News and Analysis
With Stimulus Funds Delayed, Small Businesses Digitize for Survival
Experts at helping SMBs adapt to a tech-first commercial landscape say the pandemic has led some businesses to tap into their long-dormant potential as digital marketers and sellers, possibly setting them up for gains in the aftermath of the recession. Now that e-commerce is the only path to survival, mom-and-pop shops, aided by martech firms, agencies, and Silicon Valley giants, are capitalizing on cutting-edge marketing and retail techniques, many for the first time.
Thousands, if not millions, of Main Street businesses will close their doors for good as a result of the pandemic. Those that survive will be technologically savvier and sleeker than they were before.
What Search Behavior During Covid-19 Means for Healthcare Marketers
The headlines are everywhere. Open any newspaper, and you’ll see story after story about coronavirus and its impact on American society. But new data on consumer search behavior shows Covid-19 isn’t the only healthcare topic on people’s minds right now.
In an analysis of consumer search trends during the coronavirus pandemic, a team from the healthcare provider scheduling and search platform Kyruus found that search terms seemingly unrelated to Covid-19, such as “diabetes,” “cancer,” and “depression,” continue to rank more highly than those associated with the virus.
As Agencies Feel the Squeeze, Covid-19 Reshapes the Martech Industry
One in four small businesses has temporarily shut down, and 43% believe they have fewer than six months until permanent closure is unavoidable. With the small business community in panic mode, budgets for digital marketing have been slashed, and agencies are feeling the pinch.
“Everyone has been in panic mode, and rightly so. Businesses are worried about who might have to be furloughed [or] laid off, getting their PPP loans, what kind of regulations do they need to comply with, [and] what their contingency plans are for keeping any amount of revenue coming in,” says Simon Schwartz, founder of Locasaur. “Businesses are not interested in being pitched new marketing tech.”
Commentary
Local SEOs: Don’t Play These Google Games
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
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
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
5 Ways to Rethink Marketing Measurement
New advances in advertising technology finally allow marketers to better understand how online ads impact offline behavior. Here are five ways that every marketer needs to rethink marketing measurement in order to better reach their consumer base.
Jim Friedlich Champions ‘New Class’ of News Startups — And Digitally ‘Aggressive’ Heritage Sites
There is a “new class” of entrepreneurial local news startups as well as aggressive new digital investment at “heritage” newspapers, according to longtime news publishing executive Jim Friedlich. These startups mark their boundaries not by neighborhood but metro area.
The Fight For Leads: Healthcare Marketing
Sponsored by CallRail: Healthcare marketers are relying more heavily on a combination of established platforms for call tracking, paid search, and content marketing via social media to educate potential patients.
Street Fight Daily: Guardian to Sell Its Data, What Facebook’s Marketplace Lacks
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Guardian Moves to Separate Data from Inventory, with Monetization Model to Follow… Salesforce is Acquiring Krux to Boost its Data Management Capabilities… What Time Learned From the Small Sites It Acquired…
Smaato CEO: ‘Location Tells Much More About a User Than Anything Else’
The company recently rolled out a demand-side platform that helps companies such as Yahoo, AOL, and Google choose which traffic they want to buy from ads. We caught up with Ragnar Kruse to talk about how location and emerging technologies are shaping the future of advertising.
6 POS Systems Designed With Restaurants in Mind
Forty-three percent of restaurant industry professionals say they plan to upgrade their restaurant technology within the next year, and 22% say they will in the next six months, meaning this could be a major period of growth for POS solutions focused on the restaurant industry.
Street Fight Daily: Gannett Purchase of Tronc Imminent, Facebook Launches Its Own Craigslist
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Gannett Deal to Buy Tronc is Likely Imminent… Facebook Launches Marketplace, a Friendlier Craigslist… Marketers Try to ‘Close the Loop’ On Customer Retention…
Street Culture: How RetailNext’s Growth Is Driven by Diversity
As the company has grown, according to CEO Alexei Agratchev, it has experienced two “productivity peaks,” where fewer people are doing a huge amount of work. Then new hires are brought on, and the productivity stays about the same for a few months as the growth potential is realized. This can be a frustrating cycle to manage.
Case Study: Aerial Entertainment Company Turns Late-Night Web Browsing Into Booking Opportunities
kayla Dyches has been able to capitalize on her unique line of work to get free press in local publications, but still says the best way to promote her upcoming classes is still with paid online advertising. She runs paid ads on Facebook and Instagram every two to three months to promote her circus arts classes.
LBMA Podcast: Belly, Purple, and Facebook’s Dynamic Radar
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: Dixie’s Deadzone Diner, Oakley’s RADAR, Barbie’s IoT Dreamhouse, Tinder STACKS, SweetIQ, Absolut Vodka + Lyft.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem