News and Analysis
Why SMBs Are Flocking to Martech to Combat Covid Slump
The old way of doing business isn’t working anymore. As restaurants, retailers, and other businesses work to keep customers updated about shifting hours of operation and in-store social distancing requirements, they are opening up to outside-the-box ideas and becoming more comfortable trying location-targeted marketing platforms.
Data show that digital adoption among businesses and consumers jumped forward at least five years in the first eight weeks of the pandemic. Small restaurants and retailers are eagerly adopting the same tools now that they were hesitant to try back in 2019. That push is leading technology providers to expand their offerings and develop new tools for a growing market.
Mediaocean Acquires 4C Insights. What’s Next for Ad Tech?
The coronavirus pandemic and ensuing recession have forced tech vendors to step up their games and make a stronger case to advertisers as to why their products and services are essential amid tightening budgets. The year of Covid-19 is also fostering a favorable environment for mergers and acquisitions, as solo players team up to emerge stronger on the other side of a stormy season.
Last week, ad tech got a fresh acquisition, as Mediaocean acquired 4C Insights. I checked in with Aaron Goldman, CMO of 4C Insights, to find out what the acquisition portends for the two companies and how it matches up with broader trends in ad tech.
Retail Prepares for a Covid-Inflected Holiday Season
The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the shift from brick-and-mortar commerce to digital transactions. It has also forced brick-and-mortars resisting the hybridization of their own businesses to adopt digital methods, turning restaurants and apparel stores alike into both brick-and-mortar establishments and online sellers.
Against that backdrop, retail’s biggest quarter will present novel challenges this year. Retailers will need to optimize for online transactions and contend with fragmented national and global landscapes where it may be safe to go to stores in New York but not in Los Angeles.
Commentary
What Google’s New Review Guidelines Mean for SMBs, Agencies, and Vendors
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.”
LBMA Podcast: Postmates & DoorDash, Foursquare, Uber
This Week in Location Based Marketing is a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association with Asif Khan & Aubriana Lopez. On the show this week: Mercedes Benz, Landmark + Sony Music, China’s BingoBox, Gordon’s Gin teams up with Weve, Foursquare’s new API, Uber expands bike sharing.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Google Launches Website Builder for SMBs, Amazon Go’s Potential Impact on Retail
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Testing Website Builder Within Google My Business… Amazon Go, Deep Learning, and a Better Retail Experience… Toyota Leverages Mobile Location Firm NinthDecimal’s Data to Establish Attribution for Dealer Visits…
Who Should Rate Communities: Experts, the Public — or Both?
One emerging group that might be able to help publishers answers tough questions is the nonprofit group STAR Communities, which “works to evaluate, improve, and certify sustainable communities.” The company helps cities and counties “achieve a healthy environment, a strong economy, and well being for their residents.”
Street Fight Daily: Spectacles Give Brands Location-Based, AR Marketing Tool; Indoor Location Tech to Rise
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Spectacles Offer Brands an Advertising Opportunity Combining AR and Location… Indoor Location Tech Predicted to Gain Widespread Usage in Coming Years… Case Study: Amazon Didn’t Kill Macy’s. Macy’s Did…
How to Keep Customers Loyal in 2017
Trends and fads are common in the quickly-evolving local marketing industry, but it appears that loyalty programs are here to stay. So what’s the secret to keeping customers loyal in 2017? To find out, we went directly to the experts and asked what trends they’re seeing within the local merchant community.
Waze Says Its Crowdsourced Navigation Data Brings Clarity for Marketers
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
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.
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