Inside the Last-Mile Delivery Crunch
High shipping costs, late deliveries, and lost or stolen packages aren’t uncommon during the busy holiday period, but this year feels different. The so-called shippageddon that retailers are bracing for is creating new worries and new opportunities for creative brands to rise to the top.
Why Affiliates and Influencers Are Critical to Business Growth
With modern consumers trusting traditional advertising methods less and less—combined with consistent cost increases across other digital channels—it is more important than ever for businesses to leverage new, more trustworthy, and cost-effective channels. So if you have yet to invest in your partnership channel this year, now is the time to shift your thinking, and here’s how.
Google Local Search Trends IV: Federation
The initial launch of the GMB API in late 2015 allowed partners to maintain listings in near-real-time and at a much greater scale than was possible before. Now we’re in the midst of another sea change. Since the beginning of 2021, the API has been undergoing a complete overhaul from the ground up, a change that, once completed, will leave us with a totally different architecture that is more flexible and capable of much quicker iteration. This means, in all likelihood, that Google My Business as it is used by partners and the businesses who work with them will be able to move faster to fix issues and release new features.
What Location Data Tells Us About Post-Pandemic Tourism
Data-driven insights have become crucial as the world prepares to reopen and drive growth to key travel destinations. Every single consumer segment has had to change their lifestyles and adapt to a changed landscape. This increases the urgency of collecting timely data to inform decisions as opposed to relying on past wisdom.
What Does the Arrival of Approximate Location Mean for Granular Ad Targeting?
Tucked into Android’s latest privacy update is a change that many marketers didn’t see coming. Smartphone owners with Android 12 or higher now have the option to share “approximate” location instead of precise location, restricting app developers from accessing their exact whereabouts in real-time.
Heap’s Journey Maps Show How Consumers Navigate Digital Experiences
Heap is rolling out a new data science tool designed to help teams understand how users navigate digital experiences. The “Journey Maps” tool is the latest addition to Heap’s suite of data science tools, designed to surface high-impact insights about user behavior on consumers’ websites and digital products.
Shoppability is the New Black
But like many Covid-driven trends, shoppable content has been accelerated by shifting circumstances. And now it’s on a collision course with the holiday season. This means that the companies that are positioned to capture that spend will reap the rewards this year. We’ve seen much jockeying in the ad tech world for this very reason.
LBMA: Old Spice Goes Wild with Snapchat at Walmart
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Old Spice going wild with Snapchat at Walmart, Toronto’s Art Heist scavenger hunt, United Airlines using PayPal QR codes for in-flight payments, and Starfield Hanam shopping mall in Korea launching an interactive video wall campaign.
BeOp Adds Conversation to Post-Cookie Contextual Advertising
The contextual, conversational advertising firm BeOp believes it has the solution to the death of cookies. The company, which works with more than 90% of premium publishers in its home country across the Atlantic, connects advertisers with consumers reading content related to their products and services. But what distinguishes BeOp from contextual ad competitors is the style of its ads: conversational quizzes and questions that drive engagement and zero-party, or fully consensual and explicit, data collection.
6 Ways Brands Are Leveraging Human-to-Human Marketing in 2021
The ultimate goal with human-to-human marketing is to tap into consumers’ emotions by using real people to engage potential customers. Advancements in technology, and growth in the gig economy, have made human-to-human marketing a more realistic—and affordable—option for brands this year. As the holidays draw closer and brands rethink how they’ll connect with targeted consumers in the coming months, this is a strategy more brands are considering.
LBMA: Home Depot Hires Walmart to Deliver Goods
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Home Depot hiring Walmart to deliver goods, Albert Heijn looking to monetize its app/web customers with Google-like ads, Apple upping its game with enhanced “find my phone” location features, and Playfair Group bringing a mobile jukebox to seniors.
Why Deep Linking is a Must for M-Commerce Marketers this Holiday Season
The 2021 Adobe Digital Economy Index reported that 60% of online retail website visits in August 2020 came from smartphones, which now account for 40% of all online sales. It’s undeniable; mobile commerce — or m-commerce — will be a major factor in retailers’ success this holiday shopping season.
LBMA: PayPal’s Interest in Acquiring Pinterest
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers PayPal looking to acquire Pinterest, Starbucks exploring cashier-less stores with Amazon tech, Walmart testing text-to-shop technology, and Fast Simon debuting shop-by-image search.