News and Analysis

October Theme: Hybrid Holidays

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Last year, facing peak Covid contagion with no vaccines available, Street Fight dubbed its annual month of holiday-related retail and marketing coverage “home for the holidays.” This year, brands face a more uncertain landscape: hybrid holidays.

Yelp Guest Manager

Yelp Introduces Guest Manager, A Front-of-House Operations Tool for Restaurants

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Yelp today introduced a new, comprehensive solution for restaurants to manage their front-of-house operations. With online searches for takeout remaining above pre-pandemic levels, the new Yelp Guest Manager is being billed as a comprehensive solution that brings together many of the digital tools restaurants have been using to manage digital ordering, reservations, takeout, guest loyalty, and table management.

How Apple’s Latest Privacy Changes Will Affect Email Marketing

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Last week, Apple rolled out iOS 15, which brought more privacy changes that could undermine tracking and disadvantage digital marketers. Most notably, the company’s Mail Privacy Protection policy will ask iOS device users whether they want to “protect” their mail or not, preventing marketers from determining whether consumers who “protect” their email opened messages.

Commentary

Google Antitrust: Is It Enough for Yelp?

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Mihm to Blumenthal: I’m not averse to the idea of the government regulating Google’s practices in Maps or local search, but it feels like rewarding Yelp in particular is not going to bring consumers any particular benefit, nor will it meaningfully benefit small businesses, as Elizabeth Warren seems to indicate is a primary goal of her plan.

If anything, Google has gone out of its way to help small businesses compete in its search results with the introduction of the local pack and the Venice update, whereas small businesses continue to rate Yelp as poorly as any company in tech.

LBMA Vidcast: Foursquare’s Big Acquisition, Wendy’s Teams with GasBuddy

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On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Eleven-X + Skyhook, NCR Digital + SAFE Credit Union, Albert Heijn tries dynamic pricing, Foursquare buys Placed from Snap, GrandVisual + NCMEC finding missing persons, Wendy’s partners with GasBuddy for Memorial Day campaign.

The Genesis Story: Why It’s a Key Part of an Effective Marketing Strategy

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The cornerstone of a company’s brand narrative and storytelling efforts will all spring from the brand’s genesis story. The story of the creation of the brand, the who, the why, and the what of it, are the threads that weave the brand’s story together. A genesis story tells the consumer not only what the brand is and how it was created, but also about the brand’s values, what kind of company they are, and what kinds of people work there. Think of the brand genesis story as the brand legend.

Latest Posts

LBMA Podcast: Extreme Networks, Facebook, Daimler AG

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This Week in Location Based Marketing is a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association with Asif Khan, Rob Woodbridge & Aubriana Lopez. On the show: What3Words, Hold app, StubHub goes AR for Super Bowl, Amazon expands DASH, Clear Channel, Reebok “Get’s Pumped”, Acuity partners with Phunware.

Street Fight Daily: Benchmark’s Kalanick Suit Dismissed, IAB Releases Influencer Guidelines

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Benchmark’s Lawsuit Against Former Uber CEO Kalanick Dismissed (TechCrunch) It’s over. Benchmark’s lawsuit against former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has now been dropped, ending one of the biggest VC-founder disputes in history. Street Culture: A Culture of Growth at PacketZoom (Street Fight) “Introducing [new employees] […]

Choice Hotels Reimagines Room Service with Delivery.com Partnership

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A new partnership between Choice Hotels and delivery.com is being seen as a sign of changing times within the hospitality industry. Delivery.com is now providing a “room service-like experience” for hotel guests at Choice Hotels, allowing guests to have orders from local restaurants delivered directly to their hotel locations.

Three Candles to Light in Dark Times for Local News and Journalists

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The news about local news hasn’t been good lately. But there have been three recent positive signals helping to balance the scales in the form of a digital newsgathering tool, a new survey about trust, and the survival of an important hyperlocal network in Brooklyn.

Street Fight Daily: Brands Bet on Dynamic Ads, Inside Uber’s Espionage Operation

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Brands Bet on Smarter Ads… The Tricks and Travails of Uber’s Spies… After Folding in Print, Self Finds Audience of Over 8 Million on Snapchat…

How Major Brands Are ‘Gamifying’ the Consumer Buying Experience

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Although gamification itself is not a new marketing strategy, advancements in mobile apps and location technologies are providing brands with new opportunities to engage customers using these time-tested techniques. Here’s how six major brands are using gamification to change the consumer experience and promote loyalty.

Street Fight Daily: GoDaddy Acquires Main Street Hub, New York Times Leads Way on Loyalty

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… GoDaddy Is Acquiring Main Street Hub, Social Marketing Platform for SMBs… How the New York Times Uses Interactive Tools to Build Loyalty and Subscriptions… Here’s Why the Epidemic of Malicious Ads Grew So Much Worse Last Year…

5 Text Messaging Platforms for Businesses

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Millennials don’t want to call businesses for answers to basic questions like store hours or product availability. That’s part of the reason why click-to-call platforms have taken off in recent years. Here are five vendors with click-to-call platforms for businesses.

Selling to Multi-Location Brands: Who Makes the Decisions

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Across tactics, over a third of those big companies we surveyed manage local digital marketing in a centralized fashion, but a similar number do so locally or regionally. Local sites and email are the tactics most often de-centralized; mobile and paid search the most often centralized.

Street Fight Daily: Social Declines in Search Visibility as Video Rises, Amazon Deal Boosts Kohl’s

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Social Sees Precipitous Decline in Google Search Visibility While Video Rises… Kohl’s Shares Could Pop 50 Percent as Amazon Partnership Ramps Up… With Facebook Emphasizing Community, Marketers Are Trying Out Facebook Groups…