Published: 04/05/2016
LSA Acquires Place Conference, Adds New Board Member, Launches New Websites
TROY, Mich., April 5, 2016 – The Local Search Association (LSA) has welcomed over 100 media publishers, agencies and technology providers as new members since 2014. The membership growth reflects an expanding focus as the organization changes to meet the needs of an evolving local search and location-based marketing ecosystem.
“We are constantly developing new ways to elevate the local space for our members and local advertisers alike,” said LSA President Neg Norton. “Member support is a great indicator of success and our latest initiatives have received a very favorable response.”
LSA fulfills its mission to educate and advocate through original research, events, consulting and public policy work. In accordance with those efforts, LSA is excited to announce a major new conference, new board member and two new websites.
PLACE CONFERENCE
At the LSA16 event in San Francisco March 7-9, the LSA announced the acquisition of the Place Conference. Launched by LSA’s Greg Sterling in 2013 with Opus Research, the event was the first to focus on beacons, indoor location and proximity marketing. LSA will continue to evolve and grow the event, which will focus on real-world case studies and best practices in proximity marketing, indoor location and location analytics.
“I’m excited that LSA will now be producing the Place Conference,” said Greg Sterling, VP of Strategy & Insights for LSA. “Location is the hottest area in digital marketing and the event will be a showcase of best practices and what’s working today.”
The 2016 Place Conference will take place in Chicago on Wednesday, September 21 at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center. The agenda and speakers will be announced soon.
BRANDIFY CEO MANISH PATEL JOINS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Last year, popular ratings and review site Yelp, digital marketing agency ReachLocal, and mobile programmatic company NinthDecimal joined the LSA’s board of directors (BOD) in an effort to better represent the diversity of companies in the local marketing and advertising space. To continue this diversification of perspectives, the CEO of Brandify, location-based digital marketing solution provider for brands, has also joined the board.
With over 500 nationally recognized clients across 500,000 brick-and-mortar locations, Brandify CEO Manish Patel brings a unique national brand perspective to the BOD.
“In my 19 years of working with some of the biggest multi-location brands in the country, LSA has served as a key force in shifting the industry mindset towards Local.” Patel said. “I’m looking forward to serving in the LSA board and furthering the way brands integrate location-based strategies and connect to consumers.”
NEW WEBSITES
As previously announced earlier this year, the LSA launched MarketingBitz.com. An extension of the in-person LSA Bootcamp series, the site was created to provide small businesses with practical education about online marketing. Bringing together first and third-party articles, videos, presentations, webinars and more, the site seeks to help small businesses improve digital marketing effectiveness.
The LSA has also redesigned the company website www.theLSA.org. Given Google’s latest mobile search algorithm changes, a mobile-optimized website is more critical than ever. For that reason, and for the sake of improved user experience, the LSA invested in a new website which is now mobile-friendly.