Location and Local Marketing Are Accelerating
Just a few months into 2017 and the local and location-based marketing space has already seen a lot of product developments, new hires, investments and overall activity. From mergers and partnerships, to product innovation, LSA members are making headlines. The market is accelerating.
In a survey of “500 marketing decision makers” conducted by the Location-Based Marketing Association, 25% of marketing budgets are spent on location-based marketing and over 50% of brands are using location data to target customers. This latter finding in particular shows how location has become an increasingly critical element of digital marketing for brands and enterprises. The 2017 Place Conference on September 18 in New York will identify and showcase these enterprise trends and use cases.
SMBs also continue to increase their digital spending. According to a recent survey of 200 SMBs, 70% expect to increase digital marketing budgets this year; only 2% said budgets would decline. A large percentage of SMBs are DIY marketers. However many are realizing the need to invest in third party agency and expert help.
Below are just some of the recent headlines from LSA members that reflect the full frenzy of activity going on:
GoDaddy Launches Simple Way to Scale Up E-Commerce Sites (March 14, 2017) Street Fight: “GoDaddy today is releasing a new Web hosting product that the company says makes it easier for anyone to run high-traffic, e-commerce sites.”
New York-based Yext files for IPO (March 13, 2017) TechCrunch: “Yext has revealed its IPO filing and the offering is said to raise $100 million, but that number is subject to change.”
FCR Media Group Announces an Agreement with Silktide Ltd. (March 13, 2017) LSA Insider: “FCR Media Group OÜ announces an agreement with Silktide Ltd to bring high quality online presence analysis tools to help Small and Medium sized businesses (SMEs) across Europe.”
Pitney Bowes Taps Location Tech Exec To Run New Data Unit (March 9, 2017) GeoMarketing: “Dan Adams, the former CEO of hyperlocal data platform Maponics, is charged with turning Big Data into actionable insights at Pitney Bowes.”
TapClicks Integrates Agendize to Supercharge Customer Engagement ROI for Agencies (March 8, 2017) Press Release: “Scalable, multi-location online scheduling now available in TapClicks’ world class analytics and reporting platform for digital agencies.”
NinthDecimal Decouples Its Data, Expands Partnerships, and Moves Into the Black (March 8, 2017) Street Fight: “NinthDecimal recently discussed its expanding data partner ecosystem — which doubled to more than 200 partners last year.”
YP.com CEO Jared Rowe at LSA 17: We Will ‘Go Deep,’ Leverage Scale (March 3, 2017) Local Onliner: “On stage at LSA17 this week in San Diego, YP leadership painted a picture of a company with an enviable customer base, unmatched sales team, and a cutting-edge technology platform.
