News and Analysis

This Startup Is Helping Local Stores ID Customers During COVID-19

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Chatbots are helping resolve customer service issues when businesses are closed and call centers are slammed, but brick-and-mortar stores are still struggling to adapt to an online-only business format. Pure play ecommerce outlets have spent years developing systems to manage transactions and verify customer identities, but most retailers on Main Street are accustomed to seeing shoppers in person and visually checking IDs.

A San Francisco-based startup called Persona is offering to help those local businesses adapt by giving away its online ID verification service for free during the COVID-19 crisis.

7 Delivery Apps Keeping Restaurants, Grocers Afloat During COVID-19

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Dozens of states have banned dine-in service at restaurants, and nearly as many are requiring retailers to close up shop in a bid to slow down the coronavirus outbreak. As local businesses deal with the enormous financial implications that come with closing down to customers, many are trying out delivery services for the very first time.

For restaurants and other local businesses interested in offering their products via on-demand delivery, here are seven delivery platforms with which local businesses can partner during the Covid-19 crisis.

Google’s SameSite Update and the Third-Party Cookie-Free Future

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The end of the third-party cookie forces marketers to take earning consumer consent for data collection more seriously, and it will open up new methods of data collection, some directly devised by Google and others by the many companies in its ecosystem. These new methods of data collection will aim to clarify the impact of ads and allow for pertinent advertising (or targeting) with consumers’ more clearly stated consent.

To obtain an insider’s perspective on marketing tech’s reaction to Google’s SameSite update and the industry’s path forward, I got in touch with Brian Silver, president of email marketing firm LiveIntent.

Commentary

Local SEOs: Don’t Play These Google Games

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Trying to game Google today is not worth the risk. Yet every day I see examples online and talk to digital marketers, agencies and businesses who are still trying to trick Google. Whether you’re optimizing your client’s business or your own, here are a few local SEO games you should stop playing with Google.

Why CMOs Will Be the Most Important Executives in 2018

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To today’s consumer, products and brands are plaited into a single entity. Thus, a company’s “product” now encompasses a consumer’s brand perception, interaction with its products, and affinity for its communities.

‘SMB OS’: Expanding the Local Pie

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SMB OS isn’t a new concept, though it’s now emerging and crystallizing in new ways. Advancing it are supporting technologies like cloud computing, mobility and cash-flow friendly SaaS pricing. Much of this trickles down from enterprise world, as it often does.

Latest Posts

LBMA Podcast: Amazon, Lyft, Sping RFID Tags, Mastercard

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This Week in Location Based Marketing is a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association with Asif Khan and Aubriana Lopez. On the show: Cobbler Concierge, Theraflu, Whole Foods + Instacart, Facebook’s Marketplace, Yext + Uber, and Google.

Street Fight Daily: Verizon May Renegotiate Yahoo Deal, Facebook Tweaks Audience Metrics

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Verizon Says Yahoo Hack Could Reopen $4.8 Billion Deal Talks… Facebook Tweaks Audience Network to Favor Advertiser Metrics… Google Rolls Out New Tech for Publishers to Count Mobile Viewability…

Weather Company Continues Data Expansion With First-Party Location-Targeting Platform

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Continuing in its evolution from media property to data provider, the company unveiled a newly updated ad platform this morning that provides marketers with the ability to produce highly-accurate location-targeted campaigns.

PlaceIQ Announces Strategic Investment From Alibaba Group, Expansion Into China

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The location-based audience and insights platform has partnered with — and received a strategic investment from — Alibaba Group, the largest online and mobile commerce company in the world. The minority investment will be used to help PlaceIQ scale its operations globally, beginning with the Chinese market.

TAPinto Grows to 57 News Franchises, Eyes National Reach

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The New Jersey-based local news network has used a franchise model to expand into dozens of suburban communities. In this Q & A, CEO Mike Shapiro talks about how TAPinto continues to grow in a hotly competitive market for community news.

Street Fight Daily: Labor Ruling Threatens Uber’s Contractor Model, Geofeedia Used to Monitor Protests

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Drivers Ruled Eligible for Jobless Payments in New York State… Geofeedia is Just the Tip of the Iceberg: The Era of Social Surveillance… BuzzFeed’s Head of Commerce Talks About Shop, Part of Media Company’s E-Commerce Efforts…

Why Local Marketing Tech Is Strongly Influencing 2016’s Furious M&A Activity

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This year, investment in marketing tech is on pace to more than double the investment in ad tech, suggesting just how promising this market is. Because these solutions are in high demand and are built on a recurring and relatively predictable software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenue model, profits have surged.

Apps Continue to Battle, But the Mobile Web May Be Catching Up

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With a shift to mobile websites, most mobile marketing dynamics will remain, although implementation for sites versus apps will be more than nuanced. Mobile search is already undergoing shifts, and listings management must take into account the role of the mobile platforms, maps, and, probably, Amazon.

How Car Marketers Get Customers

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Consumers are becoming savvier in the ways they research and purchase new cars, favoring online research over conversations with real world salespeople. So car marketer are using SEO, pay-per-click, third-party directories, and call tracking software to bring in leads. (Sponsored by CallRail)

Street Fight Daily: Bloomingdale’s Capitalizes on Snapchat Geofilters, Amazon Video Threatens Retailers

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Snapchat Geofilters Help Bloomingdale’s Connect with Next Generation of Shoppers… Amazon’s Video Steaming Service is a Threat to Retailers, Not Netflix… Google Looking at How to Measure Brand Awareness for Search…