News and Analysis

Crucial Attribution and Targeting Tools

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The lines in the traditional funnel have blurred. Consumers may enter and pursue a non-linear route before making a purchase or moving on. The path from awareness to decision is no longer predictable in an omni-channel environment. A progression that works for one type of consumer may have no relevance for another. These changes necessite another look at attribution models.

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.

Commentary

10 Ways Apple Can Rebuild Maps to Become an Innovator in Local

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As Apple relaunches Maps, I’m eager to see underlying map data improve, but I’d be even more interested if I knew Apple had a roadmap to improve the local data layer. Here are some things Apple should do if the company truly wants to move beyond its second-place status in local.

How AR Will Fundamentally Change Search, Participating in an ‘Internet of Places’

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Online-to-offline (O2O) commerce is one area where AR will find a home. Just think: Is there any better technology to unlock O2O commerce than one that literally melds physical and digital worlds? AR can shorten gaps in time and space that currently separate those interactions (e.g. search) from offline outcomes.

Why Local Media Firms Are Banking Big on Marketing Services to Grow Revenue

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In an under-the-radar move to grow their revenue substantially, local media companies are putting major resources into developing a broad suite of digital marketing services (DMS). Media companies make this pivot as B2Cs rethink their own marketing goals, aiming not just to reach potential consumers but to convert them into paying customers, closing the path to purchase.

Latest Posts

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…

Research Roundup: Comparing Franchisees and Independent Professionals

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Comparing some surveys focused at opposite ends of the local small business spectrum — franchise operators and self-employed professionals — it feels like, though the industry is selling these groups the same marketing and commerce technology and services, the two segments are more different than similar.

Optimizing for Mobile Search: New Tips and Old Tricks

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It used to be that you wanted to be situated as close as possible to the city centroid, or clustered with similar businesses. Now you might literally have to be the closest shop to the place your potential customer happens to be standing. How in the world do you optimize for that?

Brand Battle: Wireless Phone Companies Face Off

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To gauge how each company approaches local marketing, Brandify’s proprietary technology analyzed AT&T’s and Verizon’s store locations with focus on areas of local presence management. 4,903 AT&T locations and 4,000 Verizon locations were included in the data sample.

Street Fight Daily: Amazon’s Brick-and-Mortar Ambitions, Uber Suspends Self-Driving Cars After Crash

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google’s YouTube Has Continued Showing Objectionable Ads Despite Advertiser Pushback… Uber Takes Self-Driving Cars Off the Road After One Flips Over in Arizona… Amazon’s Ambitions Unboxed: Brick-and-Mortar Stores for Appliances, Furniture, and More…

Why the Creative Director of the Future Stands at the Crossroads of Marketing, Tech, Product, and Ads

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Think of the evolving creative director as a technological and marketing pentathlete, a dynamic force who’ll need to satisfy more than just the traditional advertising imperative. Envision a product-strategy role; that is the model to come.

Raise Report: Flow, Databerries, PlateIQ Secure New Funding

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Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes new funding for EVRYTHING, Helpling, Drivemode, and Lynkos.

Street Fight Daily: Uber’s Secret Tools Undercut Competitors, Marketers Take on Google

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… ShopTalk ’17: Retail Brands Focus on Amazon ‘Work-Arounds’… Uber Employees Still Use Secret Tools to Target Drivers and Undercut Competition… Opportunity Knocks: Marketers and Media Take On Google…

Voice Bots Have One Big Problem: Human Behavior

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We’re surely moving in the direction of voice input to bots, but unless microphones advance — allowing you to request things with a near-silent whisper (or perhaps with thoughts) — people will continue to let their fingers do the talking.

How Local News Publishers Can Make Revenue and Engagement a Single and Successful Strategy

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Too often, local news publishers are given an either-or — either focus on growing revenue or on making deeper connections with users. Relay Media’s head of product Barb Palser believes publishers can do both at the same time.