Street Fight Daily: Brands Use Data to Power Email Engagement, Amazon’s Brands Catch Fire

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

How Brands Are Using Data to Power Email Engagement (MediaPost)
Want to generate opens, click-throughs, and sales? Send personalized emails and follow some longstanding direct marketing rules. Those were among the tips suggested by Roger Barnette, CEO of MessageGears.

#SFSNYC: Chatmeter’s CEO on Why Local Reputation Management Matters for Brands (Street Fight)
Well-known brands may have national platforms and campaigns for reaching out to customers — but none of that matters if the company does not know what customers think of their local stores. That is where Chatmeter says it can help.

Some of Amazon’s Own Brands Are Becoming Super Popular Online (Recode)
Amazon laid the groundwork for a massive line of in-house brands when it launched the AmazonBasics private label in 2009. Seven-plus years later, that launch is paying dividends.

How Google Could Fire Up Its Smart Home Play (TechCrunch)
Brian Heater and Natasha Lomas: Google still has some room to maneuver to grab itself a bigger chunk of the mainstream smart home market — and thus a chance to reduce the strategic squeeze on its traditional search business.

How a Small South Texas Daily Is Building a Profitable Digital Future (Street Fight)
Tom Grubisich: The Victoria Advocate, which serves a nine-county South Texas market of 250,000, has stepped boldly with both boots onto the digital landscape. Publisher Dan Easton tells Street Fight how digital readership and revenue keep the Advocate editorially and financially vibrant.

B2B Marketing Budgets Put New Emphasis on Talent and Tech (Forrester)
When 62% of B2B marketing leaders tell us that improving marketing returns on investment is a critical priority, static budgets are forcing them to rethink personnel and technology spending in a effort to recalibrate programs against business objectives.

YouTube Won’t Allow Creators of Objectionable Videos to Earn Ad Dollars (AdWeek)
YouTube is taking steps to ensure that creators who post videos containing hateful content, inappropriate use of family entertainment characters or incendiary and demeaning content don’t earn any money from those videos.

UK Internet Users Choose Device Based on Activity (eMarketer)
Internet users in advanced economies are generally assumed to have a variety of devices at their disposal when digital activities beckon. According to a new study by Verto Analytics, there are some clear preferences in the UK in what device is used, depending on the activity.

Virtual Reality Finally Catches On — With Businesses (WSJ)
Businesses are taking to VR for training in industries from construction to medicine to sports. Executives say customized software that works like 360-degree videogames can help teach employees more effectively, less expensively, and often more safely than traditional methods.

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