News and Analysis

Report: Education of SMB Marketers a Glaring Hole in Vendor Approaches

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The disconnect between how vendors think they are supporting and educating their clients, and how those clients actually feel they are being supported, can be alarming. BrandMuscle’s report found that local marketers are hungry for marketing knowledge, and yet 18% believe they get “little to no support” from the agencies or marketing teams with which they work. Twenty-eight percent say they get “check-the-box support,” which is still insufficient.

Toast Raises $250M, Securing Lead Position in Restaurant Management Software

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Restaurant management software provider Toast announced $250 million in additional funding on Monday, valuing the firm at $2.7 billion and cementing its lead position in the SaaS market for restaurants. TCV and Tiger Global Management led the Series E round.

Within 24 Hours, Further Signs That HUD’s Facebook Probe Could Upend Digital Ad Industry

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What’s at stake in the Facebook housing discrimination probe and related investigations into Google and Twitter is whether the dissemination of online content—the news, product recommendations, advertising campaigns of all kinds, and entertainment—can and should be permitted on the basis of data collected on users’ personal characteristics and past behaviors. Should organizations, in industries as varied as entertainment, apparel, tech, and education, be permitted to use evolving technology to predict whom ads should target and thus who should see the content promoting Berkeley’s MBA program, the new housing development in Long Island City, or the hip sunglasses Warby Parker will never get me to buy? How does past human behavior and long-term inequality in various groups’ access to privileged resources shape ad targeting and the technology that automates it, and can the tech industry reach beyond those limitations to open up new futures instead of capitalizing on and reinforcing historical distinctions?

The news this week of the Trump administration’s first charges filed against a major tech company is the first step on our path to finding out.

Commentary

As Google Pushes for Users to Stay on Its Platform, What Are the Effects for Local Search

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“Obviously Google still controls a fair bit of the searcher’s pre-purchase mindshare, and they obviously want to retain that role,” writes Mike Blumenthal. “They are also fighting like crazy to be relevant in a world where 50% (and growing) of users’ total digital media time is spent in Apps.”

Making Sense of the Mobile Marketing Spending Disparity

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Consumers’ relationships with media and mobile devices have changed. Advertising needs to change as well. The responsibility is with advertisers and their agencies and service providers to demand the granularity and specificity that you can only achieve with the targeted data you get from mobile advertising.

Why Data Attributes Power the Long Tail of Local Search

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The mandate for brands is simple: manage data attributes as a crucial element of your location marketing strategy. But it’s not enough to create attributes. You need to constantly monitor the ever-changing nature of your business and your customers and be ready to act on your attributes as needed.

Latest Posts

LBMA Podcast: Key Trends for 2016

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Welcome to episode #265. On the show: This is our annual predictions show. We highlight the things that stuck with us throughout 2015, how our 2015 predictions panned out during the year, the trends we see gaining steam and the companies that you should be paying attention to as we head into 2016. Show Notes: […]

Street Fight Daily: Nextdoor Going International, Uber Wants to Help Book Travel

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Nextdoor, the $1.1B Social Network for Neighbors, Is Finally Expanding Overseas (Business Insider)… Uber Is Thinking of Getting Into the Travel Business (Business Insider)… In Silicon Valley Now, It’s Almost Always Winner Takes All (New Yorker)…

Street Fight’s Predictions for 2016: Part Two

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With 2015 drawing to a close, it’s time again to look ahead to what we can expect in the hyperlocal space in 2016. We asked Street Fight staffers and weekly columnists what they thought would be the biggest story (or stories) in local in 2016. We ran the first installment yesterday — now here are the rest.

10 Pivotal Moments From the On-Demand Economy in 2015

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From huge expansion to Asian markets to massive funding rounds to drone deliveries and new technologies, 2015 will go down as a landmark year for the on-demand economy. As we get ready to watch the ball drop on December 31, it’s a good opportunity to look back at 10 pivotal moments from this past year and their impact on the future of on-demand.

Street Fight Daily: How Facebook Intimidates Google, Quantifying Mobile Ads’ Impact

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Is Afraid of Facebook’s Search Ambitions (Motley Fool)… Marketers Can Now Run Studies to See How People Respond to Their Mobile Ads (Adweek)… Sidecar Shutdown Leaves Uber and Lyft to Battle It Out in Ride-Hailing Market (GeekWire)…

Street Fight’s Predictions for 2016: Part One

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With 2015 drawing to a close, it’s time again to look ahead to what we can expect in the hyperlocal space in 2016. We asked Street Fight staffers and weekly columnists what they thought would be the biggest story (or stories) in local in 2016. We’ll be running their outlooks in two installments, the first today and the second tomorrow.

Rating Street Fight’s 2015 Predictions

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At the end of each year, Street Fight invites staffers, friends, and luminaries from the industry to share their predictions for what’s in store for the coming year. Today, we take a look back at some of the predictions for 2015 to see who was on target and who missed the mark.

Street Fight Hyperlocal Analyst Predictions for 2016

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With 2015 drawing to a close, it’s time again to look ahead to what we can expect in the hyperlocal space in 2016. This year, we did things a little differently. We invited our regular analyst contributors to 1) weigh in on what they felt would be a “sure thing” in the coming year, 2) offer a prediction on something that might get big (but might not happen), and 3) identify something that hyperlocal marketers and merchants really don’t need to worry about. This is the first of several predictions pieces we will feature this week.

10 Ways Retailers Can Create Awareness of In-Store Mobile Channels

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Consumers increasingly prefer to communicate with businesses through their smartphones rather than face-to-face, even while they’re shopping in-store. Retailers have reacted to this shift by investing in beacons and mobile apps. But many are finding that use of these technologies is low because consumers don’t realize they exist. To understand how merchants should go about building these relationships and creating awareness of their mobile channels, we spoke with seven industry experts.

LBMA Podcast: WayRay’s Holographic Navigation System, Samsung Makes Holiday Piano Out of Tablets

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On the show: WayRay launches the world’s first holographic navigation system; Samsung fashions a holiday piano out of 112 tablets; Membo — the Yik Yak for local discovery; Moz partners with NavAds BV; Netflix socks turn your TV off if you fall asleep. Plus, news from Factual; Mondelez; Facebook and Uber; JCPenney; and Best Buy.