News and Analysis
While Sales Growth Rate Slows, Amazon Marketplace, Cloud, and Ad Businesses Point to Long-Term Prosperity
For brands hoping to compete with Amazon (and potentially looking on with relief at a sign of fallibility from their digital rival), the company’s earnings report brings the news that Amazon Marketplace, where third-party sellers can reach customers, is doing more than twice as much in sales as Amazon’s first-party retail platform. Marketplace is troubled by bad practices and fake reviews, and its prosperity suggests the growing challenge for brands to get customers to even go to their sites at a time when Amazon is essentially the homepage of the commerce-oriented Internet.
As Voice Gets Established, Brands Grapple with Implementation
Consumer demand for voice technology has never been greater, and industry heavyweights like Google and Amazon are gearing up for a platform war as they work to integrate voice assistants into virtually every area of the connected consumer’s life. But behind the scenes, many brand marketers are struggling to connect the dots and design campaigns around a technology they don’t fully understand.
Apple Takes Advantage of Facebook’s Foul Play to Make a Privacy Statement
Not only did Facebook’s “Research” app, which paid 13- to 35-year-old users $20/month to access their search history, emails, and private messages, set off every imaginable alarm on the this-will-look-bad-when-the-exposé-comes-out PR radar (one of the world’s most powerful corporations must be lacking one of those), but the app also blatantly violated the terms of Apple’s Enterprise Developer Program, which proscribes distributing apps to consumers. It probably didn’t help that Facebook was searching tweens’ data for dirt on its competitors.
Commentary
Is Uber Paving the Way Toward Verified Consumer Reviews?
In an atmosphere where fake reviews are all too easy to create, we need tools that help distinguish real opinions from garbage. Moving beyond the limitations of data algorithms, fact-based approaches hold out the promise of grounding review services in observable truth.
For Brick and Mortar to Beat Ecommerce, It Takes Mind, Body, and Spirit
While many onlookers think that increased comparison shopping, faster and cheaper delivery options like drones, and the convenience of shopping at home equal doom for physical stores, the reality is that the economy (like the people behind it) is largely driven by the irrational.
As Local Search Behavior Evolves, Marketing Spending Will Follow
Merchants and marketers have to be findable and present useful information regardless of the searcher’s context. And that’s where the mechanics of local search marketing get messy. It feels like a great opportunity for tools and managed services that help break down those silos, and measure effectiveness across or between them.
Latest Posts
LBMA Podcast: Sensewhere Partners With Tencent, DoubleDutch Raises $45M
On the show: Wrapify wants to pay you when you drive your car; Latis works on smarter notifications; Intellibins locates recycling for New Yorkers; Ahlens of Sweden uses Instagram in a unique way; and ClearChannel promotes Humans TV show in airports.
Street Fight Daily: Square Introduces Mobile Appointments, SF Wants Uber’s Data
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Here’s Why Square Appointments for Mobile is a Big Deal (The Next Web)… SF Seeks Uber Data as Company Touts Commitment to Urban Transit (Recode)… Blink and You Miss It: How Brands Can Capture an Audience in Seconds (Linkedin Pulse)…
How Hospitality Brands Balance Global and Local in Their Marketing
Hotel brands face a marketing conundrum: Though they may be national or global brands, the average consumer experiences them on a local basis. So how should global hospitality brands manage this split?
LION’s DeRienzo: Programmatic Ads Will Be Part of ‘Indie’ Future
Matt DeRienzo, the interim executive director of the Local Independent Online News publishers ‘ association, is getting ready for what looks like a strong annual conference in Chicago this fall. We caught up with him to talk a bit about the state of “indie” local publishing.
Street Fight Daily: Android Pay Launch Date Still Unknown, PlaceIQ Bridging Online-Offline
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Contrary To Reports, Android Pay Not Launching This Week (TechCrunch)… Let’s Get Physical: PlaceIQ Chips Away At Online/Offline Attribution (AdExchanger)… Succeeding In Mobile Advertising: The Journey Begins (Marketing Land)…
Street Culture: SweetIQ Empowers Employees to Drive Independent Progress
Non-structured employee bonding opportunities help provide a new perspective on topics that have often already been discussed at length in meetings and via email. Sometimes the best results happen naturally as employees form relationships with each other outside of work.
Why Mobile Could Make or Break Your Back-to-School Campaign
The school year is right around the corner, which means that back-to-school shopping is already in full swing. Aside from the holidays, back-to-school is the second-largest selling season, so if retailers are not participating, they’re missing out. To be successful this school year, you need to know what trends are affecting how consumers are finding […]
Street Fight Daily: Amazon Tests Restaurant Deliveries, Etsy Highlights Local SMBs
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Is Quietly Testing a Plan to Take On GrubHub (Business Insider)… Etsy’s Updated Mobile App Lets You Locate Local Artisans (The Next Web)… Lyft Kills Off HotSpots as Uber Launches Copycat ‘Smart Routes’ Service (Recode)…
Moasis Debuts New Ad Platform, Seeks to Connect With Consumers’ Context
Today the company is debuting Moasis for Advertisers, which promises a one-stop shop for collecting and predictively analyzing valuable location-related data like weather, nearby events, and traffic. “Programmatic and mobile are virtually synonymous today,” said Moasis CMO Eric Nielsen.
Facebook’s Ad Platform for SMBs Has Come a Long Way, But Still Has Room to Grow
More and more local businesses are turning to Facebook to launch hyperlocal ad campaigns. And for good reason — the company has greatly enhanced its SMB ad offerings in the past year. As a relatively young ad medium, though, Facebook hasn’t really mastered the game yet.
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