The online travel industry has taken a more digital turn over the past four to five years. Many travel e-commerce websites allow users to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and more. These sites are normally booking or review sites. In 2014, online travel sales worldwide generated $533 billion, with this number expected to grow to $762 billion by 2019, according to Statista. Between 2008 and 2015, the number of people who booked online grew by 19.2 percent. The growth in the online travel industry has not just been limited to bookings, though. Travelers who admitted to using review sites to book their trips also grew by 10 percent between 2014 and 2015.

The online travel industry has seen particular growth on mobile devices. By the end of this year, it is expected that 51.8 percent of online holiday bookings will be made via a mobile device of some sort. People do not mind using a smaller screen to book a holiday, as businesses are optimizing their sites to suit mobile phones and tablets. Oscar Orozco, an e-marketing analyst, said, “Hotels, airlines, and online travel sites are better optimizing their websites for mobile bookings. As a result, people are finding a simpler and easier path to purchase and booking their trips right on their devices. This bodes well for the industry as a whole.” With this growth, the use of desktops and laptops has dropped, and the growth of mobile device usage for online bookings is expected to eat into this further for the foreseeable future, according to eMarketer.

Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI) encompasses all of the above in its business. The company is a technology-driven travel company made up of multiple brands. MKGI runs through its flagship, NextTrip.com. NextTrip offers its customers the opportunity to book every single aspect of their holiday on the Internet. From apartments and activities to flights and rental cars, NextTrip is a comprehensive booking platform that offers an all-inclusive service. With this platform, Monaker Group provides a personalized shopping experience that targets one of the most popular marketing trends of 2015 and 2016.

In the Growth Opportunity and Trends section of the Form-10K for Monaker Group, published in late June of this year, it says: “Our achievement of these objectives will further depend on our ability to successfully enable more online bookable listings”. This is made possible thanks to its numerous brands and platforms. In addition to this, the company has adapted its sites for use by mobile users and has continued to offer its customers a personalized way of shopping.

For more information, visit www.monakergroup.com

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Laguna Blends, Inc. (OTC: LAGBF) is a network marketing company focused on hemp products, which gives it a foot in the door to the functional food and health food markets. The company now has two products: Caffe, an instant coffee beverage, and Pro369, a hemp protein beverage that comes in a choice of four flavors. Laguna has independent affiliates that generate retail sales and recruit other affiliates. These affiliates are offered a competitive compensation plan with a number of opportunities to win significant rewards.

Laguna Blends, Inc. made a dramatic announcement recently when it unveiled its new Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reward incentive program to its top performing affiliates. Laguna announced that it would be running a new program through which its affiliates will have the chance to win up to three 2017 Tesla Model S cars between June 2016 and December 2017. Laguna also recently launched its Las Vegas Getaway contest. This contest, running from May to October, offers affiliates the chance to qualify for a two or three night luxury weekend at the Bellagio Hotel in Sin City.

The company is now offering its affiliates the chance to be part of three different membership clubs. These include the Gold Club, the Funding 100, and the Circle of 25. To be part of a club, members must enroll for specific packs, sponsor or enroll other affiliates, and reach a certain standard of Group Sales Volumes (GSV). This said, each club also offers affiliates a different level of benefits, depending on the investment and the club they choose to join.

Gold Club members will receive a special certificate and special recognition at major corporate events. Members of the Founding 100 will have their names on the Special Founding 100 plaque at Laguna’s Virtual World headquarters and receive special recognition at corporate events. Finally, members of the Circle of 25 will have their pictures displayed in Laguna’s Virtual World headquarters, enjoy VIP seating at all major events, have the opportunity to become leadership council members, and receive a Polanti watch valued at over $1000.

To find out more about the various members clubs and how to be part of them, visit http://dtn.fm/eGN07

For more information, visit www.lagunablends.com

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In the Accenture Personalization Survey, it shows that most consumers would prefer a personalized retail experience. Also, from a Conversion Rate Optimization Report published in partnership between Redeye and EConsultancy, it says that 63 percent of businesses are personalizing their marketing activity for their customers. Lastly, 73 percent of online shoppers prefer to do business with brands that use customer information to make their shopping experience more personal, according to Digital Trends.

These are just some of the current e-commerce statistics that have seen a rise since 2014. Dave Richards from Accenture Consulting had this to say on the matter: “Personalization can be a powerful method for retailers to differentiate from competitors, increase basket size and build customer loyalty.” This growing trend that allows consumers to self-identify or use their social media platforms to log in to sites allows companies to collect personal information from their customers. They can then use this to customize each individual shopping experience both online and in-store. Although this marketing method has grown significantly in the past two years, statistics show that 38 percent of marketers still do not use personalization in their marketing.

This could be due to the fact that, despite most people preferring a personalized online shopping experience, many consumers are limited as to how much personal information they are willing to give to retailers, at least according to Accenture. Dave Richards followed his previous statement with: “To effectively implement personalization across all channels, retailers would benefit from understanding customers at a broad level as well as individually – determining where personalization strategies can best drive business results, and giving key subsets of customers the choice on how they wish to participate.”

But personalizing consumer experiences does not stop at retail stores for clothes, food, equipment, and other material products. Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC) provides social marketing in order for organizations to continue to advertise and grow their businesses through social media. The company has two products: Moxian+ User and Moxian+ Business. These products and services help merchants personalize and target campaigns while enhancing the relationship between them and their users. This is done through the Moxian database, where consumer behavior is compiled.

The Moxian+ User app is designed for users to collect loyalty points from merchants. The app uses geo-location to tailor consumer searches to where they are at a specific time. In addition to the geo-location feature, users are able to set up personalized social media networks, allowing them to interact with friends, join groups and topics, and share and chat with a variety of social circles.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com

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Content Checked Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: CNCK) CEO Kris Finstad was recently featured in an interview by Everett Jolly on the UPTICK Network Stock Day Podcast. Over the course of the conversation, Finstad told the story of Content Checked, from its humble beginning as a passion project to help decipher often confusing and misleading food labels to its current standing as a revenue-generating app company with an international userbase of more than two million. Finstad also gave listeners some insight into Content Checked’s plans for future growth, including the impending launch of its suite of apps in three additional international markets.

“Our database is now national, for the U.S., and we’re now going to Canada, as well, and then going to the U.K. and Australia,” Finstad stated in the interview. “This year is going to be our breakthrough year from a revenue standpoint.”

To listen to the full interview, visit http://dtn.fm/Fo0iH

When describing the advantages of Content Checked’s apps, Finstad pointed toward the accuracy and reliability of the company’s expansive product database. While many of its competitors rely on third-party data that can often include high error margins, Content Checked employs a team of nutritionists who work directly with food manufacturers to collect and deliver up-to-date information on approximately 70 percent of all conventional U.S. grocery products.

The relationships with food producers, stemming from the creation of its product database, also serve as a source of revenue for Content Checked. When users scan a product that doesn’t fit within their dietary guidelines, the company’s apps suggest suitable alternatives. Content Checked will allow producers to sponsor their products in order to secure a spot amongst these suggested alternatives.

The Company is now completing the process of shifting toward a subscription-based revenue model. These efforts include the impending release of revamped apps that include 60 new features in addition to an updated and improved experience for free users. With the upcoming launch of an expansive marketing campaign, a debt-free balance sheet and a current value that is based exclusively on its income, Content Checked presents considerable upside to prospective shareholders.

To view the company’s full financials, visit the following link: http://dtn.fm/sIJ7M

For more information, visit www.contentchecked.com

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YiLoLife, Inc., the largest manufacturer of marijuana-infused edibles in Arizona, recently announced a pledge of $200,000 in support of the state’s ongoing Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMLA), which has until later this month to collect 150,000 signatures ahead of a potential vote in November. Two weeks ago, the company committed an initial donation of $100,000, and it is currently in search of 10 additional donors to match its contribution for a finalized donation of $200,000. YiLoLife’s influence in Arizona’s medical marijuana market has been on the rise since it opened its first YiLo Superstore in Phoenix in December 2015. Today, the company wholesales its products to the vast majority of dispensaries across the state.

“We believe YiLoLife can be a valuable ally to CRMLA and the broader movement to legalize marijuana in Arizona,” Carsten Loelke, chief executive officer of YiLoLife, stated in today’s news release. “We are already delivering innovation and differentiation to the medical marijuana industry, and are proud to also lend financial and promotional support of the initiative that seeks to legalize and regulate and tax marijuana instead of criminalizing it.”

The future of the fast-growing marijuana industry across the United States is currently in a state of flux, as, despite legalization measures in several states, marijuana is still classified as a schedule I drug on a federal level, meaning that it is deemed to have no beneficial medical qualities. This status has continued to cause problems in states where recreational cannabis use has been legalized. In a February 2016 report, Inc. highlighted some of these issues (http://dtn.fm/gcBk6). Despite the fact that about 30 percent of cannabis companies had bank accounts, none of them were permitted to accept debit or credit cards, as companies such as Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) have stayed on the sidelines until federal law changes. When combined with the knowledge that cash businesses tend to lose 10 percent of revenues due to theft, according to the same report, it’s easy to see why operating in the $6.7 billion marijuana industry is often a logistical nightmare.

Luckily for companies like YiLoLife, the hardships associated with the marijuana industry could be set for a big change in the coming weeks. According to a report by the Motley Fool (http://dtn.fm/D7phJ), a number of medical studies have recently come to light that suggest health benefits associated with marijuana. GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: GWPH), in particular, has a liquid cannabidiol-based formulation, known as Epidiolex®, which has helped to reduce seizure frequency in patients with Dravet syndrome in early clinical tests. GWPH built on these results last week (http://dtn.fm/G9eWC) through the announcement of positive phase III trial results in the treatment of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. With these promising studies and others like them, a reclassification of marijuana by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) could occur in the near future.

Though the DEA’s decision will play a role in the trajectory of the marijuana industry, the sector already offers opportunities for considerable financial growth. Cannabis Sativa, Inc. (OTCQB: CBDS) is a shining example of this. The company’s line of marijuana products, marketed under the ‘hi’ brand, has helped it establish a sizable presence in the national cannabis industry, as well as a place on Forbes’ list of the eight hottest publicly traded marijuana companies (http://dtn.fm/Sl2O0). Likewise, California-based Terra Tech Corp. (OTCQX: TRTC) has leveraged a growing network of its Blüm retail medical cannabis facilities in California and Nevada to capture the attention of investors.

For YiLoLife, support of Arizona’s CRMLA could play a significant role in expanding the marketability of its YiLo™ brand edibles moving forward. YiLoLife has already developed a reputation for its premium quality medicated chocolates, drinks, brownies, candies and snacks in the medical market, and success of the CRMLA, as well as a potential rescheduling of marijuana by the DEA, could open the door for tremendous financial growth in the future.

For more information, visit www.yilo.com

Cesca Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: KOOL) describes itself as being “engaged in the research, development, and commercialization of cell-based therapeutics for use in regenerative medicine.” The company focuses on three markets: therapies, medical and diagnostic devices, and cell manufacturing and banking services. Most recently, the company’s CLIRST III trial was approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The CLIRST III trial is being undertaken to determine the safety and efficacy of Cesca’s SurgWerks-CLI platform. This platform is for the treatment of people with late-stage, no option or critical limb ischemia (CLI). The CLIRST III clinical study “is a prospective, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled, multi-center, pivotal clinical study in which subjects are evaluated for prevention of major limb amputation in the treatment of non-reconstructable Rutherford Category 5 critical limb ischemia (CLI),” according to a study sponsored by Cesca described on the ClinicalTrials.gov website.

The trial is expected to begin in late 2016 and is for patients between the ages of 40 and 85. Participating patients will have been told by their doctors that amputation is the only option, or that they have Rutherford Stage 5 foot ulcers, or ulcers on their feet that do not heal. Other issues that the treatment could benefit include CLI or leg and foot pain while walking or at rest. The patients taking part in the study will be randomized in three to one ratios, with three receiving device treatments and one receiving a placebo treatment.

Cesca’s treatments and products do not stop at its Critical Limb Ischemia Rapid Stemcell Treatment. The company also offers a range of products, including Cellular Bioprocess Technologies such as The AutoXpress® Platform. In addition to this, KOOL also has the MarrowXpress™ (MXP™) System, which defines new processing standards for isolating and concentrating stem cells from bone marrow aspirate. Other products include cord blood transfer and freezing bag sets, as well as the BioArchive® System, which is the only 100 percent robotic storage and retrieval system for cryopreserving stem cell samples.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.CescaTherapeutics.com

Sustainable practices are the topic of conversation in most industries today. Organizations worldwide have a responsibility toward the world we live in, and the pet industry is no exception. At OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO), there is an emphasis on protecting the environment. OPCO develops and markets high quality, innovative products to improve the health, safety, comfort, and enjoyment of pets. The company develops unique and innovative products, which is why most of them are patented. All products reflect an emphasis on designing problem solving solutions for pets and pet owners. Sustainability is part of this.

More is being done every year to make the pet industry as a whole more sustainable. Most recently, the Pet Industry Sustainability Coalition (PISC) launched the Pet Industry Sustainability Toolkit, which was developed for companies in the pet industry to help reduce their impact on the environment. In addition, work is being done to bring sustainability and pet ownership together. OurPet’s Company does everything in its power to have a minimal impact on the environment whenever a new product is being designed, developed, and manufactured. The company produces products with natural ingredients wherever it can, while maintaining a high level of attention on the safety and happiness of people’s pets.

This year, during its June shareholders meeting, OurPet’s Company brought forward its new product: Switchgrass with BioChar Natural Cat Litter. In the presentation, the company shows its findings, comparing the product to some of its competitors’ offerings. The OurPet’s Switchgrass Litter with BioChar produces less than two percent dust, has no odor after 10 minutes, and shows good moisture absorption and high clumping action. Switchgrass Litter with BioChar was tested in February 2016 by Bureau Veritas Testing and proves that the OurPet’s natural cat litter is the top performer among all its competitors.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ourpets.com

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After the recent announcement of the approval of a daily fantasy sports bill, Singlepoint (OTC: SING) is moving up as one of the companies to keep an eye on. Singlepoint offers custom business solutions to small and mid-size businesses. Based in Nevada, the company started as a full-service mobile technology and mobile provider before realizing there is a lot to be said for acquiring interests in undervalued subsidiaries from other markets. SING enables its customers to have access to a range of solutions, including conducting business transactions, accepting donations, and engaging in targeted communications.

The company’s products are specific to mobile device usage. For example, SING’s fundraising solutions are made up of two products: Text2Bid, an interactive revenue increasing product, and Donate by Text, a product that allows not-for-profit companies to securely collect donations. Singlepoint also offers a Pay by Text product that allows businesses to accept payments from customers worldwide. In addition to this, the company offers Connect By Text Mobile Marketing, a package that enables clients to have coupons, updates, offers, and other promotional items relating to their businesses sent directly to their customer base. Last but not least, Singlepoint allows organizations to track delivery drivers from the moment they leave their businesses to the time they arrive at their destination through Oomy, the company’s locational tracking technology.

The company has recently acquired a stake in DraftFury, one of the most profitable companies in the Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) industry. With this transaction in the DFS market and the soon to be launched SingleSwipe product in its Payment Solutions portfolio, SING is making an impact. SingleSwipe is a product that will allow customers to turn their devices into payment machines with the help of a card reader. The product encrypts customer details as soon as the card is swiped and can be used worldwide with any Android device.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Singlepoint.com

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Earlier today, Cherubim Interests, Inc. (OTC: CHIT) released a letter to shareholders detailing several corporate initiatives stemming from its previously announced stimulus program. This program, originally outlined in October 2015, is intended to serve as a blueprint to the company’s ongoing efforts to enhance net stockholder equity while simultaneously acquiring and attracting favorable investment opportunities. Notably, Cherubim has made progress in the development of its hybrid business model through the acquisition of two revenue-producing assets, including Victura Roofing LLC and Cherubim Builders Group LLC (Oklahoma), which both jumpstarted the company’s roofing footprint in Dallas-Fort Worth and cleared the way for immediate expansion into the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area.

The early results stemming from these acquisitions paint a promising picture for the future of Cherubim. According to today’s update, the company has already subcontracted large-loss residential reconstruction projects totaling in excess of $400,000 in revenues. The company also continues to prepare for the grand opening of its BudCube Cultivation Systems cultivation centers, which will leverage a proprietary, fully-portable and scalable controlled environment technology to allow cultivators to gain quick access to the fast growing medical and recreational cannabis markets at an attractive price point. Cherubim is currently in the process of prospecting raw land for the project.

On the financial front, Cherubim’s management team has also placed focus on solidifying the company’s balance sheet in recent months. Since May 31, 2015, Cherubim has successfully eliminated more than $1.5 million of affiliate and non-affiliate debt from its books, including over 90 percent of its ‘toxic’ convertible debt. To reward its majority stakeholders and insulate them from past, present and future dilution, Cherubim also created a series of anti-dilutive, convertible preferred shares, which it released in the form of a dividend payment. In an October news release, Patrick Johnson, CEO of Cherubim, acknowledged that there has been “significant dilution over the recent past in Cherubim” as a result of “the automatic conversion of aged non-affiliated debt.” He added that the company’s decision to issue a convertible preferred stock dividend was aimed at protecting “the integrity of people’s investments in the open market.”

“Our go forward strategy is a simple one: continue to execute on the plan set forth last October,” Johnson added in this morning’s update. “I am pleased to address shareholders… and want to reiterate our commitment to strengthening our stride and growing corporate equity.”

For more information, visit www.cherubiminterests.com

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A report out late last year from storied investment management firm, Putnam Investments, which drew on survey data from over 800 financial advisors (http://dtn.fm/zPt74) and is the largest known body of research on their use of social media to date, indicates that social media has become an indispensable communications tool for day-to-day client/market interaction, as well as business-building. A quick look at the stats says it all, from the roughly 80 percent of financial advisors using social media for business (up 75 percent from 2014), as well as gaining new clients thereby, to an average annual asset gain from newly acquired clients of some $4.6 million.

Concrete feedback like this from the horse’s mouth about how important social media has become to overall client and market engagement gives pause for thought. But don’t stand still too long on the information superhighway contemplating this trend, because you will get run over by the innovators. The Putnam report says this megatrend represents an underlying dynamic that will likely endure, and with social media becoming vital across all age groups of financial advisors, even as most report the concurrent use of four or more social networks, the importance of a unified framework for landing content seamlessly across an entire brand/enterprise footprint will no doubt remain a chief concern.

This is especially true for IR/PR (investor relations/public relations) firms, who need to not only engage customers at the speed of information, but who also need to wrench out the big data from the traffic for business analytics so they can get a clear picture of things like campaign performance metrics or more deftly execute branded content deployment. And while the idea of a single dashboard for scheduling posts or managing feeds across multiple social network accounts is not new, with examples like Hootsuite, Agora Pulse and MeetEdgar making for easy references, the potential for such an engine to drive truly next-gen IR/PR vectors has remained largely untapped. Hootsuite can post to a wide variety of sites, such as Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD), Google+ (NASDAQ: GOOG;GOOGL), Foursquare, MySpace and WordPress, but it isn’t really built for coordinated rapid campaigning or deep analytical harvesting.

Perhaps even more importantly, the resolution of several commonly-known usability/functionality problems which plague most extant social media management dashboarding solutions has not been forthcoming. The entire space has suffered from dashboards with usability issues that ruin brand traction, derail campaigns, and can make a company look unprofessional. Add to this a lack of really user-friendly options, or dashboards that give the user the ability to quickly set up and execute a professional, timed campaign, and you have (for the foreseeable future) the basis of mounting demand for an easy-to-use dashboard that lets entities like businesses and relations firms master their (or their client’s) social media presence.

There has been little effort to really serve the investor relations end of the market when it comes to such dashboards, even with the continued rise of innovative business analytics platforms like NetBase, with its NetBase Insight Workbench that is resold through a partnership with German multinational enterprise software giant SAP (NYSE: SAP), and which employs natural language processing tech to analyze social media. Such powerful big data-driven solutions prove the vitality of coordinated customer care and engagement, as well as timed campaign roll outs. Proven via comprehensive reporting and the digestion of social media data into easily understandable takeaways. Social media has become a critical piece of the puzzle for any effective IR/PR program these days, no matter what kind of publicly traded company we are talking about, and social media usage among the general populace continues to break records as well, with now almost two-thirds of social media users logging on to at least one such site every day (http://dtn.fm/lySX4). On both ends of the spectrum, from financial advisors to average investors, social media is becoming the dominant two-way communication space, like a planetary digital agora.

The increasing inescapability of having to manage a complex, multisite social media presence belies the extent to which a well-coordinated, brand-relevant campaign of synced content pushes can really help build a business or a brand presence. The question is no longer if such a dashboard solution is necessary for managing an increasingly unwieldy social media footprint (as the answer to that question is now invariably a yes), but simply how far can this architecture be exploited for maximum engagement and analytical value.

This is why the announcement in February of this year by developer Geegle Media’s parent company, Agora Holdings (OTC: AGHI), that it has overhauled its proprietary FRAME social media management dashboard for optimum usage by IR/PR firms and businesses is such a welcomed event. The IR/PR community has been gnashing its teeth for precisely such a blindingly simple, single-source dashboard, which can do scheduled campaign pushes to multiple sites, doesn’t have all the problems associated with other social media management dashboards and can still deliver the kind of rich, granular performance reportage needed to really evaluate campaign efficacy.

Bringing together the ultimate in user-friendly interfaces, with the ability to discover deep insights into brand traction through monitoring data points like reposts, mentions and brand-relevant conversations – along with tight Twitter, Facebook and Instagram integration – sets FRAME apart as an IR/PR sledgehammer.

Currently deployable in Android, iOS and desktop environments, FRAME may also soon integrate with LinkedIn and Google+, as well as YouTube and Tumblr. This combination of a wide variety of site integrations and the platform’s existing optimized IR/PR functionality, could put FRAME at the head of the pack in the professional-grade social media management game, especially when it comes to satisfying customers who want to execute coordinated campaigns in a more expedient, efficient, and easier fashion.

For more information, visit www.agoraholdingsinc.com

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