Here is this week’s roundup of the top news items related to local marketing and advertising, local media, technology, local commerce, consumer behavior and more.
Insight & Commentary
SMB Panel: The Demand for Service and the Problem of Scale (November 7, 2018)
LSA Insider: “After another successful SMB digital marketing bootcamp yesterday at Yelp’s San Francisco office, we kicked off the Tech Adoption Summit, which continues today, with a presentation of new data on small business technology adoption. That was followed by a panel discussion of small business owners.”
Use it or Lose it: Co-op Ad Dollars (November 8, 2018)
LSA Insider: “Getting consumer attention and gaining visibility during this crucial holiday season can be challenging. That’s why local retailers need to take advantage of every opportunity to maximize their exposure – online and off.”
Will Google+ be the final push Congress needs to pass restrictions on data use? (November 5, 2018)
MarTech Today: “Congress held a hearing a few weeks ago in response to news that Google kept secret a flaw that exposed private user data on its Google+ platform. Almost 500,000 users’ non-public profile data, including names, email addresses, birth dates, photos and other personal information was potentially exposed to over 400 apps and their developers.”
Strategy & Tactics
Breaking through with meaningful content marketing in the age of storytelling (November 7, 2018)
Marketing Land: “Today, it seems that everyone is a storyteller — some 550,000 marketers list storytelling in their profile on LinkedIn. But connecting with people through the power of the story requires a lot more than changing your title.”
On Google, Hyperlocal Listing Strategy is Key to Brick-and-Mortar Success (November 7, 2018)
Street Fight: “The latest updates to Google My Business include a merchant description feature, which is an opportunity “for you, in your own words, to describe your business,” an update to the UI, which should dramatically increase its speed, and a forthcoming messaging feature, said Steven Chen, senior product manager at GMB.”
Singular: Mobile marketers waste money by spending at wrong times (November 7, 2018)
VentureBeat: “Mobile marketers are promoting apps on their own timetables, not on consumer readiness, and the result is wasted time, effort, and money, according to the holiday trends report by marketing intelligence firm Singular.”
Stats & Studies
Study: Desire to Excel in CX Is Driving In-House MarTech Growth (November 5, 2018)
LSA Insider: “According to chiefmartec.com’s MarTech Landscape infographic, there are almost 7,000 companies providing marketing technology in the market. This is a huge jump from the 150 listed companies in the 2011 version of the graphic. Globally, the MarTech industry is estimated to be a $100 billion market, with half of that concentrated in North America and the UK.”
Data And Analytics Are The Biggest Martech Challenges: Study (November 8, 2018)
MediaPost: “Brands are getting better at integrating marketing technologies into their stacks. But they face hurdles — especially in the areas of data management, analytics and attribution, according to Marketing Technology Trends, a study by Ascend2.”
Survey: Expect more holiday spending, ‘blended retail’ shopping this year (November 7, 2018)
Marketing Land: “A new NPD Group holiday shopping report [free with registration] has three big themes for retailers and marketers: higher spending, earlier shopping and “blended shopping.” The survey sample consisted of 3,605 consumers that were representative of the US adult population.”
Industry News
Facebook Helps Online SMBs Go Offline with Macy’s Pop-up Stores (November 5, 2018)
LSA Insider: “In an interesting and novel move, Facebook is helping some of its pure-play online SMBs create a presence offline in nine Macy’s locations across the US: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio and Las Vegas.”
Google My Business rolls out feature for new businesses, updates local service area settings (November 5, 2018)
Search Engine Land: “Over the weekend, Google My Business added the ability to announce the date your new business is opening directly in Google Maps and changed how it manages businesses that are within specific service areas.”
Bing crawling, indexing and rendering: A step-by-step on how it works (November 6, 2018)
Search Engine Land: “Let’s face it – spiders are intimidating. Yet, when you’re in SEO, understanding how spiders crawl, index and render pages is vital to ensuring a site’s ability to flourish.”
Member News
Unacast Exceeds 50 Million Daily Average Users Across Six Continents, Leading Global Location Data Market in Quality and Quantity (November 5, 2018)
Unacast: “The massive reach, coupled with Unacast’s focus on data quality and transparency, sets a new standard for global location intelligence. Along with new innovations, like the company’s Uncontextualized Visits product, Unacast is helping companies tap into the many emerging opportunities for using location data.”
Google tests multifaceted featured snippets in desktop search results (November 5, 2018)
Search Engine Land: “Earlier this year Google began rolling out multifaceted featured snippets in the mobile search results. Now Google has begun testing showing multifaceted featured snippets in the desktop search results as well.”
