Commentary | Street Fight

Commentary

So How Do We Define a ‘Small Business’ Anyway?

July 24, 2015January 19, 2016 by Mo Yehia

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Small businesses pack a big punch when it comes to the economy. A working definition that most people and corporations can agree on would aid market interpretations, statistical analyses, and, of course, make it simpler for advertisers to reach the right audience.

Streets Ahead

Study Finds Consumer Search Preferences Depend Heavily on Type of Business

July 22, 2015March 7, 2019 by Damian Rollison

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A few categories like restaurants, physicians, and beauty salons consistently capture the greatest volume of searches, stretching out into a long tail of lower-volume searches for occasional needs like roofing, chiropractors, and house cleaning.

Commentary

On-Demand Services: Lessons Learned From the Rise and Fall of Homejoy

July 21, 2015July 22, 2015 by Bryan Clayton

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The news that on-demand home cleaning service Homejoy is shutting down at the end of the month wasn’t a big surprise. Here are a few key lessons that stick out in thinking about the company’s trajectory.

Commentary

Local Publishers: Take Back Control of Your Brand

July 21, 2015November 10, 2015 by Scott Barnett

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The announcement of the Digital News Initiative partnership with Google is yet another step backwards for publishers. If they would just consider how they operated their own platforms before the 1990’s they will realize that Google, Facebook and other current tech platforms owe them nothing.

Commentary

Local Tech Businesses Diversify to Serve a Wider Range of SMB Needs — But Do They Really Know Their Customers?

July 16, 2015July 21, 2015 by Mo Yehia

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In the rush to diversify their offerings, single-product local tech companies either move horizontally (reaching out to all the markets that could remotely utilize their product) or, more often, vertically (seeking to cater to all the nuanced needs of a niche market).

Commentary

Small Businesses Aren’t Afraid of Amazon — And You Shouldn’t Be Either

July 15, 2015July 21, 2015 by Dax Dasilva

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Yes, Amazon is a giant. But as long as you continue to innovate and keep your hand on the pulse of independent business needs, it’s not going to kill your business. Here’s why.

Commentary

Why All SMBs Need an Ecommerce Strategy

July 13, 2015July 12, 2015 by Joe Morsello

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While online research to offline purchase is the more common path-to-purchase, future-looking SMB retailers will holistically consider an ecommerce strategy as more and more consumers embrace online shopping.

Commentary

Why All Brands Need to Prepare for the Localization of Marketing

July 9, 2015July 9, 2015 by Rob Reed

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In order to fully appreciate the significance of localized marketing, we first need to understand the dominant forms of marketing that preceded it. There have been three major technological disruptions over the past century that fundamentally changed the marketing landscape.

Commentary

Why Selling to Partners and Resellers Is Never a Straight Path

July 7, 2015July 9, 2015 by Michael Taylor

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Media companies are constantly bombarded by digital product and ad tech platform companies vying for consideration. Getting the attention of reseller and partner decision makers requires a clear understanding of their business challenges.

Commentary

What Merchants Need to Know About Apple Pay and Loyalty Apps

July 6, 2015July 9, 2015 by Lauren Licata

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Having provided a window into the future of Apple Pay and Wallet, Apple recently left small businesses wondering about how to adapt their mobile strategies to stay competitive. Here’s how the changes could affect merchants.

Commentary

Labor Issues Aren’t the Only Hazard in Uber’s Business Model

July 1, 2015July 1, 2015 by Manpreet Singh

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Uber-for-X innovators and investors be warned: several elements of Uber’s market inoculated it against three hazards associated with the single service model: Trigger Infrequency, Customer Loyalty, and Market Density.

Commentary

Is the On-Demand Economy a Local Media Growth Engine — Or Its Death Knell?

June 29, 2015June 29, 2015 by Mike Boland

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Local on-demand services continue to dominate press and investor attention. But the elephant in the room is the degree to which on-demand could displace local marketing as we know it.

Commentary

INFOGRAPHIC: A Quick, Deep Dive Into Local Pharmacies

June 25, 2015June 25, 2015 by Neal Polachek

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Here’s a view of the U.S. pharmacy industry – not the drug makers but the local distribution networks made up of thousands of retail pharmacies. These pharmacies help drive the nearly $260B in “Drug Store Revenue.”

Commentary

On Building Local Products With Merchants in Mind

June 25, 2015July 2, 2015 by David Hirschman

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In local, particularly, it seems important to underscore something for new startups: to really think about and envision and understand their customer base…

Commentary

YP’s Split and Local.com’s Bankruptcy: Ain’t No Big Deal

June 24, 2015July 2, 2015 by Andrew Shotland

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YP’s split and Local Corp’s bankruptcy filing might strike you as huge events. But for the greater local search industry, I don’t see these as particularly big milestones…

Commentary

The Conscientious Consumer: A Disruption Opportunity in Local On-Demand

June 22, 2015June 23, 2015 by Manpreet Singh

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As innovators sacrifice worker interests on the altar of consumer satisfaction and gain market dominance, here are three growing vulnerabilities they should look out for…

Commentary

Small Biz and Big Tech: How to Connect Local Merchants With Today’s Ad Technology

June 17, 2015June 17, 2015 by Lara Mehanna

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You can’t love what you don’t understand and the same holds true at every level of strategy – from local to global. We already know geo-targeted advertising campaigns equal success; it’s only a matter of jumping the hurdle of understanding before local businesses know it too…

Commentary

How SMBs Can Capitalize on ‘Micro-moments’ in the New Path to Purchase

June 12, 2015October 27, 2015 by Matt Matergia

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A new Google and Ipsos study indicates that consumers use mobile devices more often, but for shorter periods of time. These short periods of time have been dubbed “micro-moments” and they are changing the ways consumers research and buy…

Commentary

What the Rise of Slack and HipChat Mean for Small Business

June 10, 2015December 16, 2015 by Mark Sullivan

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On the surface these messaging app seem to offer businesses better internal communication. In reality their value is rooted in real-time, contextual streams of business data within an environment that invites collaboration. That’s a fancy way of saying these are chat apps with loads of integrations…

Commentary

Can Home Services Really Be Uber-ed?

June 8, 2015June 9, 2015 by Todd Bairstow

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Homeowners don’t “Uber” a $15,000 window replacement job. They don’t contract for a new sunroom on their mobile phone. And they don’t sign on for a $30,000 kitchen remodel without spending hours of real time with a designer and salesperson…