News and Analysis

Why Creative is Paramount for This Year’s Holiday Ads

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When marketers are all using the same platforms and automation tools to bid and compete against each other this holiday season (like with Facebook Automated App Ads and Google App Campaigns), the key differentiator will be ad creative. Preparing an arsenal of high-performing creative will be critical to advertisers in order to keep costs down and be effective this year.

How Small Businesses Can Conquer E-Commerce for the Holidays

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As the pandemic continues, consumers are shifting their expectations of brands as well. They don’t just want coupons in their email anymore, they expect an intuitive browsing and checkout process, accurate inventory and out-of-stock notifications, curbside delivery, and fast shipping.

E-commerce is already a must-have, and small businesses who understand this and take steps to offer their customers a way to buy online will create a memorable experience, more long-term loyalty, and ultimately more sales this holiday season.

Mobile Ad Network Vungle Acquires Mobile Ad Platform AlgoLift

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Vungle helps mobile app developers monetize their apps through advertising and connects advertisers with mobile app media. The AlgoLift purchase will help Vungle’s advertisers better solve for attribution and optimize in-app ad spend.

Commentary

Does Google Really Need a Social Network to Succeed at Local?

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“The driving vision of Google’s entire local arc is to be able to give a single eyes-free answer to any query with local intent. Social features like reviews, Guides, business owner data, and Q&A are just the means to that end,” writes David Mihm in his biweekly column with Mike Blumenthal.

Performance Partnerships: A Better Way to Define Affiliate Marketing

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Performance Partnerships can only exist within a CPA model because the partners win and lose together. This isn’t the case with many of the other channels labeled as performance marketing. Performance Partnerships include everything that people want in their affiliate relationships and exclude all that is undesirable.

As Polls Eagle-Eye News Media, Their Own Work Merits a Close Look

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On accuracy, news organizations across the board have to address more forthrightly the public’s concerns about the truthfulness of what is presented. Those concerns do not appear to be as great as expressed in the Gallup/Knight numbers, which exaggerate a widespread talking point about growing distrust in the news media.

Latest Posts

DoorDash Expands Jack in the Box Partnership, Continues Growth in Competitive Sector

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Just four months after announcing that it would be launching a pilot program with Jack in the Box and delivering late-night orders to customers in San Francisco, DoorDash is expanding the partnership and will offer deliveries from more than 830 locations across 229 cities throughout the U.S.

With Metro D.C. Cool to Community News, One Publisher Pulls Back to Profitable Niches

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Local News Now seemed to be on an expansion trajectory earlier in the decade with two sites in Northern Virginia and two in the District of Columbia. But today the company has just two — and while they’re both profitable, founder Scott Brodbeck isn’t thinking of launching more sites anytime soon.

Street Fight Daily: Pinterest Targets SMB Advertisers, Retale Offers Attribution Guarantee

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Pinterest Targets Small Business Advertisers in Push to Diversify Revenue… Retale Offers In-Store Foot Traffic Guarantee On In-App Inventory… Snapchat’s Pitch to Small Brands and Businesses: Self-Serve Sponsored Geofilters …

How New Location Data Tools Are Making Attribution a Reality

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The future of retail and attribution is evolving quickly and allowing brands for the first time to have a better understanding of how effective their advertising is. While the search for in-store attribution is at the top of the every marketer’s wish list it’s important that all know the strengths and weaknesses of each methodology.

Can Open Source Thinking Create a Sustainable Business Model for Local Journalism?

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Open source software changed the landscape for the entire computing industry. Rather than commoditizing software completely, it actually made software development easier and more productive. I see tremendous parallels in the publishing industry today.

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Expands Into Grocery, Waze and Dunkin’ Donuts Partner on Order-Ahead

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon to Launch Grocery Pickup Stores in Seattle… Dunkin’ Donuts Links Order-Ahead, Loyalty to Waze App… There’s a Disconnect in Connecting Marketing Tech Tools…

Geopath Taps Tech from Citilabs for Audience Location Measurement

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Nonprofit organization Geopath, previously known as the Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Measurement, has announced it will use software from Citilabs to power an audience location measurement solution for out-of-home advertisers.

Affinity Solutions Launches Tool to Predict Future Purchase Outcomes

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Tech firms are working at a feverish pace to crack the code when it comes to predictive marketing, as brands demand more detailed insights into consumers’ future purchasing behaviors. The latest effort into this arena comes from Affinity Solutions, which is launching its Purchase-Driven Marketing Cloud today.

Blis Forecasts Where Consumers Will Be — Then Targets Ads Based on That Prediction

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The company is unveiling a new service that it claims can figure out where consumers will likely go — and target mobile ads based on those expectations. Blis Futures uses artificial intelligence to identify patterns about where consumers are likely to spend time, and then focuses brands’ marketing to reach them at optimal moments.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Brings Stories to Flagship App, Voice Assistant Adoption Climbs

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Brings Stories to Its Flagship App… Voice Assistants Now Reach 12% of U.S. Households… Payment Company Square Launches in the UK…