News and Analysis

This Startup Enables Human Connections at Virtual Events — Here’s How

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Virtual event organizers are struggling to reproduce the human connections that people crave in a digital-first environment. Welcome is working on a solution.

5 Cashierless Retail Platforms

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In a bid to minimize contact between customers and employees, retailers have started investing more heavily in these cashierless retail platforms.

Tapad’s Switchboard Aims to Unify Fragmented Identity Solutions

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In lieu of the cookie, ad tech firms are proposing a slew of disparate solutions. To solve the fragmentation issue, Tapid launched Switchboard this morning.

Commentary

From Employee to Publisher: How One Media Veteran Did It

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In this Q&A, media veteran Shereen Siewert talks about the biggest move in her career—an exciting but risky gamble in which she would give up the security of a weekly paycheck to strike out on her own as an entrepreneurial, independent publisher.

How Content Partnerships Have Made Yelp a Data Amplifier

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Damian Rollison: It became clear to me, during Yelp’s presentation at the recent Brandify Summit, that the company has become a data amplifier. Here I’m making use of Gib Olander’s helpful term for companies whose data finds its way into a multitude of consumer-facing channels. In this column, I break down the significance of that state of affairs for hyperlocal marketing.

A Dozen Takeaways and Follow-Ups from the Bright Local Review Study

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David Mihm: BrightLocal’s study of reviews is interactive, digestible by the average small business, and useful for agencies and resellers, too. In this column, I provide some of the highlights and pose questions for further research in the reviews space.

Latest Posts

Freckle IoT Inks Global Partnership with Cisco

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Freckle IoT has announced a global partnership with Cisco, allowing the in-store attribution vendor to leverage Cisco’s Meraki access points and more efficiently tie brand advertising campaigns to offline visits on a global scale. As part of the new partnership, Freckle will be a member of Cisco’s Solution Partner Program.

LMA’s Innovation Sleuth Finds ‘Compelling’ Breakthroughs in News Industry

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“It’s easy to laser in on the splashy headlines about M&A activity and innovation reports, but quietly, there’s a palpable spirit of innovation at work in local media across newspapers, broadcasters, and pure plays,” says the LMA’s Jed Williams.

Street Fight Daily: Snap Throws Publishers and Brands a Bone, Lyft Exceeds 1M Rides Per Day

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Snapchat Adds Linking Feature, a Boost for Publishers and Brands… Lyft is Doing Over 1 Million Rides Per Day.. Apple News May Let Publishers Sell Ads Their Own Way…

SMB Index: Local Stocks Down 2.8% in June

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The SCP SMB Index declined 2.8% in June, after climbing for 2 consecutive months. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones were both up 0.3% and 1.2% respectively. while the Nasdaq was down 0.9%. Groupon led the gainers, up 27.6% in June after dropping 23.8% in May. HubSpot led the list of losers, down 8.8% during the month.

One Size Does Not Fit All in the SMB Digital Market

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“At the very least you have to recognize your day-to-day experiences both discovering and interacting with small businesses are wildly different from customers in rural markets,” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal in their biweekly chat.

Street Fight Daily: Verizon Seeks Massive Data Deal, Yelp’s Google Grudge

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Is DexYP the Consolidator That Local Has Been Waiting for?… Verizon’s Plan to Challenge Google and Facebook is Fraught with Challenges… Yelp’s Six-Year Grudge Against Google…

Dead Fingers Still Walking?

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While Google and Facebook may have a lock on consumers and big advertisers, in no way do they have a lock on SMB advertisers. If Dex Media/YP can provide a better experience for its advertisers, it’s got a real shot at keeping those fingers walking well into the future.

Is DexYP the Consolidator That Local Has Been Waiting for?

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On the brand side, the challenge DexYP will face is reinventing the brand to be relevant for today’s younger business owners. Millennial entrepreneurs attach no value whatsoever to the Yellow Pages brand and history.

Tech Giants and Others Pooling Resources to Support Small Businesses’ Use of Technology

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Big name tech companies including Facebook, Google, Square, SalesForce, Chase Bank, and many others are offering the knowledge they have acquired on the way up to small businesses that might not be getting all the help they need.

Raise Report: Freshly, Rinse, Kinetica Secure New Funding

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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 Growbots, Sense, Samara, and Kepyr.