News and Analysis
Google Websites — To Infinity and Beyond?
“In the developing world, Google has a simplified path to the GMB where if a business first creates a website they can get verified more easily,” Mike Blumenthal notes. “Thus the website becomes the hook into Google’s data funnel. In the US, and most other developed countries, I would speculate that it is typically the other way around”
Big Political Ad Spend Set for Local in 2018, but Will News Sites Be Ready?
Political ad spending totaling $1.9 billion will pour into the digital space, most of it on the local level, Borrell Associates estimates in its 2018 forecast. But daily newspapers and local news “pure-plays” will have to fight hard for their share against Facebook, Google and the other digital platforms.
Latest Posts
Moving Upstream, PayPal and Square Make a Play for the Local Merchant’s POS
There’s a not-too-quiet rivalry brewing between Square and PayPal over offline payments, and this week saw the unofficial opening of an important new theatre: the SMB point of sale (POS). It’s perhaps the stickiest problem for both companies to solve in order to make payments work, and their respective announcements demonstrate a strategic skism similar to what we’ve seen in desktop computers and mobile phones..
5 Ways Brands Can Leverage Place-Based Mobile Targeting
The ability to target consumers based on location is no longer an emerging element of mobile technology — it is the standard on which all other strategies are based. The growing demand for this type of mobile advertising has brought on the development of new and effective location targeting strategies, the most popular being place-based mobile ad targeting. Want in? Here are five place-based mobile targeting strategies to try.
LBMA PODCAST: Square, BlockAvenue, and PlaceIQ CEO Duncan McCall
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan talk about rumors that Facebook is looking to purchase Waze for $1 billion. Meanwhile, Square is set to check in to Foursquare’s neighborhood; BlockAvenue launches to give your city a grade; and Unilever goes hyperlocal with its rewards program. Plus special guest Duncan McCall, CEO of PlaceIQ.
Street Fight Daily: Mason Moves On, Aruba Buys In-Door GPS Firm Meridian
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Ex-Groupon CEO Mason Moving to San Francisco to Start New Company (Reuters)… Aruba Buys Meridian Apps, Eyes ‘Indoor GPS’ Services (ZDNet)… How Google Made Maps Human, Savvy, and Monetizable (Fast Company)…
Looking Up: Local Data and the Real World
Google Glass may be overpriced or simply too odd for many consumers, but it still represents a manner of thinking about the interconnectedness of the internet and the world that is an inevitable outcome of current trends. With smartphones as our constant companions, we already spend a vast amount of our time looking down to look things up.
Marqeta Finds $14M in Funding as Loyalty Plays Start Thinning Out
The flood of new loyalty and payment startups that littered last summer’s newscycle has dried up, with only a handful of companies – namely, Square, Belly, FiveStars and LevelUp – making it to a meaningful second or third round of funding. Add Marqeta to that list. The maker of a branded and white-labeled prepaid loyalty card announced that it closed a $14 million series A round led by Greylock Partners this morning, and revealed that its technology underpins the Facebook Card, the social network’s most recent stab at gifting…
Case Study: Salon Increases Average Purchase Price With Card-Linked Offers
Everyone wants a prize, and most people are willing to spend a little more to get one. At least that’s been the experience of Tiffany Amorosino. The co-owner of Bella Sante Spa uses a platform called OfferLink by Cartera to reward customers with free gift cards when they meet certain purchase price thresholds. Since opening her spa in 1996, Amorosino has seen a significant shift in the way SMB marketing is done…
Street Fight Daily: Google Unveils New Maps, PayPal Takes Aim at Square
Upcoming Webinar Puts Spotlight on SMB Adoption of Mobile
It’s no secret that SMBs lag behind all marketers in digital adoption. But the mobile chasm between consumers and these businesses is staggering: 10% of media consumption is spent on mobile; while just 1% of marketers’ budgets are dedicated to that platform. An upcoming webinar will discuss SMB optimization on mobile for business owners and marketing services professionals alike.
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