News and Analysis
Mapping Innovations Accelerate for the Post-Covid Era
The latest mapping innovations can be summed up in the announcements coming out of the last three major developer conferences. As we’re in the midst of developer conference season, this includes Google I/O, Snap’s Partner Summit, and Apple’s flagship WWDC. Let’s tackle those one at a time.
Brands Turn to Zero-Party Data Amid Privacy Restrictions
Tighter privacy restrictions are leading brand marketers to consider data collection opportunities they may have overlooked in the past, including some zero-party data collection methods that involve partnerships with subscription box companies and legacy media publishers. Unlike first-party data, which involves a company collecting insights about a customer or user, zero-party data is information that the customer or user proactively hands over to the brand.
SMBs Scramble to Capitalize on an Early Amazon Prime Day
Small and mid-size businesses saw record-breaking sales during Amazon’s Prime Day in 2020, with an increase of nearly 60% year-over-year. But with so much of the retail space currently in transition and an early Prime Day on the horizon, SMBs are scrambling to ensure they can take advantage of the corporate holiday this year.
Commentary
A Compliance-Privacy Tsunami Will Slam Into the Data Ecosystem in 2019: Big Changes to Watch
SPONSORED, by Neil Sweeney, CEO of Freckle IoT / Killi: The takeaway for 2019 will be consent management. Why is this going to be the trend? Two reasons — the first is because consent management is nonexistent in today’s technology stacks (and, no, the catch-all ‘do you accept’ button will not be sufficient moving forward for consent management). And, second: a compliance/privacy tsunami will bear down on the entire world (not just advertising) in 2019. Every trend in 2019 will tie back to a company’s ability, or inability, to check the box on consent management.
Will 2019 Be Remembered as the Year of GMB Messaging?
Mihm to Blumenthal: Absent a messaging competitor, even a handful of conversations with real customers make businesses *think* Facebook is where the party is. In reality, as you and plenty of others have found, 90% of actual leads are coming from Google. And a serious chunk of that 90% comes directly from Google My Business. Per my prediction, Google is *just* starting to push the “Message” CTA to consumers. And I think the floodgates are about to open.
LBMA Podcast: Alexa’s Location Alerts, Starbucks and Uber
On this week’s edition of the Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: CS Hudson, Baidu Maps, XYO Protocol’s blockchain lab, Ariana Grande + YouTube, Alexa’s location alerts, Starbucks + Uber.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Facebook and Amazon Fuel Local Food Transactions, Netsertive Buys Mixpo
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Americans Love Ordering Pizza on Facebook and Amazon… Netsertive Acquires Seattle Ad Tech Firm Mixpo… Hard Look at Online Pays Off in Higher Quarterly Profits for Kohl’s…
Enterprise Local Marketers Treat AI Hype as Means to an End
Our research suggests that big brands and retailers don’t have AI high on their list of local marketing priorities. But it appears that if brands are very email- and direct mail-focused, and that’s where they’re thinking of applying AI.
How 5 Brands Use Geo-Targeting to Fuel In-Store Sales
By serving mobile ads based on users’ geographic locations, brands can avoid these types of blunders and hone in on the type of hyper-specific messaging that boosts engagement and click-through rates.
Street Fight Daily: Target Acquires Grand Junction, Lyft Has Capitalized On Uber’s Woes
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Target Acquires Transportation Company Grand Junction to Expand Same-Day Delivery… Lyft Focuses on Self-Driving Cars But Confirms It’s Gotten a Boost from Uber’s Troubles… Ad Institute Challenges Google and Facebook to Improve Measurement Standards…
Can Yelp Extend Its Moment in the Sun?
“[Yelp has] not been very innovative in approaching the many needs of the SMB markets,” Mike Blumenthal writes to David Mihm. “It would seem that there could be (or should have been?) a raft of functionality that they could provide from appointments to customer follow-up that would be a natural fit.”
LinkedIn Focuses on Revving Up Its SMB Efforts
“There is a huge market of smaller companies, and it is a fast-growing segment. There is definitely momentum,” says LinkedIn’s independent agency head Ryan Wilson. “But they are often made to feel like second-class citizens. Enterprise companies have been getting all the love.”
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Explores Offline-to-Online, Foursquare Partners with InfoScout
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Can Brands Create Facebook Custom Audiences Based On Brick-and-Mortar Visits?… Foursquare Partners with InfoScout to Offer Fuller Picture of Customer Journey… Postmates Relies on Streaming Data to Deliver Positive Experiences on Demand…
Openings and New Hires at Signpost, Vendasta, Spirited Media
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest openings and new hires in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Rio SEO, CBS and RingPartner.
Raise Report: New Funding for Pro.com, Amplitude, CommonSense Robotics
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 Jebbit, Parse.ly, CarDash, and Booster.
LBMA Podcast: Lyft + Amtrak, Placecast, 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: Capsule pharmacy, Sony & Shakira, Thin Film, InMarket, McDonald’s.



















































Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem