News and Analysis
How to Find the Perfect Spot for Your Restaurant
A huge key to the success of MULO (multi-location) brands is knowing which cities, neighborhoods, streets (and even which side of the street) to put a location. Technology is now playing a huge role in distribution planning. Brands used to pick their locations using maps and a wide range of demographic data. They would also […]
One Location Wonder: MULO is Not for Everyone
Some MULO (multi-location) brands measure success by the number of locations they have. However, other retail, restaurant, and service businesses choose to remain small and mighty. Lisa Richards, Founder and CEO of RPZL (as in Rapunzel), falls into the second category. She has one location now but has found ways to scale creatively without adding […]
And the Oscar Goes to…
No, this isn’t a big reveal of the Oscar for the best of MULO (multi-location) advertising and media. No ad spending red carpet here. (But watch for our “Dozen” reports each month for key news highlights.) A recent article in Ad Age noted that ad spending on awards ceremonies is still a “star,” despite the […]
Commentary
Superior Customer Experience is the Gift that Keeps on Giving All Year Long
All brands and retailers are competing against each other for sales this holiday season, and the surge in e-commerce has favored big retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target thanks to accessibility, convenience, and marketing dollars. Local businesses, which previously thrived on outpacing big brands with superior in-person customer service, are now being pushed to adapt to the new consumer, one who spends less time browsing a retail location and more time scrolling online.
LBMA: Alexa Arrives in NYC Christmas Window Displays
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Skyhook signing a partnership with Sigfox, Asda partnering with GoodMaps to help the visually impaired navigate stores, Girls trying coding inside Doja Cat’s new music video, and Alexa in a Pear Tree — Alexa arrives in NYC Christmas window displays.
2022 Predictions: Immersive Tech Edition
Here are three predictions for what could happen at the intersection of immersive tech and local commerce. And because I often disparage broad predictions that don’t have any teeth, we’ve included action-specific or figure-based statements in each prediction (highlighted in bold).
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5 Next-Gen RFID Solutions for Omnichannel Retailers
Radio-frequency identification, or RFID, has found new life in the post-pandemic retail space. By attaching small strips of metal that can transmit radio waves with information about any product, retailers are finding that they can accelerate and automate the store checkout process. Unlike barcodes, which must be scanned individually, RFID tags can be scanned together and they hold significantly more information.
The Future of Customer Experience is Hybrid
A post-pandemic future gives businesses the chance to evaluate how to best do business and what exactly consumers will value. Brick-and-mortar businesses have an incredible opportunity to redefine what the new local hybrid experience looks like.
Local Platforms Promote Integrity with Consumer Confidence at Risk
Nextdoor is the latest local platform to publish what it calls a Transparency Report, designed to offer information to the public about efforts made to maintain an online community that is free from problematic content. In Nextdoor’s case, the focus is on reducing incidents of hate speech and incivility in order to promote healthy community interaction.
Why and How Businesses Should Embrace Product-Led Growth
For SaaS organizations especially, PLG can open up new revenue channels, giving you a competitive advantage by making it easy for customers to understand the value of your product. PLG becomes an efficient, no-touch way to scale revenue, affording customers the ability to self-serve and self-select without being weighed down by a traditional sales cycle.
The Power of Choice is Rekindling the Connection Between Consumers and Marketers
As with any change, opportunities to respond are plenty, and they start with control. The simple gesture of offering an end user the ability to exert at least some level of control over their advertising experiences is a step in the right direction.
It’s Time to Leverage the Entire Digital World in Your Marketing Strategy
On any given day, a person will switch between scrolling social media, listening to their favourite playlist, browsing products online, bingeing their favourite show on a connected TV (CTV), and more. This is why in 2022, advertisers should consider leveraging a multi-channel strategy. Marketing across several channels means an advertiser is casting a wider net and expanding the potential for reaching the right audience in the right moment.
Marketers Struggle to Balance Personalization and Privacy
While consumers are increasingly coming to expect personalization in their inboxes, too much personalization can damage trust and steer customers away. Nobody wants to feel like they’re being watched, but recent surveys show consumers are also growing increasingly frustrated with marketing materials that aren’t targeted enough.
Street Fight’s March Theme: The Long Pandemic and Local Commerce
The pandemic spurred fast change in local commerce and thousands of think pieces on that change. We watched as local delivery soared, as did use of BOPIS, curbside pickup, and contactless payments. But what local trends have persisted even as consumer concerns about Covid have waned? And which trends are decreasing in intensity or going away entirely?
Oomiji Helps Brands “Build Their Own Walled Gardens” of Customer Data
Zero-party data, or information customers willingly provide about themselves, is gaining popularity as a way of amassing customer data at a time when privacy restrictions are making that more difficult. The platform Oomiji is betting on that trend, differentiating itself from other CDPs by helping its clients ask their customers for data (instead of relying on AI to extrapolate limited data to probabilistic segments and preferences).
Expert Roundup II on Personalization and Zero-Party Data
Street Fight’s theme this month is personalization and data parties: a current obsession of adtech players as well as the advertisers they serve. Businesses are figuring out how to provide relevant experiences to customers online with comparatively little data at their disposal; we’re here to cover the evolution of their struggle.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem