News and Analysis

How Viewers Watch the Super Bowl—And Its Ads

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Even the Super Bowl does not make for entertaining enough television to get today’s fickle viewers to glue their eyes on the big screen and set cellphones aside. During the game, viewers also text (29%), play mobile games (28%), and browse social media apps (27%), mobile firm AdColony found in a global survey.

The numbers may even seem low; it seems fair to bet more than one in three viewers takes an eye off the game to text a friend. But AdColony manager of strategy and planning Gabriella Stano Aversa said marketers should not treat the multiscreen environment as a dilemma, seeing it rather as an opportunity.

Do Cashierless Stores Present a Privacy Risk to Consumers?

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Amazon’s convenience stores rely heavily on location technology to track consumers’ movements inside buildings. Cameras analyze shopping behaviors, strategically placed microphones listen to conversations, and information about consumers’ shopping habits is stored in a central database that Amazon can reference for future operational and strategic planning.

“As cashierless stores take off, more and more personal and payment data will be transmitted through phones and mobiles devices and stored in cloud-based software platforms,” says Ruston Miles, chief strategy officer at Bluefin. “This means that hackers will have more network access to this data through vulnerable providers and merchants.”

Why and How Often Consumers Share Location Data

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Location is among the types of data consumers are most likely to weigh disclosing based on the utility of the scenario. Asked about eight different types of data, including marital status, social security number, and physical address, a higher percentage of survey respondents said whether they’ll share location data “depends” on the situation than for any other category. It’s neither an automatic yes or no; companies need to make a case.

Commentary

How Brands Determine Their Local Marketing Effectiveness

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Website analytics are the most popular means of evaluating local marketing for multi-location brands. While that’s a logical tactic for analyzing digital marketing and advertising effectiveness, it hardly presents the full picture of multichannel marketing or online-to-offline attribution.

So Long Local Search — Hello Machine-Directed Discovery

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Whatever you thought you knew about getting your business found online and on mobile, or whatever you are currently learning, is already obsolete. The way consumers interact with search technology today is on its way out. Why? Autonomous cars, artificial intelligence and voice commands are all transforming search into something we can only begin to imagine.

The New Local Ecosystem: An Interview With Darren Shaw

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As of this year, the task of updating the Local Search Ecosystem has been handed to Darren Shaw of Whitespark, who also inherited David Mihm’s other well-known brainchild, the Local Search Ranking Factors report. Last week, Darren released Local Search Ecosystem 2017, a bold departure in visual design and a much-needed update to the last edition, from 2014.

Latest Posts

For Local Companies Focused on Specific Verticals, a Sharp Focus Can Be Key for Growth

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Bloated technology platforms designed to serve the entire SMB market have slowly been replaced with more targeted vertical plays, but industry veterans still caution that every vertical requires a unique approach.

Street Fight Daily: How Instacart Is Changing Grocery, Beacon Use on the Rise

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Instacart’s App Has Changed Grocery Stores for Good… Proximity Tech, Beacon Usage on the Rise Among Marketers… Should Citations Define the Success of SMBs’ Local SEO Strategies?…

Ibotta Announces In-App Purchasing Capability, Partnerships with Button, Jet, DoorDash

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Ibotta announced new partnerships and technological capabilities on Wednesday, powered by a partnership with deep-linking software-producer Button, that its co-founder and CEO, Bryan Leach, hopes will make it the “front door” for in-app mobile commerce. Up until now, Ibotta, based in Denver and launched in 2012, has offered its users cash back on offline purchases […]

Maps.me Offers Open Source Alternative to Google and Apple Maps

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I’m impressed by the level of detail and by some key differentiators that make Maps.me seem like a fresh approach to mobile navigation. Indeed, I can see the app eventually finding favor in the U.S. marketplace. Even before that happens, local marketers should take note.

Street Fight Daily: Waze Ride-Share to Hit SF Soon, Facebook Creates Coupon Drawer

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Takes on Uber With New Ride-Share Service… Facebook Has Created the Digital Equivalent of a Coupon Drawer for Users… Jeff Jones Drives Uber as New President…

Reserve and Deliver: Waitr Acquires Restaurant Booking App Requested

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Restaurant booking app Requested has announced that it has been acquired by Louisiana-based food delivery and restaurant management company Waitr. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Requested will keep its California office and its team will remain intact in the transfer.

Placing a Bet on Apps for Local Businesses, Advice Local Acquires Scanther Mobile

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Advice Interactive Group will acquire the app tech company founded in 2012 by brothers EJ and Austin Archuleta. Scanther’s team will join Advice as part of the deal, and the company will be rebranded as Advice Mobile and integrated within the Advice Local product suite.

Geoscape’s New Digital Platform, AudienTivity, Helps Brands Connect With Multicultural Shoppers

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The Miami-based company is dedicated to providing data and analytics systems centered around the U.S Hispanic population along with other “new mainstream consumers,” says CEO Cesar Melgoza. This includes consumers from various culture backgrounds, as well as age-based shoppers like millennials, and also the LGBTQ community.

Street Fight Daily: Lyft Reportedly Rejected $6B Offer, Uber-Google Rivalry Heats Up

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Lyft’s $9 Billion Price Tag Was Too High for GM… Uber and Alphabet Rivalry Heats Up Over Self-Driving Vehicles, Mapping Tech, Ride Hailing… Square Forges Relationships with Competitors to Expand its Business Opportunities…

On-Demand Services and Apps Becoming Inevitable Tools for Reaching Customers

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Plenty of companies claim to be the “Uber of” their respective markets, but there is more to making it in this scene than just getting goods to customers fast. And not every company gets it right immediately; there is a steep learning curve for handling the logistics behind on-demand services.