News and Analysis
Raise Report: HYP3R, Postmates, Singular Secure Fresh Funding
Every two or three weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for GitLab, Tamr, Wove, and Leena AI.
Street Fight Daily: ThriveHive Launches GMB Solution; Amazon Now #3 Ad Platform, May Open 3K Brick-and-Mortars
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… ThriveHive Launches Solution to Audit Google My Business Profiles… Amazon Is Now the #3 Digital Ad Platform in the US… Nucleus Claims It Now Has Throw Weight to Outperform Platforms on Ads…
ThriveHive Launches Solution to Audit Google My Business Profiles
The sheer volume of features that Google has added to Google My Business in the past year has made the platform overwhelming for many small business owners. It’s also opening up new opportunities for digital marketing vendors like ThriveHive.
Commentary
Social Studies: Are ‘Follows’ and ‘Likes’ Right for All SMBs?
Social media simply isn’t right for the vast majority of local businesses. Even with its extremely low out-of-pocket-costs, social marketing takes a tremendous amount of ongoing effort and diligence to have any hope of generating what a local business would consider to be results…
Handicapping 2015’s Mobile-Local Happenings: 5 Areas to Watch
At the crest of a new year, several trends signal what we can expect to see in mobile and location-based media. Next year we’ll see the mobile ad market continue to grow, we’ll see local continue to be Uber-fied, and we’ll see mobile social sharing go local as well…
Communicating With Mobile Consumers in the ‘Experience Age’
In 2015, the customer experience will be more critical than ever before, as consumers’ attention spans continue to shorten. Brands must engage consumers in the most personal, relevant and timely fashion to grab their attention…
Latest Posts
Study: Franchises Spend ‘Nearly Half’ of Marketing Budgets on Digital
Franchises, equipped with the resources of a large brand but the flexibility of a small business, could help provide a critical stepping stone for vendors looking to reach SMBs. New data shows they are substantially more digitally advanced than their independent counterparts…
How Local Found Itself on a Mound of Big Data
There is no question the hyperlocal era has brought with it a heady onslaught of data about consumer behavior and the way local businesses interact with their customers. But it’s not an easy road. There are real issues around sourcing and parsing the data; around finding the best strategies to put it to use…
For Facebook (And Others), Small Businesses Aren’t the Focus
Facebook’s decision to throttle organic reach has drawn ire among the small business community, and led some in the technology industry to question its future. The company is making very clear that the consumer is its real focus…
Street Fight Daily: Google’s New Call Unit, Main Street Hub Raises $20M
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Pay-Per-Call: Google Introduces “Call-Only” AdWords Units (Local Search Insider)… Main Street Hub Lands $20M To Bring Social Media Marketing To Small Business (TechCrunch)… Digital First — What Then? (Medium)…
5 Tools for Publishing Product Inventory on Social Media
Small business owners are pulling out all the stops to drive traffic to their social media pages, but many aren’t giving enough thought as to what happens once people have agreed to “like” or “follow” their businesses online. Here are five tools that businesses can try to spur further engagement…
How Small Businesses Can Nail Social Marketing
A strong social media presence can be a hugely powerful tool for any small business. With even a limited amount of time and effort you can create new opportunities for customers to engage with or discover your brand and strengthen your relationships with your target audience…
LBMA Podcast: Geofeedia’s RJ Taylor, Groupon’s Beacons
On the show: ScreenPop adds messages to your lock screen; Knorr soup beacons to you; ESRI launches ArcGIS Open Data website; Rockbot Anthem; Guidekick; Fans on Foot…
Street Fight Daily: Bing’s New Ordering Service, Google Revives Wallet
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Bing Now Lets You Order Food And Book Hotels Directly From Search Results (The Next Web)… To Revive Wallet, Google Tries to Wrangle Unruly Partners (Wall Street Journal)… Uber Valued At $41 Billion As Revenue Growth Powers Expanded Funding Round (MarketWatch)…
Borrell on Local News: Inform, but Help Businesses Thrive
“We can certainly view people who frequent hyperlocal news sites as ‘readers’ who are there for the content. But once we begin to realize that they are likely to be buy something that day, tomorrow, or next week, then we begin understanding the real value of that audience,” says the CEO of Borrell Associates…
7 Strategies for Improving Mobile Coupon Redemption Rates
As smartphone use continues to soar, the landscape for promotions and offers is shifting. Despite the push to digitize coupons and phase out printed materials, mobile coupon redemption rates remain surprisingly low. Here are seven strategies for improving performance that marketers should consider…
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem