Commentary | Street Fight

Commentary

Tried and True Marketing Tactics SMBs Can Borrow From Premium Brands

March 22, 2017March 17, 2017 by Evan Brubaker

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Many small-but-growing businesses have a multi-store operation and a dynamic online presence, but simply can’t afford the custom-built, integrated retail and ecommerce systems that keep a premium brand’s customer experience tight and consistent. Here are some tactics they can employ to hack that problem.

News & Analysis Street Bytes (column)

What Does the Bot Bubble Mean for Facebook’s Long Game?

March 21, 2017June 11, 2019 by David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal

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“Facebook has long been a force in post-sale retention and Messenger can really play a huge part as a CRM tool,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “I see it as the “real” social network… the one where folks communicate with those closest to them.”

Commentary

Yext’s IPO Could Raise All Boats in Local — And Herald Consolidation

March 15, 2017March 15, 2017 by The Editors

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While the company’s long-anticipated announcement yesterday didn’t come as a huge surprise for those following local, the news that it was imminent still packed a punch. So we asked several luminaries to weigh in on what the offering might portend for the broader industry.

Commentary

Why It’s Too Early to Go All In on Virtual Assistants

March 13, 2017March 12, 2017 by David Card

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As the so-called customer journey takes new twists and turns, tech companies and agencies should help local businesses and brands differentiate themselves via user experience. Catering to virtual assistants might seem to be the path towards that goal. But it’s probably too early to make huge bets on these technologies.

Streets Ahead

Google’s Pragmatic Approach to the Truth, and Its Pitfalls

March 8, 2017March 7, 2019 by Damian Rollison

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If enough people believe something, should Google consider it to be true? In a world where questionable news is very popular, it’s not so surprising that Google’s logical assumptions might sometimes produce unexpected results. After all, trustworthiness at root is a matter of how many people are willing to trust you.

News & Analysis Street Bytes (column)

Why Google Is Becoming the ‘New Homepage’ for SMBs

March 6, 2017June 11, 2019 by David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal

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“So many things are happening right on Google; clicks to call, driving directions, etc., and even more so than a website,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “For a business to do well there, things like photos, reviews (everywhere) and other visuals are becoming ever more important.”

Commentary

Will Native-Social Ads Dominate Mobile?

March 6, 2017March 9, 2017 by Mike Boland

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The majority of mobile ad companies that don’t evolve their janky and interruptive banners will be displaced. A new era of mobile ads will be defined by intelligent formats that speak to the affinities of buying-empowered millennials (who are now almost 40 by the way).

Commentary

Survey: Merchants Gain Social Media Sophistication, Rate it Most Effective Tactic

February 27, 2017 by David Card

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Over the past several years, Street Fight has seen these local merchants shift their marketing budgets away from traditional media like newspapers, print Yellow Pages, and local broadcast towards digital marketing and media. That trend continues in a new survey that we conducted earlier this year.

News & Analysis Street Bytes (column)

How Does Google Determine the Authority of Local Entities?

February 21, 2017June 11, 2019 by David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal

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“Each of these sites that Google trusts might calculate authority in a different way, but if Google can verify the relationship to the local entity, they can apply that authority to the ranking of the local listing,” writes Mike Blumenthal to David Mihm.

Commentary

Where Home Phones Meet Voice-Assisted Search

February 15, 2017February 17, 2017 by Mark Sullivan

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Similar to the shift from desktop to mobile, local marketers need to consider how the shift to voice-activated devices will impact their strategy. The smart home hub offers a new device on which consumers will interact with local businesses.

Commentary

Luxury Lingerie Maker Cosabella Drives Sales with Email, Social Media

February 14, 2017February 14, 2017 by David Card

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With Valentine’s Day upon us, what better time for looking at how a lingerie company does its digital marketing? Street Fight recently sat down with Cosabella CEO Guido Campello and marketing director Courtney Connell to talk about how company gets the word out about its products.

Streets Ahead

What Does It Mean to Practice Local SEO Ethically?

February 13, 2017March 6, 2019 by Damian Rollison

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It can be all too easy to give the client the impression that search marketing is too hard from them to really understand — so they should just trust you. But that sets the stage for a relationship that is not based on ethical behavior.

Commentary

Why Back-end Tech Is Key for Food Delivery Startups

February 10, 2017February 10, 2017 by Megan Hannay

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Outside of college campuses, local food delivery startups generally have larger neighborhoods to cover and customers with more niche needs. This may be why some of the biggest names in local delivery don’t seem as different at first glance, because their focus is on the back-end.

Commentary

Mobile Marketing and the YouTube Cookie Shift

February 8, 2017 by Tyler Johnson

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Google recently announced that YouTube will turn to logged-in user data to verify views and ensure that relevant advertising reaches the right consumers. This will allow publishers, brands, and marketing to draw on all the highly contextual demographic and behavioral data that Google gathers from mobile consumers.

Commentary

The AI Wars in Local Have Already Begun

February 6, 2017 by Mike Boland

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This AI-centric battle is being waged by heavier contenders than any before it, including Apple (Siri), Amazon (Alexa), and Google (Assistant). They’re each basing battle plans on their current positioning and biggest assets, and the winner will sway the next era of local commerce.

Commentary

Small and Large Local Marketers Have Remarkably Similar Spending Focus

February 1, 2017January 31, 2017 by David Card

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A survey of 200 U.S. small and medium businesses conducted late last year revealed that 70% said they would be increasing their digital and online marketing budgets in 2017. Fewer than a third said budgets would stay the same, and only 2% said they were cutting back.

News & Analysis Street Bytes (column)

Apple Gets Into Position for the Voice Search Revolution

January 30, 2017June 11, 2019 by David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal

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As voice search becomes more prevalent, Apple will “retain an advantage over Amazon in ‘on-the-go’ searches, since our phones are always with us,” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal. “Unfortunately for Apple, people overwhelmingly conduct voice searches at home. “

Commentary

Three Ways Location Marketing Is Changing in 2017

January 30, 2017January 29, 2017 by Jon Schepke

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People are searching differently. They’re using emoji, voice commands, and social media to find what they want on demand through a variety of channels and devices. As a result, businesses need to be more nimble and imaginative in the way they convert online searches into offline sales.

Streets Ahead

Google Maps Holiday Controversy Reflects Deeper Issues in Local Search

January 26, 2017March 6, 2019 by Damian Rollison

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In cases where community values are not unanimous, public companies are faced with an ethical question, and their answers can help to shape perceptions among users. For many, the removal of a Confederate holidays from Google Maps signals that it is truly a thing of the past.

Commentary

Why Developing a ‘Near Me’ Strategy Has Become Critical for Local Marketers

January 25, 2017 by Brendan Morrissey

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Mobile is no longer just an important or necessary element of a marketing strategy — it’s vital for the livelihood and existence of a brand. And it has led to a critical shift in shopper behavior that brand marketers are rushing to understand and adapt their digital marketing strategies to.