News and Analysis

In Fitness Industry, Vertical Platforms Cater to Specialized Operations

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Online appointment booking platforms are a dime a dozen, used by businesses in a huge range of industries. But among fitness businesses, specifically, general use booking platforms aren’t very common. That’s because fitness businesses are more likely to use vertical-specific tools designed to meet the needs of specialized operations.

Perhaps more so than any other industry, health and wellness has shown a great desire for verticalized technology solutions. Although verticalization isn’t limited to the health and wellness industry, fitness studios and related businesses are much more likely to use technology platforms designed specifically for their industry.

Uber, Lyft, DoorDash Fight Gig Economy Law in California

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Ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft are teaming up with restaurant delivery service DoorDash to fight California’s AB 5, a law that would force gig-economy companies that survive on contractor labor to register their drivers (or dashers) as employees and offer them benefits, Vox reported.

The coalition, the Protect App-Based Drivers and Services campaign, is attempting to place a referendum on the 2020 California ballot that would give voters the choice to exempt ride-sharing services from the law. That would presumably include DoorDash, which is not a ride-hailing service but essentially iterated Uber’s business model, employing drivers to escort food instead of passengers from A to B on demand.

The Vertical Approach to Grocery Marketing

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More than just a niche market inside the retail vertical, grocery marketing has grown to become an industry unto itself. According to eMarketer, grocery is the “least penetrated but fastest-growing category” in e-commerce. Explosive growth, fueled in part by the rising popularity of online grocers and on-demand delivery services, like Instacart, that deliver goods from brick-and-mortar stores, is behind the prediction that the grocery retail market will reach $12.24 trillion globally by 2020.

CPG brands and supermarket chains have been quick to adopt vertical-specific marketing platforms and tools. Although there are plenty of local retail marketing solutions that could be adaptable to the grocery industry, the supermarket itself is a unique environment and that makes verticalized solutions even more desirable in this arena.

Commentary

Local Marketing Tricks and Treats for Halloween 2017

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Last year some 171 million Americans spent an astounding $8.3 billion for Halloween, shattering past records. And it’s entirely likely that spending will smash last year’s total. If you’re a CPG marketer, you’ll want to get in on the action.

Taking the Pulse of the Location Data Ecosystem

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Companies selling location and proximity data and services themselves concede that it’s a pretty small market, but that location data is an increasingly critical signal for a variety of marketing, operations, and product features well beyond mobile advertising.

Where Will VR Fit Into Local Advertising?

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How will advertising play out in (admittedly nascent) VR, especially in local? We’ll likely see the same early and ongoing misfires, such as banner ads. Or, as in video experiences, we’ll likely see a fair share of legacy formats — like pre-roll ads — ham-handedly shoehorned into VR.

Latest Posts

Raise Report: New Funding for Kiip, Sprinklr, Shipt

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Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for Civil Maps, Brandcast, Peek.com, and Density.

LBMA Podcast: Snapchat, Life 360, McDonald’s, Google Nearby

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Welcome to This Week in Location Based Marketing, a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association with Asif Khan and Aubriana Lopez. On the show: Uber + Digital Globe, Placed, Samsung LANdry, Snorelax Alarm Clock, Vivid VR Cinema.

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Posts Record-Shattering Q2, Whole Foods Enters Meal-Kit Delivery

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Beats Expectations with $857 Million in Profits Driven by AWS, Prime… America’s Meal-Kit Craze Attracts a Big New Competitor… GrubHub Announces More Investments Following Strong Q2…

Report: Beacons a Slam Dunk for Sports, Recouping Over $1B in Ticket Sales

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The Q2 2016 report by Proxbook shows that since then, there’s been a 33% increase in global sensors since the beginning of the year. And according to the new report, proximity technology has enabled sports teams and their venues to reclaim ticket revenue at a time when fewer fans are going to stadiums.

Parse.ly’s Audience Analytics Help News Sites Make Stronger Case to Advertisers

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Audience analytics firms Parse.ly aims to give community news sites the same kind of in-depth information that platforms like Facebook provide about how users are responding – and not responding – to content. The company aims to help editors and reporters make decisions that can go right to the bottom line, leading to higher revenue.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Profits Skyrocket, Gannett Expansion Faces Ad Difficulties

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Profit Nearly Triples on Mobile Ad Sales and New Users… Gannett’s Expansion Strategy Runs Into Bad News on the Ad Front… How Businesses Creating New Website Platforms Can Optimize for Search…

7 Call Analytics Platforms Using Machine Learning to Identify Caller Intent

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Providers are introducing adaptive learning technology to categorize data and generate insights from inbound phone calls, giving merchants the ability to better understand what types of telephone calls are being driven. Here are seven examples of call analytics and attribution providers using advanced technology to identify caller intent.

Street Fight Daily: Shopper Intent and Location, Brands Tap Pokémon Go

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… flok Launches Chatbots to Bolster Customer Engagement for Local Businesses… Can Insights on Shopper Intent Improve Location Data?… This Brand Found a Clever Way to Connect with Pokémon Go Players…

flok Launches Chatbots to Bolster Customer Engagement for Local Businesses

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With chatbot technology, communications between local businesses and their customers via flok can now evolve into more complex conversations. These conversations yield better data for the business owner and more detailed information as well as a more engaging customer service experience for the consumer.

The New Proximity: A Second Phase in Mobile Brings Here and Now to Life

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The first phase of mobile software relied on us to express a desire and thereby to enable a service. Our actions initiated services that capitalized on the phone’s ability to maximize proximity. Now we’re entering a second phase where, for many of us, connectivity and location awareness will be active for longer stretches of our days.