News and Analysis
Can a Pandemic Inflect Local Commerce Tech?
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.
Cannabis Businesses Are Running More Geofenced Campaigns. Here’s Why
While geofenced campaigns and foot traffic attribution are old hat for mainstream brands, they represent a new frontier for cannabis businesses.
Despite widespread legalization in many states, the cannabis industry has been shut out from many of the most effective marketing and advertising strategies. In some cases, those restrictions come in the form of strict state and federal laws. In other cases, it’s simply due to a lack of ad tech platforms willing to accept their campaigns.
But times are changing, and new doors are opening up to businesses in the cannabis industry.
Ridesharing Inches Forward as Industry Looks for New Path
Years of rising demand for ridesharing services came to a full stop this spring, as coronavirus spread and communities across the globe were put under lockdown. Now, as ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft begin inching their way forward toward a new normal, they’re looking at how to adapt to the completely new environment in which they find themselves.
Commentary
Will the ‘Sustained Outrage’ of One W. Virginia Newspaper Survive Auction Block’s Hammer?
The biggest heartbreaker is what happens to those families whose long-held newspapers were dedicated to publishing all the news without fear or favor. This is the story of one of those families, the Chiltons, and their paper, the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail, which the Chiltons owned for 111 years.
Latest Posts
Building the Essential Digital Marketing Bundle for Local Businesses
“Last time we identified our essential digital bundle for small businesses,” says David Mihm to Mike Blumenthal. “This week I thought we might tackle how agencies and media companies might go about building and selling that bundle — and why there seem to be so few who are actually doing it.”
Local’s Next Hurdle: The Impressionable Use Fallacy
No matter how good the targeting, creative, and “right person, right place,” the vast majority of our time contains urgencies that render us immune to push-based mobile ads. It’s basically a question of how often we’re actually idle, and therefore impressionable to being rerouted from a deliberate course.
Street Fight Daily: Lyft’s Impact on Hyperlocal Commerce, Facebook’s Ad-Counting Troubles Persist
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Lyft Touts Its Benefits for Hyperlocal Commerce… Facebook Reports New Issues with Ad-Counting Tools… In Smart Home Race, Microsoft, Google, Amazon Vie to Be ‘Hub of Everything You Do Online’ …



















































Authentic Storytelling: Real-Life Scenarios Showcase Brand Values and Build Trust