Here is today’s roundup of news related to local marketing and advertising, local media, technology, local commerce, consumer behavior and more.
Google My Business Looks Increasingly Like ‘CRM Lite’ for SMBs (November 14, 2018)
LSA Insider: “One can make the argument that Google My Business (GMB) has evolved from being a “listings management” tool to something much more like a lite CRM platform for local business owners. The company introduced a new version of its GMB app for business owners this morning.”
Study: Consumers Most Likely to Leave Reviews on Google (November 14, 2018)
LSA Insider: “A recent survey of 500 consumers from GatherUp revealed that 29% are most likely to leave a restaurant review on Google. The remaining top 5 sites included Yelp (24%), Facebook (21%), Trip Advisor (17%) and Open Table (5%).”
Will AR Bring Together the Best of Online and Offline Shopping? (November 14, 2018)
Street Fight: “Among the cultural and commercial sectors that AR will transform, shopping could have the most significant economic impact. AR is already making its mark in e-commerce through product visualization tactics being used by brands like IKEA and BMW. But could it do even more in brick-and-mortar shopping?”
LinkedIn Revamps Pages From Scratch, Making It Interactive (November 14, 2018)
MediaPost: “LinkedIn, Microsoft’s business network, announced major product updates this week to Pages and its News feed. The changes aim to help the company bring in a reported $2 billion from its media business, mostly through advertising revenue, by the end of this fiscal year.”
Survey: Majority of consumers will spend 75% of holiday budgets online this year (November 13, 2018)
Marketing Land: “It looks like it’s going to be another great holiday for Amazon. Numerous surveys suggest that the e-commerce giant will be a primary beneficiary of increased online shopping this year. But the data also show consumer shopping is becoming less binary: online vs. offline.”
Digital ad spending grew to $49.5B in the first half of 2018, according to IAB (November 13, 2018)
TechCrunch: “The online advertising business continues to grow at double-digit rates, according to the latest report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (a trade group for online advertisers and publishers).
