News and Analysis

Google Integrates Food Delivery into Search, Maps, Assistant

More or less following the model of Reserve with Google, which has seamlessly integrated the process of reserving a table at a nearby restaurant into SERPs, Google is now integrating food delivery into search, Maps, and Assistant, keeping consumers on Google properties for the entire journey as they make transactions via third-party couriers.

As GDPR’s One-Year Anniversary Approaches, Where Are We Now?

One year in, it’s clear that the full impact of GDPR still hasn’t been felt. The regulation is structured in a way that puts less pressure on large companies than smaller businesses, and that’s something that regulators will have to continue sorting out. But the changes Europe’s law portends are undeniable: Privacy legislation is coming to the United States, and the data collection practices that made many Silicon Valley pioneers rich will never be quite so unbridled again.

5 Visual Marketing Platforms for Brands

Amazon, Alibaba, and eBay are just a few online retailers with new visual search tools, and social media platforms like Snapchat are letting users take pictures of items to buy on Amazon and Pinterest. By using enterprise-level visual marketing platforms, brands can capitalize on their visibility across the web and drive more revenue from the images and other content their customers are creating.

Here are five visual marketing platforms that brands are using right now.

Commentary

Making Sense of the Mobile Marketing Spending Disparity

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

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.

xAd Foot Traffic Data Reveals QSR Trends, Maps Audience Segmentation Opportunities

At a high level, the report, based on 37 million visits xAd observed on its platform from April 1 to June 30, gives us the inside track on which brands have been the most successful in driving foot traffic to their premises — and which brands have a way to go.

Latest Posts

Get Ready: Holiday Returns Season Set to Begin

During the holiday season, we focus so much attention on when people buy, how much they spend, and whether it got there on time that we tend to overlook what happens once gifts are purchased. An equal test for retailers — both online and brick-and-click — will be making returns as easy as the purchase itself.

Case Study: Children’s Center Uses Scheduling Platform to Streamline Administrative, Marketing Tasks

Almost half of small business owners say they’re being overrun by basic administrative tasks. When Roo’s World of Discovery owner Michelle Pollak Landwehr found herself in that same position, spending hours each week on basic administrative tasks like tracking member visits, scheduling classes, and managing recurring payments at her Washington-based children’s indoor play space, she began looking for digital solutions.

Street Fight Daily: Yahoo’s Search App Gets a Big Update, Postmates Moves Further into Commerce

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yahoo Search App for iPhone Gets a Bit More ‘Now’ with Personalized Content (Search Engine Land)… Postmates Digs into Commerce with Curated ’12 Days of Postmates’ Campaign (TechCrunch)… Procter & Gamble’s New Strategy Shows Agencies Still Needed for Programmatic (Digiday)…

LBMA Podcast: UberMedia Introduces LROI Concept, Soundpays Launches Mobile Wallet in Canada

On the show: UberMedia introduces LROI concept; Soundpays launches mobile wallet in Canada; Mobify Buys Dónde; bfonics launches Wi-Fi beacon; racist tweets on billboards in Brazil; Tyrers Department Store tests “Digital Clothing Rail.” Plus, news from Aruba Networks; Domino’s; Placemeter; Krispy Kreme and NCR; and Blue Bite and Rouge Media.

Raise Report: Netsertive, EatStreet, Factual Secure New Funding

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 Netsertive, EatStreet, and Factual.

The Power of Pairing: 4 Reasons Matching Is Gaining Traction in Local Home Services

When variables such as trust, uncertainty, availability, and geography are at the core of decision-making — as they so often are when it comes to hiring professionals to perform home services — matching, especially when coupled with ratings and reviews, offers consumers peace of mind. It also provides an immediate connection in an often urgent and sometimes complicated time of need.

Street Fight Daily: Twitter Will Show Ads to ‘Casual Viewers,’ Location Startup Factual Raises $35M

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Twitter Aims to Show Advertising to Much Wider Audience (New York Times)… Startup Factual Knows Your Commute, and Much More (Wall Street Journal)… Billy Penn and Knight Foundation Want to Build ‘Yelp for Mobile News’ (Poynter)…

6 Ways Local Merchants Can Use Rewards to Bring in Holiday Shoppers

Consumers are expected to spend $630.5 billion this holiday shopping season. Local merchants are fighting tooth and nail to take back a larger share of that revenue from their ecommerce competitors. Here’s what industry leaders said about the types of incentives that work best for encouraging shoppers to make holiday purchases at local retail businesses instead of big-box stores or ecommerce sites.

Why Location Management Matters in the Age of Mobile and Social

If SEO is about websites and marketing is about brand awareness, location management is about brick-and-mortar businesses and removing friction along the customer journey from online search to offline purchase. Ignore it at your peril.

Street Fight Daily: Uber Launches Food Delivery App, Walmart Develops Own Mobile Payments Service

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Tests Standalone Food Delivery App (TechCrunch)… Walmart to Offer Smartphone Payments in Stores (Wall Street Journal)… Facebook Is Updating Instant Articles to Help Publishers Make More Money (Adweek)…