News and Analysis

Location Data Firm Unacast Generates Hyperlocal Covid Recovery Metrics

Location data and analytics firm Unacast is hoping its new recovery analytics tool might guide businesses through this chaotic time. The interactive tool allows retail operations professionals, real estate developers, and property management companies to drill down to the census block level to get visibility into real-world economic recovery scenarios and plan for future investments.

Using data that compares real-time public behavior in the current environment to pre-Covid time periods, businesses can estimate recovery rates and more accurately plan for future reopenings.

6 Contactless Payment Solutions for Retailers

Retailers have dozens of ways to go when implementing contactless payments in brick-and-mortar stores. The best option usually depends on the retailer’s size and budget. Smaller businesses tend to rely more on app-based contactless payments and mobile solutions as a way to minimize the costs associated with integrating an entirely new point-of-sale system.

Here are six mobile payment and contactless payment options that retailers can use to help curb the spread of coronavirus inside their stores.

How Google’s Review Attributes Expansion Impacts Local Businesses

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.

Commentary

Unpacking the Increasingly Complex Local SERP

“While I think [these local ad changes] might be better for many small businesses AND consumers, it gives Google a great deal of power to approve or disapprove participants,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm in their biweekly column.

People Are Talking About You: The Hidden Value of User-Generated Content

Simply put, insights gleaned from reviews can help you do business better. Though reviews may contain bias of various kinds, they are still the best source you can find of detailed feedback from real customers.

Understanding the Proxies That Can Undermine Location Data

For marketers, the ability to deploy technology that identifies and bypasses online users who may be masking their locations and digital traits yields improvement in the form of targeted campaigns and fewer wasted impressions.

Latest Posts

Reimagining the Mobile Banner: In-App Ad Innovation Spares Brands from Google’s Interstitial Pinch

The future of our work is about designing smarter ways to reach users, so we need to focus on ways to drive engagement, not distraction. And that means finding subtle things that trigger the meaningful interactions. This isn’t 1999; we’re not building banners for last century’s desktop.

So, as January 10 approaches, let’s look at some creative models from the app side of the table

At Hearst Newspapers, a New Digital Strategy to End ‘Flying Blind’

Just how far local newspapers have to go to plant their flag commandingly in the fiercely competitive world of digital is summed up in a revealing story told by Robertson (Rob) Barrett, the new digital chief at Hearst Newspapers, who says that editors just don’t have information about the interests of the people in their market.

Street Fight Daily: Uber Redesigns App to Facilitate Location-Sharing, Yext Launches Developer Platform

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Redesigns App to Streamline Ride Ordering, Facilitate Location-Sharing… Yext Launches a Developer Platform for Its Location Database Technology… Facebook Shares Sink as Company Announces Ad Revenue Growth Likely to Slow…

5 Ways Brands Are Using Wearables to Create Unique Marketing Moments

More than 250 million wearables are predicted to be in use by 2018. This presents an incredible opportunity for marketers looking to reach consumers not just based on their locations, but also based on their activity levels and personal interests. Here are five strategies that brand marketers are using.

Report: In-Store Shoppers Disengage From Social Apps

Retailers and brands are pouring billions of dollars into social strategies designed to influence the way shoppers interact with merchandise inside physical stores, but a new study by inMarket indicates that marketers focused too sharply on social media apps may be missing the mark.

Street Fight Daily: Instagram Adds Tags for Shopping, Twitter Boosts Chatbot Game for Brands

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Instagram Tests Product Tagging Feature to See If It Can Drive Purchases… Twitter Offers Brands Customer Service Chatbots to Use in Direct Messages… IBM Acquires Dialogue-Based Shopper Platform…

Why Local Search Is Even More Important in the Age of Ad Blocking

With so many people blocking traditional advertising, a growing proportion of internet users cannot be reached through “classic” search engine marketing. That’s why in the context of ad blocking, SEO is still king.

Street Fight Daily: Postmates Secures Funding Amid Stiff Competition, Gannett Abandons Tronc Bid

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Postmates Navigates Tough Funding Terrain for Delivery as It Competes with Amazon and Uber… Uber Drivers Are More Likely to Cancel on Men with ‘Black-Sounding’ Names.. As The Verge Turns Five, Its Redesign Embodies Distribution Age Dynamics…

How Should SMBs Respond to Complaints on Social Media?

The way a merchant responds to complaints on social media will influence not only the perception of the offended customer, but also the perception of any potential customers who view the interaction online. Here are eight strategies that business owners can use when deciding how best to respond to customer complaints on social media.

Street Fight Daily: Mobile and International Feed Facebook Revenue, Mixed Reviews on AMP

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Mobile, International Dollars Drive Facebook to Projected $33 Billion in Ad Revenue Next Year… Google AMP Gets Mixed Reviews from Publishers… To Aid Attribution, LeadsRx Launches One Tracking Pixel to Rule Them All…