News and Analysis
2021: All Upside for Digital
As retailers try to determine how to welcome customers back in person while expanding digital efforts that accelerated last year, NetElixir CEO and founder Udayan Bose weighed in on what to expect from commerce and why retailers should invest aggressively in online channels.
6 Touchless Payments Apps for Small Businesses
The latest wave of touchless payment solutions are designed for small merchants dealing with the fallout from the pandemic. Contactless payments went from being “nice to have” to a being an essential service for retailers in 2020, as consumers around the world discovered that they really didn’t want to touch cash or POS hardware while they were making purchases at local stores.
Digital Advertising’s 2-Sided Transparency Problem
There’s another side to digital advertising’s transparency problem: Companies don’t even know what they know about consumers. Just as consumers use dozens of apps, businesses use hundreds of applications. Most, if not all, of them collect data on employees and customers. But sifting through that data, figuring out what is necessary, and determining whether it is privacy-compliant is a Sisyphean task.
Commentary
5 Ways Businesses Can Leverage Location Intelligence Beyond Marketing
Michelle Zhou: Location data can provide far better optics into consumer behavior than traditional data streams. Data from smartphones, social media, and other sources can track consumer purchases and migration in real time. Using data trends and insights, businesses can develop a comprehensive understanding of their customers and make the most informed business decisions.
2018 Ranking Factors Report Emphasizes GMB and Reviews
Damian Rollison: The annual report’s main takeaways are clear: to rank competitively for local searches today, you must focus your attention on three areas: one, providing Google with as much relevant local content as possible; two, pleasing your customers, pointing them to where they can review your business, and responding to their reviews; and three, creating a useful, relevant local landing page or website with authoritative backlinks.
LBMA Podcast: Walmart’s Toy Lab, 7-Eleven & WeChat, Anything’s Big Funding Round
On this week’s LBMA show: Anything raises $42.5M, Baidu invests in Xinchao Media, Mobike + Louis Vuitton, Tencent goes all in with HERE maps, Walmart’s toy lab, 7-Eleven Canada rolls out WeChat + Alipay.
Latest Posts
Survey Offers a Glimpse Into How Brand Retailers Are Preparing for the Holiday Season
According to the survey from Campaigner, 42% of retailers are prioritizing social media integration as a marketing method for the holidays this year. Of the most popular social media platforms, retailers expect to invest most heavily in Facebook, followed by Instagram, Twitter, and Google+.
TripAdvisor Study Shows Room for Growth in Restaurant Marketing
According to the new survey, more than eight in 10 restaurateurs in the United States believe they should be doing more to promote their businesses, but only 17% say they’ve hired a dedicated employee to handle marketing tasks and just 1% use an outside marketing consultant.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Aims to Placate Publishers, AdTech Consolidation Continues
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Launches News Analytics Tool in Partnership with Nielsen… Sizmek Buys Rocket Fuel, Once Worth Roughly $1 Billion, for $145 Million… How the Right Media Partnerships Can Help Brands Build Trust…
Facebook’s Self-Serve Ad Creative Can’t Be SMBs’ Only Choice
By removing some of the barriers to ad spend for small businesses, Facebook is trying to become a one-stop shop for their ad dollars. SMBs are likely aware of the problem, but they shouldn’t be willing to rely on Facebook exclusively for their marketing and advertising needs.
Case Study: Ski Resort Uses Triggered Campaigns to Convert Passholders
At Mission Ridge Ski Area in Wenatchee, Washington, director of marketing Tony Hickok is in the midst of launching and scaling a learn-to-ski program called Freedom Pass, and he’s using an automated marketing platform to target the right skiers and snowboarders at the right time.
Street Fight Daily: GroundTruth CEO Out, Marketers Struggle With Location Data
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… GroundTruth CEO Resigns Amid Investigation One Month After xAd Rebranding… Marketers Face Challenges in Working with Location Data… Google Redesigns News Feed to Personalize Search in Mobile App…
Podcasting Won’t Replace Local Radio Soon
As a local advertising medium, podcasting shows promise, but it has a very long way to go. The medium is fresh and growing, and ad inventory is far less cluttered than radio, although a little pricey at $18 to $25 CPM.
Snap Debuts Self-Serve Platform for Brand Ad Campaigns
Brands now can take graphics assets they use elsewhere and put them into a template to create new ads. Instead of developing content just to appear on Snap, the new tools let marketers leverage video and images they have at hand.
Street Fight Daily: Amazon Enters Meal-Kit Biz, How Facebook Shares Campaign Data
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Begins Selling Meal Kits… Facebook Shares More Audience Data Via Carefully Controlled ‘Clean Rooms’… Google Publicly Launches Hire, a Job Applicant Management Tool for SMBs…
Google’s Product Bid for DIY Wallet Share
“Google has been on a tear this past month in the DIY realm,” notes Mike Blumenthal in his bi-monthly conversation with David Mihm. “Three major product rollouts in a 30-day span; Websites, Posts and now SMS messaging. And Google only needs uptake on one of them to get a chance to sell Adwords Express.”
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