News and Analysis

4 Marketing Use Cases for AR Today

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Augmented reality is making the leap from hyped technology of the future to driver of cutting-edge marketing techniques today. To document the state of the field and shine a light on those use cases, the IAB released its AR marketing playbook earlier this month.

In case you’re too busy to peruse the pdf, I’ll detail the major use cases outlined in the report.

Word of Mouth Remains Vital for Loyalty in Digital Age

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Pundits have speculated that loyalty is becoming less and less important as mobile and especially voice search drive the consumer toward the most convenient purchasing options. That may be true, but the report indicates loyalty remains a powerful factor, with 53% of consumers saying they are more likely to buy from a retailer they know and trust.

Retail Insights: Inside The Vitamin Shoppe’s Omnichannel Strategy

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The data that The Vitamin Shoppe collects in its CRM is used to create 360-degree views of each customer so that in-store associates can see in real time when customers have earned new awards and offer more personalized product recommendations based on previous purchases.

Commentary

Tried and True Marketing Tactics SMBs Can Borrow From Premium Brands

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Many small-but-growing businesses have a multi-store operation and a dynamic online presence, but simply can’t afford the custom-built, integrated retail and ecommerce systems that keep a premium brand’s customer experience tight and consistent. Here are some tactics they can employ to hack that problem.

What Does the Bot Bubble Mean for Facebook’s Long Game?

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“Facebook has long been a force in post-sale retention and Messenger can really play a huge part as a CRM tool,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “I see it as the “real” social network… the one where folks communicate with those closest to them.”

Yext’s IPO Could Raise All Boats in Local — And Herald Consolidation

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While the company’s long-anticipated announcement yesterday didn’t come as a huge surprise for those following local, the news that it was imminent still packed a punch. So we asked several luminaries to weigh in on what the offering might portend for the broader industry.

Latest Posts

5 Platforms for Cross-Promotions Between Local Businesses

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In communities around the country, small business owners are considered local influencers. And rather than go it alone with their local marketing campaigns, some of these merchants are finding success by partnering with peers and implementing new cross-promotional marketing strategies.

Google Finally Reveals How to Improve Your Local Ranking

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Google has significantly updated its help page on the topic of local ranking to include, for the first time, specific common-sense guidelines showing businesses how they can increase the likelihood that online searchers will find them in Google Maps on desktop and mobile.

7 Smart Ways to Deliver Loyalty Rewards Based on Buying Patterns

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Hyperlocal vendors are increasingly marketing their high-tech loyalty programs at small and mid-size businesses, with easier ways for business owners to deliver loyalty rewards based on data captured through the point-of-sale. Here are seven ways merchants can use purchasing behaviors to offer more relevant rewards.

Street Fight Daily: Comcast-backed Firm Bets $250M on Groupon, OOH Advertising’s ‘Renaissance’

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Comcast-Backed Firm Makes $250 Million Investment in Groupon (Bloomberg)… Technology Fuels Renaissance in Out-of-Home Advertising (AdAge)… Does Google Stand a Chance Against Facebook in Mobile Display? (Marketing Land)…

Automating Local Commerce: Rise of the Chatbots

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Bots could displace apps just as apps displaced search. “Search started with consumers typing into a box,” Pingup’s Ron Braunfeld said recently. “[AI] is all about knowing where you are, time of day, what’s in your refrigerator; and giving you the right information without having to search.”

Case Study: How a New York Car Dealership Generates Online Leads

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At his family-owned used car dealership, Anthony Curran works as a salesman and also handles marketing. He says a recent campaign with Facebook had a lot of success: “In the first week we had over 80,000 people reached. Since then, everyone has been mentioning seeing us on Facebook.”

Street Fight Daily: Reserve Acquires Dash, Shoppers Save Big Purchases for Desktop

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Reserve Acquires Mobile Payments Startup Dash (TechCrunch)… U.S. Shoppers Save Big-Ticket Online Purchases for Desktop (Quartz)… Report: Search Drives 10x More Traffic to Shopping Sites Than Social Media (Search Engine Land)…

Gimbal CEO Says Getting Beacons Right Means Moving Beyond the Coupon

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“When people started thinking of beacons, they thought it was the place to [deliver] the coupon offer,” says Jeff Russakow, “but what we’re finding is that there is a broader and richer experience to be had through beacon deployment.”

5 On-Demand Apps for Emergency Services

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While dialing 911 is the correct response when major emergencies occur, it isn’t always appropriate for lesser events, like flat tires or minor medical injuries. For events that are urgent but not life-threatening, a host of specialty on-demand apps are looking to fill the void.

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Could Buy Stake in HERE, New Subscription Service from Postmates

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon In Talks to Buy Stake in Mapping Company HERE (Yahoo Finance)… Postmates Launches Subscription Service, Hits 1M Monthly Deliveries (TechCrunch)… More Brands Mean Many More Buttons for Amazon Service (New York Times)…