News and Analysis

Digital Currency

More Brands Are Rewarding Customers with Digital Currency. Here’s Why

Permission.io CEO Charlie Silver sees blockchain technology as one of the best mechanisms for issuing digital rewards in the form of cryptocurrency, and he says the ability to issue a desirable reward is essential for those brands that want to succeed in the next era of permission-based digital advertising.

blockchain

5 Startups Offering Blockchain for Loyalty Programs

In a nod to just how mainstream blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin have become, 44% of people now say they’d like to receive loyalty rewards in the form of digital assets. By offering digital currencies as an alternative to cash-back rewards, retailers are helping their programs stand out and bringing curious shoppers back into their stores.

With Fresh Funding, dataPlor Expands to Map the World

dataPlor was founded in 2016 with a mission to map the businesses of the developing world. But before it could extend its reach across oceans, the company focused for years on just one country, Mexico. Now, with the help of expanded seed funding it announced just this morning, the startup is taking a technology-first approach to enrich its database, map vast territories, and accelerate growth.

Commentary

Inform Your Multichannel Customer Experience Strategy

Google Posts: Less Visible but Still Valuable

Mihm to Blumenthal: Google has been making a serious effort to get more business owners more engaged with Google My Business over the past 12-18 months. The irony is, though, that deprecating the success business owners can see from easy, compelling offerings like Posts makes them less likely to remain engaged. It’s a little bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. That said, and despite my initial skepticism about Posts, I have become a long-term believer.

How to Craft a Successful Content Marketing Strategy

Andrew Witkin: One of the main reasons businesses miss the mark with content marketing is that the goals and execution of effective content marketing are at odds with those of traditional marketing methods. While traditional marketing principles dictate that products and services should be the main focus of any advertising initiative, a successful content marketing strategy views a company’s products and services as secondary or supplemental to providing the audience with information that is useful to them and interesting to read or view.

LBMA Vidcast: Toyota & GroundTruth, GOAT Sneakers AR Campaign

On this week’s Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: GOAT Sneakers AR campaign, Swatch goes contactless, BevMo tests voice, Solving homelessness in London with ClearChannel, Nextdoor monetizes data, Toyota dealers + GroundTruth.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Instagram Video Engagement on Steep Rise, Smartphones Drive Web Traffic

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Engagement with Instagram Videos Is Surging… Advertisers, Take Note: Smartphones Are Driving All Web Traffic Growth… Google Changes AdWords Guidelines in Response to Apple’s Intelligent Tracking…

Raise Report: New Funding for MapR, Appier, AdWerx

Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for Strikingly, GetAccept, Turo, and Dataiku.

LBMA Podcast: Disney Goes AR, Starbucks QR Codes, Reveal Mobile

This Week in Location Based Marketing is a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association with Asif Khan and Aubriana Lopez. On the show: Overnight app, Fuelcycle, Softbank’s Robot Priest, Smirnoff Cider + Locomizer.

Street Fight Daily: Google’s E-Commerce Influence Declines, Uber Under FBI Investigation

Google’s E-Commerce Influence In Steady Decline (MediaPost)… Uber Faces FBI Probe Over Program Targeting Lyft (WSJ)… Postmates Expands Unlimited, a Prime-Style Subscription Service, to 250k Merchants (TechCrunch)…

Placed Analysis Uncovers Location Data Biases

According to a new report released by the location-driven insights firm Placed, accuracy has fallen by the wayside in the rapidly expanding location-based advertising industry, which is estimated to reach nearly $30 billion by 2020. Placed’s analysis found that just 1% of locations are accurate enough to identify a store visit.

SMB Index: August a Flat Month for Local Stocks

After coming off a banner month in July where the SMB Index gained 4.6%, August 2017 was a flat month where the Index gave back 0.4%, consistent with other major indices we track.

‘Media-Nxt’: How Local News Can Finally Enter Its Digital 21st Century

The newly published report “Media-Nxt” wants to help the local news industry not only to know what it should do, but also actually start doing it. Its main authors are the students of Sean Branagan. In this Q & A, he explains why new technology is so hard for the local news industry to adopt – but why it should and must take the leap.

Attribution and Measurement are Creating a Data Management Arms Race

“When you look at the shifts taking place in the ecosystem, there’s such a focus on data for so many smart reasons from a marketer’s perspective,” says NinthDecimal CEO David Staas. “They really want to be able to better understand their customers, and one of the biggest problems is filling in that blind spot in customer intelligence.”

Street Fight Daily: Facebook in Another Metrics Scandal, Big-Boxes Partner with Amazon/Google

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… A New Phase for Street Fight… Facebook Tells Advertisers It Can Reach More Young People Than Exist… Kohl’s and Home Depot Sign On to Sell Voice Assistants In-House…

A New Phase for Street Fight

After seven years of total obsession with the digital and mobile disruption that has taken place in local marketing, I have decided to step down from my position as Street Fight’s CEO. Creating and growing this business has been extremely rewarding, and I write this post as a huge thank you.