News and Analysis
Yelp Revamps its Business Control Center and Releases Other Pandemic-Adaptive Features
The announcement follows massive layoffs at the company as advertising plunged along with SMB revenue in the face of coronavirus-fueled lockdowns. But a recent Brandify survey showed Yelp remains a massive presence in the local digital marketing space: 64% of US consumers are somewhat or very likely to turn to Yelp when searching for restaurants, second only to the leader across verticals, Google.
Yelp’s new features will prove especially helpful for businesses in the months, if not years during which Covid-19 continues to affect everyday habits, but a number of the changes align with digital marketing best practices that will serve Yelp clients well beyond the next 12 months. Below is a rundown.
Street Fight’s May Theme: Local Commerce’s Recovery Playbook
In our own reporting and analysis (and through the words of our contributors) this month, we’ll define the playbook for local re-entry. As business ramps back up, what will best practices be for local staples such as search marketing and reputation management?
We’ve already covered how businesses are digitizing to adapt to the challenges of commerce in a time of social distancing, embracing curbside pickup, social advertising, pop-up distribution centers, online classes, and retail tech. With an even longer-term view, we’ll examine how this period of uncertainty will shape the future of local commerce.
AARP Launches Platform Empowering Neighbors to Assist Each Other during Pandemic
Built by the team at AARP Innovation Labs over the course of just a few weeks, the Community Connections mutual aid aggregation platform gives volunteers and people in need a place to connect. It features a searchable directory of local mutual aid organizations, which are typically informal groups that provide key daily services, such as picking up groceries and delivering medications to people who are at high risk for contracting Covid-19. People can access the platform to find volunteer groups nearby, with links to those groups’ websites and locator maps.
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
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.
Street Fight Daily: Majority of Consumers Will Pay for Same-Day Delivery, Google Expands Waze
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Most U.S. Digital Buyers Would Pay for Same-Day Delivery — If They Need It… Google Quietly Expands Ride-Sharing Service… Chute Launches Service for Brands to Find and Manage Influencers…
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