls Out DSP Access for Mid-Market Brands
With Admatx, small and mid-size businesses, and middle-market performance brands and agencies, will have access to enterprise-level DSP technology through a self-serve platform, without the constraints of monthly spend minimums. The platform is a strategic complement to AUDIENCEX’s core managed-service offering, providing an enterprise-level tool to drive performance at lower prices than what most category leaders and Fortune 5000 firms are currently paying.
Commentary
Lens on Strategy: Connecting In-App Video Creative to Mobile Consumers
US mobile-video ad spend will reach $15.93 billion this year, and climb to $24.81 billion by 2022, according to eMarketer. There will be 187.7 million smartphone users in the US poised to experience that creative, a figure that will mushroom to 205 million by 2022, the same report predicts. The time for in-app video is undoubtedly now, but the question remains: what steps can publishers, advertisers, and marketers take to stay on the path of accelerated growth? The following strategies are part of the answer. Each will drive success when it comes to in-app video opportunities.
For Publishers, When It Comes To Display, Blame the Format, Not the Targeting
A controversial new study by Carnegie Mellon University found that digital publishers get roughly 4% more revenue for an ad impression that is cookie-enabled — or personalized — versus one that isn’t. That’s not much. And while the sample was limited — they only reviewed ads for one “large U.S. media company over the course of one week” — it highlights a question publishers have been grappling with for a long time.
Is cookie-based ad-targeting worth it? Given the mounting costs of investing in data stack technology; reputation issues (the “creepy factor”) and regulatory concerns like GDPR and CCPA that publishers routinely face as a result of behavioral ad-targeting, is the value really there? And is it justified? The Carnegie Mellon findings suggest that the benefit is minimal. However, as I see it, publishers are focusing on the wrong issue.
The Importance of Online Review Management for SMBs
Operators of small- and medium-sized businesses can get by ignoring many of the tech innovations that large companies adopt. Managing online reviews is not one of them.
Like it or not, the widespread usage of review sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and even Google and Facebook have changed the landscape of how local businesses attract and retain customers. Left ignored or handled the wrong way, a business’s negative online reviews can be a deterrent to potential new customers. Managed the right way, however, those same review sites can be a valuable marketing and customer service tool that leads to improved revenue.
Latest Posts
Report: Growth in Convenience Stores Presents Opportunity for CPG Marketers
If there’s one thing that Charlie Lang hopes CPG brands get from Koupon’s report, it’s that the retail landscape is changing quickly, and the convenience store category presents tremendous upside for marketers.
Street Fight Daily: Leave In-Store Shoppers Alone, Google Courts Publishers as Facebook Flails
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… In-Store Shoppers Lean on Tech, Want to Be Left Alone in Stores… While Facebook Battles Fires, Google Rolls Out Pro-Publisher Initiatives… Media Rating Council Considers Bumping up Video Ad Standards…
Report: Google Shopping Ads Taking Over Ad Spend from Traditional Formats
A new report from search intelligence company Adthena shows how consumers are interacting differently with new advertising formats and points to ad innovation as an essential brand investment.
Back to Basics: Why Every Business Should Invest in SEO
Contributor Kelsey Taylor goes back to the basics, laying out a case regarding the fundamental usefulness of SEO that might be presented to local business owners or industry newcomers.
Street Fight Daily: Duopoly Dominance Declines, Macy’s Rolls Out AR & Mobile Checkout
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Duopoly’s Share of the Ad Market Could Decline for the First Time… Demonstrating Where Retailers Are Going, Macy’s Rolls Out Mobile Checkout & AR Feature… The Cambridge Analytica Scandal Won’t Stop Advertisers from Spending on Facebook..
5 ‘Smart’ Shelf Solutions for Retailers
So-called “smart” shelves are changing the way retailers interact with customers on the sales floor and offering added value to consumer-facing store apps. Here are five examples of smart shelving technologies being used by retailers right now.
SMB OS Operators: Part II: Slice
Having raised $15 million in funding just last year, Slice is a prime example of what we call SMB OS operators: companies helping SMBs compete in today’s digital economy with a full suite of solutions beyond core advertising and marketing.
Street Fight Daily: Google Monetizes Product Searches, Amazon’s Next Whole Foods Move
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Partners with Retail Giants to Monetize Online Product Searches… Amazon Accidentally Revealed Its Next Plan for Whole Foods in a Job Posting… 10% Own an AI Device, 32% Plan to Get One, 58% Don’t Want Any…
AR Cloud: The Linchpin for Local AR
What about the non-Googles of the world? How will they create AR and visual search apps that can map environments reliably and return the correct info or graphics? The answer is the still-theoretical but critical AR Cloud.



















































Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem