News and Analysis
What Comes Next for Indoor Navigation? Enterprise Success, SMB Struggles
Gimbal COO and CMO Matthew Russo says that at scale, indoor location technology is advanced enough that it works incredibly well. Russo says that at Gimbal, he has worked with major brand clients who are able to understand when a VIP walks into their lobby. They also know if the customer has waited too long at a check-in line, and they’re able to present customers with special offers or keyless check-ins at their rooms.
“But if you’re a pizzeria owner with a single storefront looking to send a push notification to people walking by, you probably won’t see the results you’re hoping for,” Russo says.
Could those scaling issues be holding back the indoor navigation industry, and if so, what’s the solution?
Strategy for Bolstering Brand Safety Online Combines AI, Human Linguists
Despite promises that they would do better, platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and others are still struggling with the issue. Brands don’t want their ads appearing alongside extremist content and hate speech, but flagging every piece of content that could be considered inappropriate is not an easy task.
The challenge has opened the door for a new industry of “authenticators,” which use technology to help brands avoid inappropriate content online. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, these technology providers are usually able to evaluate the quality of an ad impression in real-time and help their brand clients avoid anything that could be considered inappropriate. Or at least, that’s what the goal is.
Pared Expands to DC, Connecting Gig Economy Workers with Restaurants
Pared, the platform matching restaurant and hospitality workers with businesses in need of staff to cover shifts, is expanding to DC. Pared is already live in New York and San Francisco, and it plans to expand to Philadelphia, Boston, and other locations in 2020.
The San Francisco-headquartered startup claims its service offers a prime deal for workers and businesses alike. It says it offers hospitality and food service workers higher wages and flexibility while offering businesses a ready workforce amid perennially high turnover in the industry.
Commentary
Two Mobile Marketing Studies Sketch Location Data’s Role in Cross-Channel Measurement
The reports released last week by industry organizations provide useful advice on mobile marketing tactics and using location data. Both studies point to the need to apply integrated, cross-channel measurement techniques, and to use location data for targeting, customer segmentation, and attribution.
3 Location Marketing Lessons That Healthcare Brands Can Teach Other Industries
When the location marketing experts discuss best practices, they often focus on industries like retail. But the healthcare industry can teach us a lot about location marketing. Partly because healthcare faces constant turmoil, healthcare is a source of constant reinvention.
The Coming Polarization of the SMB Software Market
Strangely, despite the size of the opportunity you don’t find too many SMB companies in most VC portfolios. You see plenty of consumer and enterprise-focused startups, but much fewer on the SMB side. The reason for this is that it’s “hard” for companies serving SMBs to grow at the rate that can deliver “venture” returns.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: YP Plans Yahoo Bid, eBay’s Craigslist Competitor Has 7M Downloads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… YP Plans First-Round Bid for Yahoo (Bloomberg) YP, the digital advertising business of what was formerly Yellowpages.com, plans to submit a first-round bid Monday to merge with Yahoo. YP is working with Goldman Sachs to investigate a variety of strategic alternatives, which could […]
Survey: Many National-to-Local Marketers Use Home-Grown Management and Analytics Tools
Relatively few of these sophisticated companies make use of a common tool for managing and coordinating campaigns. That’s the case even though a third of respondents said various local programs were centralized at headquarters.
Case Study: Washington Retailer Drives Sales with Localized Campaigns
“Our goal is to concentrate on how we can engage better through mobile and video — quality content that people want to engage with is the measuring stick,” says Jordan Roorda. “It’s a complete change with how ‘success’ is measured, it’s like giving a thoughtful present, not a gift card.”
5 Monetization Strategies for Beacon Vendors
Building a sustainable stream of revenue has proven to be harder than building a piece of hardware that detects nearby smartphones. In order for this burgeoning vertical to flourish, beacon vendors need to find a monetization strategy that makes sense.
SweetIQ CEO: Local Marketing Has Become ‘Far Too Fragmented’
“There are too many [companies] trying to compete” in local, says Mohannad El-Barachi. He suggested that the industry needs to come up with a set of principles under which SMB owners can say: “These are my expectations and here’s what I should be getting.”
Street Fight Daily: Yelp’s New Home Services Feature, Return of the QR Code?
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Now You Can Get Price Quotes for Home Services Inside Yelp (BuzzFeed)… Will Facebook Salvage QR Codes from the Dustbin of Local Marketing History? (Blumenthals)… Cross-Device Campaigns 60% Better Than PC-Only for Offline Conversions (Marketing Land)…
Inevitably, There’s a ‘Bot of Bots’ Digging Up Local Services
Bot Hunter allows queries about the latest hot bots, and its makers envision lots of local bots populating the platform. Key use cases include scheduling appointments, retrieving basic information, receiving automatic follow-ups after certain purchases, as well as promotions and loyalty programs.
Why Local Publishers Shouldn’t Aim So Exclusively for Millennials
I’ve been a cheerleader for local news organizations in their quest to attract Millennial audiences, but I’m starting to wonder if publishers are too convinced that reaching the youngest generation of adults is the magical elixir for all their problems.
Street Fight Daily: Local News Publishers Form Ad Company, Google Still Betting on Beacons
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… 4 of the Biggest Media Publishers in the U.S. Form an Advertising Company (Business Insider)… Google May Have Found a Way to Make the Real-World Web Work (Wired)… Apple Pursues New Search Features for a Crowded App Store (Bloomberg)…
Case Study: Fashion Retailer Boosts Engagement With Data-Driven Initiatives
Customer acquisition has never been a problem for the team at fashion consignment retailer 2nd Time Around. But generating the type of data that’s necessary to get a complete picture of customers had been a challenge, according to CEO Kristin Kohler Burrows.
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