News and Analysis

Why Savvy SMBs Are Focusing on the Post-Sale Experience

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Two-thirds of American adults say they plan to shop at more small businesses in the coming months, providing independent retailers with the perfect opportunity to turn those new customers into brand advocates.

Putting the strategy into action means capitalizing on what ActiveCampaign CEO Jason VandeBoom sees as the biggest untapped opportunity for local retailers right now — the post-sale engagement.

Square and Adobe Spark Team Up to Give SMBs a Holiday Marketing Boost

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In addition to selecting three small businesses to receive a holiday marketing overhaul — pairing each up with local designers to modernize their brand marketing materials — Adobe Spark and Square are helping businesses digitize their shops to process transactions in a touch-free environment, utilizing mobile technology and QR codes. The firms have also announced a plan to give five small businesses a $10,000 media buy credit and a subscription to Adobe Spark Premium.

This E-commerce Startup Is Helping DTC Brands Navigate the Pandemic

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While other firms in the retail infrastructure and logistics space are struggling, Whitebox is closing on a Series B funding round of $18 million. CEO Marcus Startzel says timing has played a key role in his company’s success. Whitebox was focused on solving e-commerce challenges for brands before the pandemic began, but the opportunities to work with major brands to improve and automate the e-commerce process have only grown over the past few months.

Commentary

If We Only Opened Facebook’s App for ‘Time Well Spent,’ Would We Use It Much At All?

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If Facebook’s advertisers’ most coveted users are opening its app mainly to scroll through News Feed while waiting for lattés or click on the stray cat video, and if the company truly wants time spent on its app to be “time well spent,” does its core mission even have a viable future?

Location Targeting is Nothing Without the Facts to Back it Up

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Doing location targeting right is no simple matter, and common claims about it require further scrutiny. Accuracy of a location through parcel targeting, a rapid refresh audience strategy, and reaching the right people at scale through IP and cross-device targeting will make a major difference in location-based campaign outcomes.

The Enduring Benefits of Mobile Apps for Brands

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Thanks to a variety of factors including speed, user experience,  personalized messaging, reliable security, and fully customizable content, native apps increase your customers’ connection with your brand, driving more engagement and conversion than a mobile web product ever would.

Latest Posts

Yext Shares Up Sharply in Initial Day of Trading, Portending Well for Local

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Yext’s shares jumped nearly 22% in the company’s initial day of trading, with the price rising as high as $14.25 per share before settling to $13.41 at close. The strong opening was a hopeful message from Wall Street for the local marketing industry, which has been looking to Yext’s IPO as a bellwether.

Are We on the Brink of a Retail Revolution?

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Revolutions often happen over short periods of time and leave death and carnage in their wake. What we are experiencing today in retail is more of an evolution — a sort of “survival of the fittest” as both local and big brand retailers either embrace shifting consumer shopping patterns or face extinction.

What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Fake News’

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“Fake news” is actually about stories written to win clicks (and potentially do harm). Losing the focus on this accurate definition to spin and political jockeying creates a challenge for the business of marketers, advertisers, and publishers.

Street Fight Daily: Yext Set to Raise $115.5M in Today’s IPO, Snap Offers Brick-and-Mortar Attribution

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yext is Set to Raise $115.5 Million in IPO After Final Pricing… Snap Advertisers Can Now See if Their Ads Increase Foot Traffic… Will it Blend? Oath Will Combine Disparate AOL-Yahoo Ad Tech Assets…

Disney’s Deep Dive on Personality Research, and Its Potential Implications for Brand Marketers

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A division of The Walt Disney Company has been working on a method to better target marketing by learning more about consumers’ personalities. Research scientist Maarten Bos spoke to us about how consumer personality can be understood and how the information can be used to tailor ads more precisely.

What Happens When Google Can Manipulate the Very News It Seeks to Protect?

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A recent controversy finds the search giant caught in a contradiction. The company has strong financial interest in acting as the gatekeeper to the news. But Google also has a strong interest in portraying itself positively in the news that it effectively controls.

Street Fight Daily: Walmart Leverages Brick-and-Mortar to Win Online, Local Search Ranking Factors Rundown

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Walmart to Discount Some Online Orders When Picked Up At the Store… Just Released: 2017 Local Searching Ranking Factors Survey Results… Uber’s Head of Communications, Rachel Whetstone, is Leaving…

How Samsung’s Galaxy S8 Could Change Local Marketing

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The new smartphone promises increased opportunities to bring local marketers closer to consumers with a new “intelligent interface.” Bixby, the phone’s voice assistant, has “contextually aware” capabilities that can help personalize location, retail and other user experiences.

CloudSponge: Soaking Up Your Contacts to Connect You Anywhere

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The startup is touting tremendous success for at least one company using their service: local (under the radar) giant, Nextdoor, has seen a significant uptick in growth since deploying CloudSponge’s technology. How? We talked with Jay Gibb, the company’s CEO, to find out.

Street Fight Daily: Weather Channel Partners with Lyft, Alphabet Seeks Public Legal Fight with Uber

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Weather Channel Lets You Request a Lyft When Bad Weather Strikes… Alphabet Wants Its Lawsuit Against Uber to Play Out Publicly… Twitter is Expanding Its Video Measurement Partnerships to Help Marketers Gauge Ad Performance