News and Analysis

Mobile Video Struggles Persist While Tolerance for Them Decreases

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It looks like the quality mobile content experts say we can expect from 5G will be much appreciated by consumers. Mobile video is more popular than ever, among both consumers and digital advertisers, but the medium is plagued by slow load times and suboptimal ads. That’s per a new report out from mobile video vendor Panthera.

6 Pure-Play Online-to-Offline Attribution Platforms

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In a pure-play model, vendors focus exclusively on a certain number of core competencies. Not only does this help those companies to differentiate themselves from firms with broader offerings, but it also gives brands confidence that the vendor is an expert in the market. As online-to-offline attribution takes off, pure-play vendors are taking the lead in innovation, finding new ways to connect digital campaigns to foot traffic and in-store sales. Here are six vendors making a difference in the space right now.

5 Self-Serve Online-to-Offline Attribution Platforms

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Marketers with limited budgets are turning to a bevy of self-serve online-to-offline attribution solutions to correlate visitation rates and purchase data with digital campaigns. Utilizing a variety of testing methods for mapping campaign performance and purchases, these platforms are giving marketers the answers they need to justify online ad spend. Here are five examples of online-to-offline attribution platforms that marketers are using right now.

Commentary

Tackling the Problem of Measurement in Local

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“Google’s always had the disadvantage of being a more complex and opaque product than Facebook,” writes David Mihm, “but it feels like they’ve made almost zero progress on this front in the last eight years.”

Why Augmented Reality Will Eventually Take Over Local

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Soon, graphical overlays to the physical world will amplify everything from retail shopping (store navigation and product info), to finding a restaurant (ratings & reviews) to buying a home (values & specs). Utility will lead; marketing departments and jargon police can follow.

How Online Lenders Can Refine Their Targeting of SMBs

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The combination of doubling down on the minority of SMBs that are most likely to be receptive to capital and making it easy to engage these SMBs across on/offline channels with personalized, automated campaigns can make all of the difference.

Latest Posts

Openings and New Hires at Citymaps, Indochino, and Urgent.ly

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Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s column, Citymaps brings on ex-Nokia HERE CEO as executive chairman, made-to-measure menswear company Indochino appoints a new CEO, and Urgent.ly beefs up with a strategic sales hire.

For Small Businesses, the Tide Is Turning

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With a high percentage of retail consumer spending occurring in the last six weeks of the year, the fourth quarter is a good time to take the temperature of business owners. Recent surveys from Thumbtack and Yelp indicate an overall positive outlook heading into 2016.

Street Fight Daily: Yelp and OpenTable End Partnership, Google’s Plans For Accelerated Mobile Pages

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp, OpenTable Part Ways amid Heightened Competition (Reuters)… Inside Google’s Plan to Speed Up the Mobile Web (Poynter)… DoorDash Partners with b8ta for On-Demand Tech Gadget Delivery (TechCrunch)…

Is the Humble Phone Call Actually the Killer App for Local Businesses?

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It turns out reports of voice calling’s death are greatly exaggerated. Despite an explosion in data usage and mobile messaging, voice calling — facilitated by search and virtual assistants — remains a popular activity among mobile users. A lot of those calls are going to local businesses, where they are more likely to convert to revenue than web forms or emails.

6 Reasons Why Hyperlocal Tech Initiatives Continue to Elude Consumers

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Hyperlocal is a totally logical concept in the minds of technologists, analysts, and investors, but many hyperlocal tech initiatives have yet to catch fire with consumers. Part of the challenge is people are creatures of habit. Here are six reasons why hyperlocal tech will continue to elude consumers’ grasp in 2016.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Partners with Uber, Will Google’s Driverless Cars Be the Next Uber/Lyft?

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Messenger Now Lets You Hail Uber Rides (The Next Web)… Google’s Plan for Self-Driving Cars Means It Will Have to Compete with Uber (Recode)… Brand Relevance and Revenue in the Age of Snapchat (Nieman Lab)…

7 Ways Predictive Intelligence Can Be Applied to Small Business Marketing

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Small business owners have the tendency to shy away from advanced technologies like predictive intelligence, however experts in the field say that’s a mistake, and many of today’s platforms can be implemented by merchants on Main Street. Here are seven ways that small businesses can get in on the action and start using predictive intelligence tools today.

5 Reasons Why Local Marketing Will Mature in 2016

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The past few years have seen the introduction of a whole universe of new tools designed to address individual aspects of digital marketing. In 2016, we will see a shift away from many of these discreet, single-purpose tools toward more comprehensive marketing solutions, DataSphere’s Gary Cowan predicts. Here’s a look at five ways SMB local marketing will mature in the coming year.

Street Fight Daily: New Google Research on ‘Micro-Moments,’ What Won’t Happen in 2016

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Says Search Intent Matters More for Marketers Than User Identity (Adweek)… Trends for 2016: What Won’t Happen (eMarketer)… What You Need to Know About Facebook’s New Local Search ‘Test’ (Marketing Land)…

Storefront Fills a Growing Market for Short-Term Retail Spaces

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Pop-up shops are becoming of a fixture of the omnichannel retail landscape — and not just during the holiday season. Storefront is a three-year-old startup that connects anyone who wants to sell and promote their wares with landlords who have retail spaces they want to rent — a “marketplace for renting short-term retail space,” as co-founder and CEO Erik Eliason described it. The model is proving successful in syncing both large retailers and local artisan/makers with physical spaces that would otherwise lie dormant.