News and Analysis
6 Retail Tech Solutions for Addressing Labor Shortages
Retail technology platforms that may have been overlooked before the pandemic are now coming into focus as businesses begin to understand their true value. Using a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, and big data, a number of startups have started positioning their platforms as possible solutions to the labor shortages that retailers and restaurants are facing in 2021. Mobile ordering kiosks, autonomous checkout systems, and even machine vision algorithms are all being used to help businesses greet customers, restock shelves, and even clean messy areas with more efficiency.
Fisherman Pioneers the No-Effort Web for Small Businesses
Fisherman is pioneering what CEO and co-founder Ameet Kallarackal calls the “no-effort Web.” Beginning with a focus on restaurants, which still make up about 90% of its customer base, Fisherman is aiming to be the simplest, most automatic option available for small business owners and operators to create websites. The company claims to get the job done in just two minutes and typically has a website ready for a potential customer, often based purely on the business’ name and address, before approaching them.
Commentary
The 10 Commandments of Location Intelligence Marketing
The amount of location data can be overwhelming, making it difficult to understand when to use what information. Even the most experienced marketer can lose sight of the basic principles that guide successful use of location intelligence tools.
Based on our 11 years of experience helping mobile apps leverage the context of their users, we offer the following 10 commandments that every marketer working with location intelligence should keep top of mind to drive a successful marketing strategy.
Beyond SEO: How to Reframe the Local Marketing Conversation
“I am looking for a language framework that helps business understand that the idea of ranking only makes sense in the context of not just getting more customers but also keeping them. While businesses might want a floodgate of leads, there are many things that they could be doing that would be cost-effective and productive,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm in their latest Street Fight discussion.
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Google Websites — To Infinity and Beyond?
“In the developing world, Google has a simplified path to the GMB where if a business first creates a website they can get verified more easily,” Mike Blumenthal notes. “Thus the website becomes the hook into Google’s data funnel. In the US, and most other developed countries, I would speculate that it is typically the other way around”
At Cloud Summit, a Focus on the Transition to SaaS Services
ReachLocal’s CPO Kris Barton noted that SaaS churn is typically between 6 percent and 22 percent. Media churn is between 39 percent and 86 percent. The key is to provide an integrated marketing system, said Barton: “Sixty-four percent are more likely to use a marketing system when it is integrated with core business systems.”
Big Political Ad Spend Set for Local in 2018, but Will News Sites Be Ready?
Political ad spending totaling $1.9 billion will pour into the digital space, most of it on the local level, Borrell Associates estimates in its 2018 forecast. But daily newspapers and local news “pure-plays” will have to fight hard for their share against Facebook, Google and the other digital platforms.
LBMA Podcast: Microsoft Azure + TomTom, Snapchat Object Filters
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: Sports Experts, Blulog’s Cool&Go, JCDecaux + Neustar, Bluedot signs Transurban. Correction: Waze+AllState. Special mention: Radio.Garden
Bklyner Announces It Will Shut Down Unless It Hits Subscriber Goal by Dec. 31
The Brooklyn-based hyperlocal network has announced it will close down coverage of its 11 neighborhoods unless it can attain 3,230 digital subscribers by the end of December. In this Q & A Bklyner founder Liena Zagare, presents the stark facts about her publication’s 11-hour predicament.
Street Fight Daily: Retailers Can Win Big After Christmas, Brand Safety Trips Up Publishers
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Search Data Suggest Retailers Stand to Win Big Week After Christmas… Publishers Find Themselves Caught Up in Brand Safety Nets… Brands Are Learning How to Master Push Notifications Like Publishers…
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The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation