Commentary | Street Fight

The Place of Newspapers in the Local Marketing Ecosystem

July 31, 2017June 11, 2019 by David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal

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“Digitally speaking, NextDoor is encroaching on a space that local papers really should own.” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal. “It’s basically a glorified forum that in my view would be every bit as successful, if not more so, if hosted by a truly local entity.”

Commentary

Building a Local Stack: The Rise of ‘SMB OS’

July 25, 2017August 26, 2019 by Mike Boland

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SMB OS includes the full range of business services that traditionally fall outside of – but are related to – advertising. It’s POS systems, supply chain, payroll, insurance, appointment scheduling, online ordering, CRM… even HR.

Commentary

Facebook’s Self-Serve Ad Creative Can’t Be SMBs’ Only Choice

July 19, 2017July 18, 2017 by Lynn Tornabene

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By removing some of the barriers to ad spend for small businesses, Facebook is trying to become a one-stop shop for their ad dollars. SMBs are likely aware of the problem, but they shouldn’t be willing to rely on Facebook exclusively for their marketing and advertising needs.

Commentary

Podcasting Won’t Replace Local Radio Soon

July 18, 2017July 14, 2017 by David Card

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As a local advertising medium, podcasting shows promise, but it has a very long way to go. The medium is fresh and growing, and ad inventory is far less cluttered than radio, although a little pricey at $18 to $25 CPM.

News & Analysis Street Bytes (column)

Google’s Product Bid for DIY Wallet Share

July 17, 2017June 11, 2019 by David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal

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“Google has been on a tear this past month in the DIY realm,” notes Mike Blumenthal in his bi-monthly conversation with David Mihm. “Three major product rollouts in a 30-day span; Websites, Posts and now SMS messaging. And Google only needs uptake on one of them to get a chance to sell Adwords Express.”

Commentary

Three Lessons from the Dex Media/YP Merger

July 17, 2017July 28, 2017 by Manpreet Singh

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For Dex Media and YP to become DexYP, they had to teach one another three lessons that every business in the local space should know: the primacy of distribution, the fallacy of stagnation, and the inevitability of market consolidation.

Commentary

Accidental Ad-Blocking: The Brand-Safety Snag that Advertisers Can Fix

July 13, 2017July 13, 2017 by Tyler Johnson

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When it comes to ads that brands want to publish on the web as well as in-app, there’s a brand-safety technology snag that many advertisers don’t know about — and it’s costing them in-app impressions. Think of it as accidental ad-blocking.

Commentary

Cutting Through the Crowds at Festivals: How Brands Can Reach Summer Groupies

July 12, 2017July 12, 2017 by Michael Buttigieg

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When fans use their mobile phones to travel to or around a festival, or when contacting their friends on-site, they’re giving brands valuable information about where they are and what they like. And if advertisers know how to capitalize on this data, they’ll be able to identify and reach their ideal audiences.

Streets Ahead

Snapchat Expands Its Foray Into Local with Snap Map

July 10, 2017March 7, 2019 by Damian Rollison

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Pinterest and Snapchat both are turning digital space into a closer analogue to physical space, where we look for visual cues to understand the world. In different ways, both apps are collapsing the distance between virtual and real.

Commentary

Comparing Enterprise and SMB Attitudes on Local Tech

July 7, 2017July 6, 2017 by David Card

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In recent Street Fight surveys, both brands and local merchants reported that they are increasing the digital portion of their marketing spending. Over half (57%) of local merchants surveyed said that was the case, and 40% of the enterprise local marketers agreed.

News & Analysis Street Bytes (column)

One Size Does Not Fit All in the SMB Digital Market

July 5, 2017June 11, 2019 by David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal

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“At the very least you have to recognize your day-to-day experiences both discovering and interacting with small businesses are wildly different from customers in rural markets,” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal in their biweekly chat.

Commentary

Dead Fingers Still Walking?

July 4, 2017 by Andrew Shotland

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While Google and Facebook may have a lock on consumers and big advertisers, in no way do they have a lock on SMB advertisers. If Dex Media/YP can provide a better experience for its advertisers, it’s got a real shot at keeping those fingers walking well into the future.

Commentary

An Unsexy Truth: Emerging Tech Hinges on Local Data

June 28, 2017June 27, 2017 by Mike Boland

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The visual search future in which “the camera is the new search box,” will have a massive reliance on local data. Therefore value and demand are boosted within that world for companies that have unique local data sets — everything from NAP to snaps.

Commentary

Parsing Google Fred and Other Quality Updates: How to Prepare or Recover

June 27, 2017June 27, 2017 by Mindy Weinstein

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If you are involved in any form of SEO, you know how daunting it can be to keep up with Google algorithm updates. From the Mobile First Index to the Owl update to Google Fred, the tide is always shifting. It is important to step back a moment and take a look at what Google is trying to do.

Commentary

How Using Wearables Data Can Strengthen Brands’ Outreach

June 22, 2017June 21, 2017 by Joe Francica

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Wearables have the ability to become a conduit to exciting new revenue streams, but it’s up to marketers to take advantage of the data these devices generate, and to create a marketing ecosystem that evolves through contextually-based experiences that matter to the consumer.

Commentary

Why Voice Search Is the Future

June 21, 2017June 20, 2017 by Jon Schepke

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Voice presents tremendous opportunities for location marketers to build their businesses, too. Companies such as Domino’s Pizza and Starbucks are tapping into voice to drive commerce, but the best way to capitalize on voice is to let consumers define your approach.

News & Analysis Street Bytes (column)

Making Sense of Posts in Google’s SMB Product Portfolio

June 19, 2017June 11, 2019 by David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal

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“In local, most businesses do not have a transaction so Google wants to control the action,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “If they can sell an ad, great, and if not then they take credit for a click or a call, driving directions or response to a CTA (and gather the data of those activities).”

Streets Ahead

Is Snapchat Quietly Redefining Local?

June 8, 2017March 6, 2019 by Damian Rollison

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Snapchat’s recent moves and related developments seem to indicate an emerging redefinition of what it means to be digitally local, a redefinition that is happening under our noses and without much fanfare as Snapchat works to gain and maintain the eyeballs of Millennials.

Commentary

Local Providers Should Take Care in Interpreting Big Mobile Advertising Numbers

June 6, 2017June 14, 2017 by David Card

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One of the key themes of Mary Meeker’s annual presentation was mobile advertising — its growth, targeting, and measurability. But recent Street Fight surveys of SMBs and brand marketers indicate that mobile still has surprisingly low usage and perceived effectiveness.

Commentary

How Sports Marketers Can Extend Their Brands and Win Big This Summer

June 6, 2017June 6, 2017 by Michael Buttigieg

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With so much opportunity — and competition — how can marketers stand out from the crowd and forge meaningful relationships with sports fans? Here are some best practices that will enable marketers to identify their perfect audiences and build lifelong relationships with fans.