Marketing Day: WhatsApp Business app, competitive research & voice search in retail

Here’s our recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web.

From Marketing Land:

1. WhatsApp officially launches app, profiles for businesses Jan 18, 2018 by Tim Peterson

Marketers can use the WhatsApp Business app to create business-specific profiles and manage their conversations with customers

1. Google introduces Cloud AutoML for employing machine learning without experts Jan 18, 2018 by Barry Levine

The first offering in this new service, AutoML Vision, can be trained via a graphical interface with a few dozen images.

1. Competitive research: 3 free steps to a better brand strategy Jan 18, 2018 by Sam Welch

You can learn a lot from your competitors. Columnist Sam Welch discusses easy ways to gather data on the competition without using third-party tools or paid subscriptions.

1. Optimize your holiday marketing dollars – long after the Christmas lights dim Jan 18, 2018 by Jordan Elkind

Retailers see lots of new customers during the holiday shopping season. Contributor Jordan Elkind explains how to keep the momentum going into the new year.

1. Voice search in retail: Evolving the customer experience Jan 17, 2018 by Steve Tutelman

Contributor Steve Tutelman explains how voice search is bringing marketers closer to the customer.

Recent Headlines From MarTech Today, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Marketing Technology:

1. OpenX announces full GDPR compliance ahead of May deadline Jan 18, 2018 by Robin Kurzer The ad tech provider says it’s one of the first global ad exchanges to announce full compliance.

1. Aligning with sales: Stop saying and start doing in 2018 Jan 18, 2018 by Peter Isaacson Thanks to AI and intent data, marketers have the opportunity to align with their sales teams better than ever before. Columnist Peter Isaacson outlines the steps marketers can take to get there.

Online Marketing News From Around The Web:

1. 11 Habits of Highly Effective Marketing Technologists, Chief Martech

2. 3 industry leaders predict the online video trends that will shape 2018, Think with Google

3. Amazon’s ad business is growing faster than Google’s and Facebook’s, although the duopoly still dominates, Digiday

4. Buyer Personas: A Beginner’s Guide for Marketers, Search Engine Journal

5. Contextual Commerce Is Ready To Take Over 2018, 3Q Digital

6. Google’s Custom Intent Audiences: What They Are & How To Use Them, Clix Marketing

7. How to Maintain Brand Authenticity in Today’s Politically Polarized Climate, MarketingProfs

8. Instagram now shows when users were last active, The Verge

9. Is YouTube’s “Includes Paid Promotion” Tag Sufficient FTC Disclosure?, MediaKix

10. Upcoming Facebook Community Boost Events and What We’ve Learned So Far, Facebook Newsroom