News and Analysis

Online Customer Service is the New Storefront

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The face of retail is fundamentally different today than it was last January. Fewer shoppers entering brick-and-mortar stores and interacting with sales associates in person means retailers have had to rethink how they handle customer service. Retailers are now looking at ways to equip service teams to fill that new void.

Doubling Down on GMB: Local Search in 2021

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For marketers who have found ways to use the latest tools and features being offered by Google and other search partners, 2021 is poised to become a period of high growth. With Google’s spate of new local marketing features launched in 2020, and predictions that additional changes are on the horizon in 2021, Adthena VP of Marketing Ashley Fletcher says the role that GMB plays in the larger local search space is expanding.

5 Mobile Ordering Platforms for Independent Coffee Shops

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For those independent businesses that made the leap to order-ahead tech, the financial rewards in 2020 were significant. According to data from Odeko, coffee shops using order-ahead marketplaces prior to Covid-19 saw a net increase in customers with little-to-no drop-off in existing customers this year.

We review the top mobile ordering platforms for coffeeshops.

Commentary

Not All Voice Assistants are Created Equal

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Several tech giants are chasing voice search and assistant apps. They’re motivated by different factors—each seeing voice as a way to support, grow, and protect their unique core businesses.

Reality Check: Adapting to Google’s Ever-Growing Control of the Search Experience

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Google has been reducing the amount of traffic to local websites for a long time. And while it took a while to understand what was happening, it isn’t infuriating. Businesses can still get in front of customers and garner leads—it’s just not via their website.

LBMA Podcast: Placed & Adobe, Perry Ellis & Amazon, Foursquare

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On this week’s episode of the Location-Based Marketing Association podcast: Innovative Foto, Airport Sherpa, Alaska Airlines goes VR, Cargo raises $22M, Foursquare for Good, Placed teams up with Adobe, Perry Ellis’s Alexa skills.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Verizon’s Path to Disrupting the Duopoly, Twitter Data’s Potential

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Verizon to Face Challenges Integrating Yahoo and AOL Before It Challenges Google and Facebook… MoPub Is Testing Ways to Do More with Twitter Data… Modern Marketing Means Mobile Messaging…

30A Takes Its Local Media Success Story 5,637 Miles to Moscow

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Eight-year-old 30A is one of the top revenue producers among Internet news pure-plays – hitting $2.2 million last year and projected to reach $3 million in 2017. It attains numbers that elude some daily newspapers because its revenue streams include everything from a radio station to events to retail shops, as CEO Mike Ragsdale explains in this Q & A.

Street Fight Daily: Snap’s Growth Slows, Marketers Capitalize on AI

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Snapchat’s Growth Dips as Competitive Pressure Mounts… AI Is Leaping from Hype to Reality, and Marketers Are Reaping the Benefits… Uber Board Adopts All Recommendations from Eric Holder Report…

OwnLocal Acquires Wanderful Media, Building Out Local Data

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OwnLocal, an Austin-based digital marketing platform that helps local media companies convert print, radio, and television ads into high-powered digital campaigns, has acquired Wanderful Media.

#SFSNYC: How Slice Helps Local Pizzerias Get in on Ordering via Mobile

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Lots of apps can connect consumers to restaurants to order meals, but New York-based Slice has focused on a particular food niche that founder and CEO Ilir Sela says is built on customer loyalty — pizza. Sela says his company’s product is offered as a way to extend the natural loyalty consumers have for their local pizzerias.

Street Culture: Taking Estimote’s ‘No Barriers’ Culture Literally

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The company’s mission is to build a new operating system for the physical world, and to get there the team needs zero bullshit. Culture is far too important to leave to chance, says John Cieslik-Bridgen, Estimote’s VP of culture. But it’s also important to allow natural evolution.

Street Fight Daily: Apple Innovates on Marketing AI, Facebook Makes a Case Against TV Ads

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Apple Accelerates AI for Marketers… Facebook Says Users Turn to the Platform During Commercial Breaks When Watching TV… Snapchat versus Instagram: What Marketers Need to Know…

Is Snapchat Quietly Redefining Local?

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Snapchat’s recent moves and related developments seem to indicate an emerging redefinition of what it means to be digitally local, a redefinition that is happening under our noses and without much fanfare as Snapchat works to gain and maintain the eyeballs of Millennials.

#SFSNYC: Drawing the Connection Between Online Presence and In-Store Sales

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More and more, businesses need to stay on top of their digital presences, which extend well beyond their company websites. The variety of outlets where people can discuss their impressions of a brand continues to expand says Elisabeth Kurek, uberall’s vice president of partner growth, who will speak at next week’s Street Fight Summit in Brooklyn.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Expands Ad Suite for Businesses, Google Shopping’s Role in Retail

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Expands Canvas Ads and Integrates Them with Collection Ads… How Google Shopping Can Help Retailers Bounce Back… The Future of Marketing Data: Accuracy Trumps Everything…