News and Analysis

Report: Privacy and Walled Gardens Risk Undermining Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategies, and the data they run on, face systemic risk in 2021. More than ever before, marketers’ access to customer data is being cut off by increased privacy restrictions from governments and private gatekeepers alike.

Retail Employee of the Future

6 Omnichannel Ad Buying Platforms for Brands

With much of the $664 billion advertising market in flux, there’s a renewed focus on omnichannel platforms that use integrated workflows to improve efficiencies and reduce redundant work. This next generation of ad buying solutions takes into account disparate channels and audiences, enabling brand marketers to automate and optimize campaigns across ecosystems.

QR Code

6 QR Code Ordering Solutions for Restaurants

QR codes are finding new life as businesses adapt to the ongoing pandemic. Consumers seeking out touchless payment opportunities and businesses wanting the ability to integrate more tools for tracking and analytics are embracing the technology with a level of enthusiasm we haven’t seen before.

Commentary

Increasingly, Your Brand Is Its Reviews

Mihm to Blumenthal: The famous Jeff Bezos quote comes to mind: “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Increasingly, the room is not a physical place but a virtual one—and it’s not a place you own. Reviews really bring the need to run a decent business at your core into stark relief.

LBMA Vidcast: McDonald’s & Waze, Lego & Snapchat

On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Hermes AR package delivery, NFC forum’s payment standard, Lego + Snapchat + Kabooki, McDonald’s + Waze billboards, Geon Network, Glympse partners with Albertsons.

Four Keys to Ensure Your Brand Has Local Authenticity Online

Taking time to ensure that your brand is represented authoritatively and genuinely online helps build a solid connection with your audience. But how does your brand communicate that authenticity at a local level? Here are four essential ways to build local authenticity through your localized social marketing efforts.

Latest Posts

Time to Take a Deep Breath — Local News Isn’t Becoming ‘Extinct’

The editors in charge of the slimmed-down newsrooms of local pure-plays know how to leverage technology, data and other information to produce coverage that, in some cases, is superior to what was produced in the so-called “golden” age of print.

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Tests New Delivery Service, Foursquare Revamps Developer Site

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Tests Its Own Delivery Service to Rival UPS and FedEx… Foursquare Revamps Its Developer Site as API Usage Soars… Will Messenger Lose Out to Snapchat and Instagram Through 2021?…

What Happens If Facebook Gets Serious About Local?

What Google is to search, Facebook is to social. Those same local business owners know that, when it comes to social marketing, a good portion of their success depends on what they and their customers do on Facebook. So if Facebook gets serious about local, could that change the local landscape? What would it look like?

4 Ways to Track Traditional Local Media Using Digital

Digital and traditional media can work together. Traditional efforts often drive users to search engines, websites and social media platforms. If you own the SERP for your brand, you’ll be able to control what the user sees as they respond to your traditional media campaigns.

Street Fight Daily: Snap Seeks Startups as Advertisers, How AI Could Improve Attribution

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Snapchat Incentivizes Startups, Especially Mobile-First Companies, to Advertise On It… How AI Could Change Attribution Tools… How Ikea Deploys AR to Improve Its Customer Experience…

Survey: Enterprise Marketers Are Increasing Local Digital Mix

As enterprise local marketers become experienced with digital tactics they originally used to promote their corporate sites, they are getting more savvy about digital marketing. Today, most of them spend less than a third of their digital budgets on local campaigns and programs, but 40% say they are increasing the local mix.

PlaceIQ Unveils Tool to Measure Holistic Impact of Ads on In-Store Visits

Quick-service restaurants that rely primarily on cash transactions have traditionally had a tough time understanding the real world impact of advertising on channels like television and desktop. A new product from PlaceIQ and comScore promises to change that.

Street Fight Daily: Uber Partners with Westfield Malls, Amazon Targets CPG Brands

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Partners with Westfield to Offer Mall Lounge and Pickup/Drop-off Points… Amazon Benefits as CPG Advertisers Trim Dollars… Walmart Acquires New York Delivery Startup Parcel…

The Impending HTTPstrophe — And What it Means for Local Businesses

“Google is rapidly moving towards a time when HTTPS will be an absolute necessity for websites,” writes David Mihm to Mike Blumenthal. “As soon as this month if an http:// website contains any input field, users will start getting scary security messages.”

The ABCs of Reputation Management for Brands

Every multilocation brand today has a social media agency or department, and most, though not all, are running some type of local listings management program, whether internally or with a partner. But plenty of brands are neglecting to do anything about online reviews of local stores.