News and Analysis

Local Search Association Announces New President, Bill Dinan

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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.

Walmart Mulls a Run at the Digital Ad Business

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With reports percolating about Amazon’s increasingly clear emergence as a third party to Google and Facebook’s dominance of the digital ad market, the e-commerce behemoth’s old-school counterpart is reportedly taking a look at the action itself.

Marin Q4 Advertising Report Shows eCommerce Ads Skyrocketing, Instagram and Search Growth Strong

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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

Lessons for Mobile Marketers From Meeker’s 2016 Internet Trends Report

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The report focuses on several trends that should be of interest to retail marketers and their mobile marketing strategies. For starters, there is less differentiation between products, brands, and retailers. These days, products evolve into brands, brands become retailers, and retailers become products.

5 Steps to Identifying the Channel Partners That Will Grow Your Business

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It’s no surprise they call the golden rule of channel sales the 90/10 rule where 90% of the sales are going to come from 10% of your partners. The best approach to this problem is to come up with frameworks you can use to focus on those most likely to end up in the winner bucket.

Super Retailers Face Super Location Data Problems

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Managing location data across hundreds and thousands of locations requires dedicated resources to scale the data and change it. Just as importantly, a business must treat location data as a competitive asset, organized and managed like inventory.

Latest Posts

All Politics Is Data for 2016 and Beyond

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The saying used to be that “all politics is local.” A more appropriate term for the 2016 election cycle might be “all politics is data.” In fact, with their emphasis on audience and local targeting and their growing adoption of programmatic buying, political campaigns have begun to increasingly resemble marketing campaigns.

Street Fight Daily: Google Brings Back Google+, Angie’s List Says No to Acquisition (Again)

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Four Reasons Why Google Is Bringing Google Plus Back to Life (Recode)… Angie’s List Turns Down IAC’s Second Offer to Buy It — This Time for $512 Million (Business Insider)… Lyft Executive Says on Track to Hit $1 Billion in Gross Revenue (New York Times)…

The Challenge for ‘Indie’ News Sites: Monetizing Highly Engaged Audiences

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When they met at their recent Chicago convention, independent community publishers and editors talked a lot about what might be called “reve-news.” On everybody’s mind at the Local Independent Online Newspaper (LION) Publishers’ annual meeting was how to monetize news. Even weddings and obituaries can contribute to local news publishers’ bottom line.

5 Tools for Display Ad Creation and Distribution

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Programmatic-driven ad spend is expected to reach $14.2 billion worldwide this year. However, research by AppNexus indicates 97 percent of programmatic campaigns still lack targeted creative for individual audience segments. To satisfy this need, more hyperlocal vendors now are creating tools that businesses can use to generate targeted ad content without hiring their own in-house teams. Here are five tools for display ad creation and distribution.

Street Fight Daily: Google Gets Mobile Support from Facebook, Apple Maps Adds Foursquare Data

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Gets Surprise Ally in Mobile-App Search Push: Facebook (Wall Street Journal)… Foursquare Joins Apple Maps Data Sources as Company Builds Out Ecosystem (Search Engine Land)… Uber Is Creating a Ride-Sharing Mesh Network with Its New ‘Destinations’ Feature (The Next Web)…

Retail, Restaurants, and Roofers: Where Does On-Demand Work (and Not)?

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A year into the on-demand revolution, the question persists: Where’s it going next? So far, it’s gone into nearly every local vertical, but there are still areas with the right conditions for on-demand models to take root, some of which remain underdeveloped. These include higher-end professional services like lawyers and doctors, project-based work like design and writing, and, of course, SMBs, especially when it comes to local marketing and advertising.

Report: Executive Survey on Hyperlocal Tech and Tactics

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What’s on the mind of technology and marketing suppliers targeting the connected local economy? They’re keen on mobile — perhaps too keen — but struggling with their own companies’ brand awareness. The dichotomy between small businesses and national chains that sell locally is profound, and presents difficult challenges in scaling to support either, let alone both, according to Street Fight Insights analysis.

Street Fight Daily: Google Partners with HomeAdvisor, New Groupon CEO’s Vision

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Gets Deeper into Home Services (CNBC)… New Groupon CEO Says the Local Deals Pioneer Is Undervalued, Underestimated (GeekWire)… Foursquare Has Figured Out the Hottest Restaurants Around America Right Now (Tech Insider)…

LBMA Podcast: Starship Technologies Planning Fleet of Delivery Robots, MediaSignage Geotargets Moving Cars

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On the show: Starship Technologies is planning a fleet of delivery robots; MediaSignage geotargets moving vehicles; LISNR raises $10 million; Amazon kills Amazon Local and Amazon Register. Plus, member news from Facebook; Walgreens; Apple; Google; SweetIQ; what3words + ESRI.

Raise Report: Jet, Swrve, ClassPass Lock Down New Funding

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Every two weeks we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. In this edition, new investments include rounds for Jet, Swrve, and ClassPass.