News and Analysis
How Will the Metavearth Materialize?
Back to the metaverse’s meaning, concrete definitions are elusive … mostly because they don’t exist yet. But broadly speaking, there are two metaverse tracks. One involves virtual and synchronous worlds. The other adds digital dimension and context to the physical world. Both will take years to materialize.
Here’s What Happens When Brands Start Micro-Communities for Digital Engagement
“[Micro-communities] foster a collaborative relationship between brands and customers. So instead of spying on consumers through cookies, brands can simply ask consumers for feedback and offer them recommendations based on their likes and dislikes,” says Philip Smolin, chief platform officer at 100.co, an AI-powered consumer brand group that works in the CPG space.
Evocalize Banks $12 Million to Scale its Local Digital Marketing Platform
Seattle-based collaborative marketing startup Evocalize has grabbed $12 million in Series A funding for its data-driven digital marketing solution designed for local businesses and the real estate industry.
Commentary
Spotlight On: Creative Testing Best Practices for Q3 2019
User acquisition advertising is evolving rapidly. Every quarter for the last few years, either Facebook or Google has made significant changes to their platforms that make it more and more possible to automate user acquisition advertising. Because these changes are available to everyone, competition has increased. Any competitive advantage that third-party ad tech tools had given is gone.
The last thing the machines have not automated or started to automate – creative – ends up being a UA manager’s last competitive advantage.
This makes every aspect of creative vital to success.
The History and Value of Citations, or Citations are Dead, Long Live the Citation
Mihm to Blumenthal: Setting aside the fact that the vast majority of calls you receive from non-Google directories are from salespeople, if you’re paying for an expensive citation service with analytics, compare the non-Google numbers to your GMB Insights. It’s going to be a drop in the bucket.
It’s time that every brand, regardless of size, ask itself whether going beyond Google, Facebook, and maybe Yelp is worth paying any premium.
If a tree falls in the citation forest and no customers are there to see it, not only does it not make a sound, but Google doesn’t care that it fell.
Third-Party Data and Third-Party Cookie Are Not the Same
Google’s recent announcement that it will change how its Chrome browser handles cookies has created some confusion about the impact on advertisers and ad tech platforms, particularly around the creation, selling, and buying of third-party data. Unfortunately, much of the confusion stems from a lack of clarity on the key terms.
Although third-party data and third-party cookies sound similar, they are very different things. I often find that marketers and media confuse the two.
Latest Posts
6 Guidelines for the Path to Voice Everywhere
I want voice (control of everything), everywhere, but I have strict requirements for how it should be designed, engineered, and implemented. Here are six requirements for a reasonable deployment of voice everywhere.
SweetIQ Report Highlights Influence of Local Tech on Media Mix
Whereas in previous years the goal for businesses was simply to be “found” online, multi-location brands now have to contend with “being chosen” in an incredibly crowded omnichannel space.
Street Fight Daily: Legacy Retailers Struggle on Social, Insecurity Over Consumer Location Data
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Can Traditional Clothing Retailers Compete with Digital-Native Brands on Instagram?… SweetIQ Report Highlights Influence of Local Tech on Media Mix… Consumers’ Location Data Is Being Sold Without Their Knowledge…
The Cookie is (Still) Dead: Device IDs and the Future of Mobile Marketing
Some hybrid cookies-based scenarios will putter along, and some scale-hungry players will stick to old tech for a bit longer, but smart marketers are investing in customer data platforms that are mobile-first, connecting CRM directly to the mobile device.
Chatmeter Report Reveals Keys to Dominating Local Ratings
A recent report by reputation management company Chatmeter shows how retailers focused on in-store experiences and customer service managed to come out on top in online reviews over the holiday season.
LBMA Podcast: Amazon Go, Mobiquity Goes Blockchain, Unacast raises $17.5M
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: Fazoli’s, Trump gets into food stamps, ESRI buys ClearTerra, and Localz.
Street Fight Daily: Amazon & Walmart Disrupt Grocery, Facebook Pulls Plug on Separate Feed
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… With Competition from Amazon and Walmart, It’s Getting Tougher for Local Grocers… Facebook, Diverging from Snap, Decides Separating News from Friends and Media Unwise… Attribution Blind Spots Are Eating Into Your Performance…
Placed Opens Up Location Analytics Platform for Free Public Use
Location-insights powered ad measurement company Placed will offer its location-based analytics and insights to the public for free, the company announced on Thursday.
Reputation.com Acquires SIM Partners
In what is sure to be one of local’s major acquisition deals of 2018, Reputation.com has acquired SIM Partners, the companies announced today.
How Publishers Can Survive Facebook Churn: Top Expert Weighs In — Part II
“The smaller scale might be an advantage when it comes to trust,” Grzegorz Piechota told Tom Grubisich. “Local publishers can offer services Facebook will never be able to provide at a global scale such as checking all the facts, verifying all the ads, or providing a 100% guarantee of brand-safe context.”
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem