News and Analysis

How Google’s Review Attributes Expansion Impacts Local Businesses

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Businesses that understand these changes and find ways to harness review attributes stand to see major gains in search. Google’s new feature could be a big improvement for small and mid-size businesses, in particular, since it provides marketers with both comparative structured feedback and sentiment. But whether businesses benefit from Google’s decision to expand review attributes into new categories depends largely on how they capitalize on the changes.

Restaurants Are Using Technology to Bring Back Customers Post-Pandemic

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How do local restaurants implement coronavirus-driven changes, and what role will technology play in helping those businesses reemerge from lockdown status?

Statewide regulations, like sanitizing protocols and spacing between tables, are in many ways easier for restaurants to implement because they are clear-cut. Certain diner expectations are harder for restaurants to gauge, and that has presented a new opportunity for technology providers catering to the restaurant market.

Can a Pandemic Inflect Local Commerce Tech?

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Could forced adoption of alternative shopping methods like curbside pickup lead to user acclimation? Will millions of shoppers get exposed to the merits of these streamlined options and like what they see? Will new habits be born that sustain throughout normal times?

If so, these technologies — along with virtual-office enablement — could benefit from this period as a blessing in disguise for exposing their value propositions. But who stands to benefit most? We’ve identified five local commerce tech areas to which this could apply.

Commentary

Top Experts Hold Conclave in Major Effort to Save Local News Industry

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“The news industry now has to be very much focused on understanding users and delivering to them a very powerful, useful experience so they will be happy to pay for it,” says veteran journalist Bill Densmore.

Local Merchants Highly Dependent on Social Media at Time of Uncertainty for Platforms

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Well over half of the local merchants with larger budgets that we surveyed for a report last year indicated that paid Facebook ads constituted their top marketing tactic. That’s a pretty heavy dependence on a company that’s been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately.

What Google’s New Review Guidelines Mean for SMBs, Agencies, and Vendors

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Given Google’s new anti-review gating guidelines, what’s important for businesses, Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm in their biweekly column, is to “make giving direct feedback to the business extremely easy. Most unhappy consumers just want to express their dissatisfaction and given a choice will do so directly with the business rather than on a review site.”

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Make Gains Online, Twitter Shutters App Aimed at Brands

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Brick-and-Mortar Retailers See Online Sales Jump as In-Store Purchases Decline… Twitter Shutters Dashboard, App Aimed at Brands… Voice Search is On the Rise, and Brands Must Prepare…

Waze Says Its Crowdsourced Navigation Data Brings Clarity for Marketers

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Tapping into geolocation data has become essential for hyperlocal marketing strategies — but according to the folks at navigation app Waze, understanding what consumers are really up to when they travel around is a crucial next step. It can be easy for brands to make presumptions based solely on the fact that a specific person […]

Why Location-Based Machine Learning Is the Smart Path to Personalization

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With the right data, a brand can keep the relationship with the customer warm while they’re off-property, out-of-town or on a budget. Offering the right deals and communications that are relevant to real interests means that the relationship between man and machine is getting better all the time.

Street Fight Daily: Deliveroo Faces Potential Lawsuit, GrubMarket Charts Profitable E-Grocery Path

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Deliveroo Couriers May Take Company to Court Over ‘Absurd’ Business Model… Online Grocery GrubMarket Breaks Even, Defying Trend of Difficulties for E-Grocery Field… Millenial Holiday Shoppers Did Their Research Online Before Buying In-Store…

Local’s Next Battleground: In-Car Media

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A few recent moves have begun to triangulate how Uber might build out auxiliary revenue channels. It will be all about enhancing your ride, then, down the road, an ad model. And it won’t involve in-car signage or digital displays.

7 Startups Vying to Become the Uber of Pot

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So-called “Uber for pot” startups are in high demand, not just among consumers but investors, as well. Marijuana-focused private equity firms and VC firms are diving in headfirst, paving the way for growth in the industry. Here are seven examples of on-demand cannabis vendors serving the market right now.

Street Fight Daily: Uber to Disclose Traffic Data, Waymo Creates Its Own Sensor Unit

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Extends an Olive Branch to Local Governments: Its Data… Waymo Creates Its Own Sensor Unit… Despite New FCC Rules, Verizon Plans ‘Aggressive Path’ on Ad Targeting…

Street Culture: Year-Old JumpCrew Builds for Scale, Eschews ‘Startup Culture’

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“There has to be a process around the strategy to support the goals of others,” says founder David Pachter. “The people driving innovation are the ones on the front lines, working with clients and products. That groundswell of direction and changes, they don’t happen if you don’t have open channels of communication.”

3 Mobile Changes That Will Affect Marketers in 2017

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In 2017, the total number of worldwide mobile users is expected to surpass 6 billion across 11 billion mobile devices. So, what does the future of mobile look like for marketers? More specifically, what data-related trends will dominate in the coming year?

Street Fight Daily: Voice Assistant-Enabled Cars Steal Show at CES, AR’s Retail Potential

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Auto Makers Showcase Cars Equipped with Virtual Assistants… Can Augmented Reality Bolster Retail Sales?… Chefs+Tech: The Restaurant Bubble Inches Closer to Bursting…