News and Analysis
How Are Brands Preparing for Native Ratings in Apple Maps?
A foundational element of local marketing strategy could be changing. Rumors began circulating last week that Apple would be giving users the ability to add ratings and photos to local business listings on Apple Maps when iOS 14 releases this fall. That could mean big changes are in store for brand marketers who’ve grown accustomed to monitoring reviews and ratings on a core group of third-party platforms.
Apple’s move into the ratings and review space isn’t totally unexpected, but it’s still causing the local marketing community to question how the update will impact local search and discovery.
Meliá Hotels Uses Local Influencers to Drive Covid-19 Awareness
Brochures and signage are easy to overlook, but social media influencers are harder to miss. As they work to bring back guests during the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of hotel chains are relying on partnerships with social media influencers to educate guests on the new safety protocols they’ve put in place.
Street Fight’s September Theme: Mapping the Future
What does “Mapping the Future” entail? As a primary tool for consumer local search and discovery, mapping continues to undergo UX innovations and structural changes. We’ll examine these areas as well as mapping’s interplay with local search and SEO strategies.
Though mapping is more of a Street Fight staple than a trending topic, market signals indicate that the timing is right. In fact, we already got started last month with a look at Snapchat’s moves into local mapping — not just UX upgrades to Snap Map but also self-serve advertising for local businesses.
Commentary
Berkeleyside.com Raises $1 Million With News Industry’s First DPO
The established pure-play is now putting together a guide for how other news providers can convince their communities to make the same kind of high-response “impact investment.”
The New Face of Reputation Management: Photos, UGC Rise in Prominence
As non-review content grows in prominence, brands and small businesses with be forced to reckon with it. Like reviews, such content both reflects and shapes a brand’s reputation. Unfortunately, many brands are still behind when it comes to engaging with local reviews, so these new developments will represent an even heftier challenge when it comes to crafting an effective and scalable strategy. Brands who neglect UGC in local will suffer greatly in comparison with those who learn how to engage.
LBMA Podcast: Alexa, Urgent.ly, 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: Digital Locations + Ampsy, Fullscreen Digital, Puig, Kedy AR, Diageo goes Alexa.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: GasBuddy’s Location-Based Strategy, Voice-Assisted Shopping On the Rise
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… GasBuddy Leverages Location-Based Marketing to Drive Purchases at Gas Stations… Mobile Shoppers Turn to Virtual Voice Assistants… Facebook, Google, Consolidation: What Drove Media Deals in 2016…
How Wearables Are Changing Perceptions About Location Privacy
While firms that collect location data through mobile apps were once viewed as pariahs, a shift in attitudes has more consumers turning on location services for apps and taking advantage of the benefits that sharing this data can bring. Behind the changing attitude is a growing interest in wearables.
Predictions 2017: Attribution Is Next
Sponsored Content: The companies who prove that their media is better at driving in-store visits will reap the benefits. Measurement will not come from the vendor itself but rather from third-party measurement firms decoupled both from the buying and selling of advertising and from the platforms on which the media runs.
Street Fight Daily: Here Brings Location Insights to China, Brick-and-Mortar Holiday Strategy
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Mapping Service Here Looks to Bring Location Insights, Mapping Service to China … A Brick-and-Mortar Advantage: Capitalizing on Returns to Make More Sales… Automation Gives Advertising a Moral Struggle: Is Online Reach Worth the Hurt?…
Despite Stumble in Raleigh, Will The Agenda Be Part of ‘New Localism’?
“I’m learning that the success we have in Charlotte isn’t scaleable to other distinct geographies,” said founder Ted Williams. “I’ve become convinced that the key to financial success for an organization like ours is providing a high degree of advertiser customization and customer service. “
Why Hasn’t a Killer App Emerged for Finding Local Events?
The local events space is still waiting on its ubiquitous app. There’s Yelp for restaurants. And Uber/Lyft for getting to and from. But there’s not yet a go-to for the crux of the night – the thing you do when you’re out on the town.
Street Fight Daily: Email Still Digital Marketing King, How to Make Data Actionable
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Email Outperforms Social Media, Paid Search for ROI… Marketers Have Data, But They Don’t Know How to Make It Actionable… Retailers Make 11th-Hour Push to Lure Last-Minute Shoppers…
Street Culture: At Ibotta Good Ideas ‘Come From Anywhere’
“It’s been a challenge as we grow with how to disseminate information,” the company’s HR vice-president Alison Meadows told Street Fight. “We’ve been conscious about getting the next level of leaders below the senior leaders involved in decisions, because they’re going to have to roll them out.”
How Cisco’s Meraki Became the Largest Vendor of Bluetooth Beacon Gateways
While Meraki’s routers have long had the ability to broadcast iBeacon packets, in October they released a software upgrade which enables API access to these radios, activating a major new feature. Now customers can use their Wi-Fi access points to monitor beacons from third party vendors.
Street Fight Daily: Inside Food Delivery Economics, Tricky Ad Equation for Snap and Instagram
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Inside the Brutal Economics of Food Delivery… Snapchat and Instagram’s Young Audiences Rarely Notice Ads on Platform… Facebook Kills Off Exact Location Sharing in Nearby Friends, Adds ‘Wave’…
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