Street Fight Daily: Business Discovery in the Voice Search Age, Mobile ROI Eludes Marketers

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

SEO’s Path Forward in the Age of Google Assistant, Home, and Amazon Echo (Search Engine Land)
As more people use smart speaker devices like these to get their information in a world without search engine results pages (SERPs), SEOs will have to adjust if they want to stay relevant. Here are three ways SEOs can best position themselves for a world of assistant search without SERPs, powered by devices like Google Home and Amazon Echo.

Broadstreet CEO: ‘Value’ in Local Publishing Is More Than Scale (Street Fight)
Since its launch in early 2012, the ad-service company Broadstreet has grown to 250 mostly independent local news publishers and trade publications. In this Q & A, Broadstreet founder and CEO Kenny Katzgrau talks about what he calls the “growing divide” between publishers, like local newspaper groups, who pitch advertisers with the scale of big […]

67% of Marketers Can’t Measure Mobile ROI (MediaPost)
69% percent of U.S. online adults now use mobile in-store — mainly to look up prices, product information, promotions, or customer reviews — according to fresh Forrester findings. Yet, the research indicates that 67% of marketers says they simply can’t measure mobile ROI.

Among Marketers, IoT Is Seen as Critical Emerging Technology (eMarketer)
A survey of advertising and marketing executives indicates that, of a variety of emerging technologies, the internet of things (IoT) is seen as the most important. According to the data, IoT was rated “very important” by 24% of executives, in contrast to only 14% feeling this way toward each of the other technologies. 

5 Tools for Evaluating Which Hyperlocal Ads Work Best (Street Fight)
There are a number of tools already available for marketers looking to decide which hyperlocal ads are working best, many of which go beyond basic click-through rates and engagement rates to generate a complete picture of advertising successes and misses.

Google Launches a Tool for Businesses to Build Simple Cloud Apps (Business Insider)
Called App Maker, the tool promises to let businesses build simple cloud apps in a couple of days using a drag-and-drop environment, with minimal coding experience required. It seems most useful for organizations that need apps that integrate with information stored in G Suite, such as contacts or mapping data, but can be used for other simple cloud apps as well. 

Ad Tech Company AppNexus Files Confidentially for IPO (Wall Street Journal)
AppNexus, an automated online-advertising technology company, has confidentially filed paperwork for an initial public offering that is likely to come in the second quarter of 2017, according to people familiar with the matter. The company, which was valued at $1.8 billion in a 2015 funding round, could seek a valuation between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.

Food Delivery Giant Just Eat Claims ‘World’s First’ Drone-Delivered Meal (VentureBeat)
Food delivery giant Just Eat is laying claim to a significant milestone —  the world’s first takeaway meal delivered by a robot. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the door to find a robot waiting to greet me — it was like something out of a movie,” said the customer.

App Marketers Learn from Ad Tech, Even As They Abandon Ads (AdExchanger)
Mobile apps need revenue but have limited screen space on ads. Enter Button, which lets consumers click on an icon to move easily from app to app. It collects fractional fees from its partners, like a toll road connecting different apps.

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