PPC platform provider Acquisio, which is now describing itself as “North America’s leading local business software for online advertising management,” has announced a deal with the Royal Bank of Canada (“RBC”). RBC will now offer the company’s SMB-focused platform Promote to its customers. Promote is an SEM tool that relies heavily on automation for campaign set up and optimization to…
Snap Inc., the company behind the popular messaging app Snapchat, has experienced its share of turbulence since going public in March 2017. The company’s journey hit a particularly low point this week when its stock fell below the IPO price of $17 per share. But if Snap’s recent moves are any indication, the company has…
While the vast majority of purchases still take place in-store, the retail landscape is in transition with the closure of 1000s of brick and mortar locations and the growth of Amazon Prime. More consumers are clearly diversifying their shopping. According to a new study, 54% of consumer prefer to shop in a physical store, while…
Nearly half of small businesses have adopted cloud-based tools and many more will in the next 12 to 18 months. This shift to the cloud may be the most disruptive trend yet facing local marketing and media sellers. As it stands today, a new study found that 22% of SMBs are already making use of…
About a week ago, I received my Echo Show — the new Alexa device with a touchscreen — and have been using it regularly for the past several days. The experience has been interesting and frustrating. In a way it’s a first-generation product, even though it’s the fifth piece of hardware in the Echo-Alexa product line. The big…
Nearly half of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have adopted cloud-based tools in at least one area of their businesses and many more will over the next 12 to 18 months. As SaaS businesses establish trust with their SMB customers they will expand into adjacent services, including local marketing. This shift to the cloud may…
Advertisers expect the marketing providers/agencies they work with to be experts on the latest technology developments and industry trends. While small agencies serving SMBs are focused on digital fundamentals (i.e., SEO, websites, Facebook, etc.), mid-sized and larger agencies are turning increasingly to new and emerging technologies. According to a study of mid-sized to large agencies,…
Last week Snapchat made two big moves in location. It bought location analytics company Placed for between $125 and $200 million. It also licensed Factual’s Global Places database. The Placed acquisition helps Snapchat deliver enhanced audience data and offline attribution metrics to advertisers. The Factual partnership improves the user experience of location tools on the platform….
The marketing technology landscape continues to expand, as documented by the chiefmartec.com infographic, which this year features over 5,000 companies (up 40% vs. 2016). Much of the technology and software being created has great potential for SMBs, but the SMB software as a service (SaaS) segment is only about 2.5% of the global software market….
At Apple’s WWDC developer event in California earlier today the company made a flurry of announcements. They included upgraded desktop and laptop computers, iOS 11, new MacOS, new iPads, updated WatchOS, improved Siri, peer-to-peer payments, Safari ad blocking, augmented reality and indoor mapping. The company also made the widely expected announcement of a competitor to…
