News and Analysis
Local Search Association Announces New President, Bill Dinan
The Local Search Association, which brings together over 300 companies intent on connecting enterprises and small businesses alike with consumers, announced on Wednesday morning Bill Dinan as its new president. The announcement follows the retirement of its previous president Neg Norton, who held the role for 15 years.
Marin Q4 Advertising Report Shows eCommerce Ads Skyrocketing, Instagram and Search Growth Strong
Digital marketing software firm Marin Software has released its Q4 advertising report, which points to major trends in social, search, and e-commerce. Instagram is taking on an increasingly central role in Facebook’s main business, e-commerce ads are booming YOY, and search remains fundamental to digital advertising, the report shows.
Commentary
As Local’s Complexity Grows, What Does It Take to Build a Sustainable Agency Business?
“There are two paths for consultants or small agencies today,” writes David Mihm. “Either be a generalist who’s aware of all the major channels, and the kinds of businesses that are good fits for those channels, or develop an incredibly deep focus in a particular channel, and make a name for yourself as the go-to resource within that channel.”
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Uber’s $62B Valuation, Nextdoor’s New On-Demand ‘Casual Labor Exchange’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Valuation Put at $62.5 Billion After New Investment Round (New York Times)… Nextdoor Is the Lastest Company to Enter On-Demand Services (BuzzFeed)… Why a Remote Work Policy Is Worth Considering (Street Fight)…
5 Geofencing Tools for Customer Acquisition
Marketers increasingly are using geofencing and proximity marketing to send push notifications to existing customers located at specific events or landmarks. However, this technology still isn’t being used to its full potential as a new customer acquisition tool. Here are five examples of platforms that marketers can use to deliver offers to nearby mobile users, with the ultimate goal of promoting new customer acquisition.
On-Demand and Deep Linking Becoming More Deeply Linked
The worlds of on-demand and deep-linking took another step closer when ride-sharing giant Uber announced a new mechanism for app developers to incorporate a button for users to request an Uber driver. Expect to see more of this kind of app integration among on-demand services, giving the market leaders greater scale and distribution.
Street Fight Daily: Yahoo’s Advertising Woes, Starbucks Launches Delivery Service with Postmates
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yahoo Struggles as an Afterthought to Advertisers (New York Times)… Starbucks Launches Delivery Service in Partnership with Postmates (TechCrunch)… On-Demand and Deep Linking Becoming More Deeply Linked (Street Fight)…
How Multi-location Brands Can Keep Up with the Push for On-Demand
In the era of UberRUSH, Postmates, DoorDash, and others, every business with an in-house delivery fleet is feeling the pressure to provide the same kind of on-demand delivery experience. The driving force behind the demand for on-demand is time, or the perceived lack thereof. Consumers have shown they will pay a premium to save it.
Mobile-mentum Continues into Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday was one for the record books. U.S. shoppers spent nearly $3 billion through digital channels, making it the single largest online sales day in history, according to Adobe, and continuing a string of firsts this holiday season. Mobile continued to display strong momentum from the holiday weekend in driving website traffic and sales.
Street Fight Daily: Yahoo to Discuss Selling Internet Business, Google’s New Pinterest-Like Feature
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yahoo Board to Weigh Sale of Internet Business (Wall Street Journal)… Google Turns Image Search into Pinterest with New ‘Collections’ Feature (TechCrunch)… Uber Teams with Enterprise to Let Drivers Rent Cars for Ride-Sharing (Denver Business Journal)…
Case Study: Restaurant Increases Visit Frequency with Mobile Ordering Option
Cold-calling techniques have a notoriously low success rate for hyperlocal vendors trying to onboard new merchants, but it was an unsolicited drop-in that led to The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen’s successful three-year relationship with ChowNow, an online ordering system and marketing platform for restaurants.
Local News Media on Ad Blockers: ‘We’re Not Hemorrhaging Revenue’
Ad blocking on mobile has been in the spotlight since Apple launched its iOS 9 operating system in September. “The loss from ad blockers appears to be more of an opportunity loss for publishers than an actual revenue loss,” said Thomas Sly, E. W. Scripps Co. vp of digital revenue and chair of the Local Media Consortium committee established to respond to the ad-blocking threat.
Street Fight Daily: Social Networks Struggle with Ecommerce, Nextdoor’s ‘Neighborhood Favorites’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Social Networks Face Obstacles in Road to Ecommerce Domination (Gigaom)… Nextdoor’s ‘Neighborhood Favorites’ Gets Closer to a Business Model (Local Onliner)… Millennials’ Growing Distrust of Plastic Cards Paves Way for Digital Payments (Marketing Land)…
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The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation