TikTok’s Local Search Ambitions Ratchet up With Reviews
TikTok’s latest move in local search is evident through a new feature it’s testing: place reviews. We examine the evidence.
Mike Boland
April 23, 2025
Mike Boland
Mike Boland, senior analyst with Localogy, was one of Silicon Valley’s first tech reporters of the internet age as a staff reporter for Forbes magazine starting in 2000. His comments have appeared in The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
vcita Brings Agentic AI to SMBs
vcita has added new dimension with its agentic AI function. Housed within BizAI, it offers automation for agent-like features.
Mike Boland
April 22, 2025
Automating Professional Services: A Conversation with Rocketlane
We recently had the chance to catch up with Rocketlane co-founder and CEO Srikrishnan Ganesan. Here is part 1 of our discussion.
Mike Boland
April 17, 2025
Exit Velocity: A Conversation with Mark Kabana, Part 2
Yext acquired Places Scout. What were the drivers for the acquisition? We recently had the chance to catch up with Mark Kabana to find out.
Mike Boland
April 16, 2025
Google’s AI Mode Gets Visual
Google is combining AI Mode with multimodal search, which lets you search across media formats, including text, images, and video. What does this combination mean on a surface level and in terms of Google’s AI evolution?
Mike Boland
April 15, 2025
What’s the State of Online Reviews in 2025?
Online reviews continue to be one of the tentpoles of localized marketing and search. They’re also the bain of many SMBs’ existence – a necessary
Mike Boland
April 11, 2025
Good, Bad & Ugly: The State of Venture Funding in 2025
What market signals can quantify the state of venture funding? To answer that question, we turned to our go-to thought leader for all things investing & finance, Circumference Group’s Luca Sechi.
Mike Boland
April 10, 2025
What Are the Top Local Brands in America?
Though the long tail of local mostly consists of small businesses, there are several national brands in the mix. One advantage that these entities often
Mike Boland
April 9, 2025
Tiger Pistol’s Latest Playbook Addresses Revenue Growth for Marketing Resellers.
Marketing resellers are a key piece of the local media & advertising value chain. They help ad tech players scale by bringing their products to
Mike Boland
April 8, 2025
Lowes Leads Chatmeter’s Retail Reputation Report
Chatmeter has released its Retail Reputation report, which scores retailers using its first-party data. Among the findings, Lowe’s took the top spot, along with standouts like Home Depot and Costco. One success factor according to Chatmeter is cross-location consistency in employee training.
Mike Boland
April 1, 2025
L25 – What’s the Amazon Local Play in the Premium Streaming Era?
People often think of Amazon’s growth in advertising in a search or display sense on Amazon.com. But what about its endeavors into streaming? We heard
Mike Boland
March 31, 2025
Exit Velocity: A Conversation with Mark Kabana
Last month, Yext acquired local search benchmarking and intelligence leader Places Scout. What were the drivers for the acquisition and how are the combined forces
Mike Boland
March 28, 2025
L25 – AI and SMBs: The Reality Check
Do SMBs really want AI tools to help them run their businesses? We found out using original data from Localogy and Duda, and presented it during a session at L25.
Mike Boland
March 27, 2025
vcita Balances Agentic-AI Automation & Control
SMB Saas innovator vcita this week launched a new agentic AI function. Housed in its flagship BizAI software for SMB marketing, it offers an additional layer of automation for agent-like features such as responding to customers, booking appointments, and generating estimates or job quotes.
Mike Boland
March 20, 2025
Automating SMB Video: A Conversation with Creatify, Part II
Creatify tackles the perennial challenge of automating video marketing for time-starved and tech-challenged SMBs.
Mike Boland
March 19, 2025
Snapchat Gets More Location Aware
Snapchat lenses can now interact with GPS and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems). They can also ingest location-based signals such as compass headings and custom locations, which flow from Snap’s places database.
Mike Boland
March 18, 2025
Automating SMB Video: A Conversation with Creatify
Creatify tackles the perennial challenge of automating video marketing for time-starved and tech-challenged SMBs.
Mike Boland
March 14, 2025
Precisely Expands its Location-Intelligence Reach
Data analytics player Precisely has launched its software on the Snowflake Marketplace, making it more accessible to marketers and operators throughout the land.
Mike Boland
March 13, 2025
Tiger Pistol Offers Tactical Advice for Local Marketing Resellers
Following a rapid-fire release schedule for its series of tactical playbooks, Tiger Pistol is out this week with the latest edition. Entitled Scaling SMB Advertising: A Marketing Reseller’s Guide to Efficiency, Profitability, and Growth, it focuses on nuances in the art of reselling local advertising programs.
Mike Boland
March 12, 2025
Read.AI Gets More Interactive & Actionable
Read.AI today announced Search Copilot, an AI-powered engine that retrieves and synthesizes insights from workplace communications. The idea is to have a cross-platform intelligence engine to organize communications across meetings, emails, chats, cloud storage, and CRM systems.
Mike Boland
March 11, 2025