News and Analysis
Connected TV Ad Measurement Tools That Link Data to Identity
Connected TV advertising has become increasingly popular in recent years, as more people cut the cord and turn to streaming services for all-things entertainment. However, measuring the effectiveness of CTV ads and attributing their impact to business outcomes has continued to challenge agencies and advertisers. Advertising with CTV and streaming increased 57% in 2021, to […]
KNIME Helps Improve Margins, Effectiveness for Brands
Retail and CPG leaders strategically use data to drive profitability. KNIME, an open-source data analytics platform, has helped numerous retailers to forecast inventory and stock requirements to optimize SKUs and reduce costs. Its data science set of tools has an interface easy enough for beginners and powerful enough for experienced users. It has also enabled […]
Where’s the Beef? Multi-Location Steakhouses Moove Forward
Despite the popularity of plant-based meat alternatives, the steakhouse category is far from dead. This week, Olive Garden owner Darden dropped a sizzling $715M to buy the Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse chain, comprising 150 locations and generating $505M last year. It joins multi-location steakhouses Eddie V’s (29 locations) and the Capital Grill (65 locations) in Darden’s […]
Commentary
Data Trends for 2021: Overcoming Digital Ad Uncertainty
With privacy regulations on the horizon, email is a known and comfortable identifier that many consumers self-register and that brands can anonymize in a digital environment with hashed emails for privacy compliance.
While 2020 has thrown a lot of curve balls, marketers that worked to get their consumer data house in order with an eye on ways to better enable their first-party data for a complete view of their most-desired audiences and buying behaviors will survive and thrive as we head into 2021. The newest technology, data-sharing innovations, and identity resolution algorithms won’t help if you don’t have the basics down.
How Local Retailers Can Reach Mission Shoppers this Holiday Season
The mission shopper is focused on getting in and out of stores as quickly as possible. They spend less time, and less money, in stores, and their mindset is different from the lighthearted holiday shoppers of yesteryear—or even last year.
Understanding this consumer archetype will prove critical to retail success this holiday season.
Qualifying and Quantifying 2020’s E-commerce Surge
Spending hasn’t declined — it’s just shifted. One of the themes we’re seeing is that the standouts of 2020 are those who have shifted with it. We’re talking here about a broad definition of e-commerce — not just ordering things online, but any digital or mobile purchase.
For example, in local commerce, these digital fulfillment models include mobile order-ahead functions in QSR and coffee. They also include curbside pickup for physical goods. And in an even broader sense (and looking forward), they will include touchless or cashier-less retail in a post-Covid era of physical retail.
Latest Posts
Social Selling Helps Boost Sales
I define social selling as the process of researching, connecting, and interacting with prospects and customers on social media networks. It focuses on nurturing leads, building brand authenticity and building trust with your prospects.
Leading firms have taken advantage of social selling and have begun reaping the benefits it offers. Research has shown that 70% of sales professionals are active on LinkedIn for business purposes, 89% believe social networking platforms such as LinkedIn are important in closing deals, and 64% of sales reps who invest time in social media are hitting their sales quota.
What California’s Gig Economy Law Means for Worker Flexibility
We can expect continued pushback to AB5 from companies across the gig economy. But regardless of whether the pushback leads to legislative changes, we’ll begin to see even more innovative approaches for managing flexible labor pools and flexible schedules. In the meantime, though, how can companies stay compliant, provide stability, and still preserve the flexibility that appeals to gig workers?
How Local Businesses Should Prepare for Coronavirus
A quick Google search on this column’s headline reveals a large number of sites offering recommendations to businesses large and small about how to prepare for the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak as it moves into pandemic territory. Articles on Inc., Fast Company, and the World Economic Forum echo a common theme: Businesses need to develop a plan of action for containing the spread of the illness, as well as contingencies that allow normal operations to continue as smoothly as possible.
In the sphere of digital presence management, key players like Google, Nextdoor, and Facebook are offering recommendations to help businesses develop plans and communicate effectively with consumers who need to access their products and services. The advice comes at a time when business operations may be modified or interrupted by multiple factors such as quarantines and supply chain interruptions.
Freckle, AdSquare Team Up on Privacy-Compliant Geo-Contextual Advertising
For years, geo-contextual advertising focused on targeting consumers for specific products or services at specific locations. The strategy has delivered impressive results for many brands and agencies. But with privacy restrictions on the rise, the time has come to start reimagining geo-contextual advertising in a way that brings brands together with on-the-go consumers in a privacy-safe way.
While many vendors are looking at how to expand into privacy-safe geo-targeting, Freckle and AdSquare are getting out ahead of the pack. Just this morning, Freckle and AdSquare announced a collaborative effort to improve geo-targeting capabilities for brands and agencies across North America. Through the collaboration, Freckle will layer its privacy-safe visitation data into AdSquare’s platform.
Location Weekly: Grocery Delivery in the Time of COVID-19 Alarm
In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association covers Instacart’s doorstep grocery delivery amid the coronavirus scare, Papa Johns enjoying success with AR, 7Eleven opening an “Evolution” concept store, TapAd partnering with Gimbal, and Pandora launching interactive voice ads.
SMB Resellers and Agencies: How to Make the Most of the Conversions Objective
ROI is, of course, the ultimate goal of any advertising effort, so one might naturally ask, “Why would I ever choose an objective that’s not conversion optimized?”, or even “Why would I choose to optimize towards anything but purchase conversions?” It turns out the latter is the more complicated question, but one you can answer when armed with the right information.
It all has to do with how Facebook’s ad bidding works, which involves a combination of factors: your advertiser bid, estimated action rates (i.e. how your target audience responds to the ad), and overall ad quality. As Facebook notes, “together, estimated action rates and ad quality measure ad relevance. In fact, we subsidize relevant ads in auctions, so more relevant ads often cost less and see more results.”
Amazon’s Just Walk Out Cashierless Solution Is an Antitrust Signal
It’s well established that Amazon dominates at dominating industries adjacent to retail. But that’s what makes its Just Walk Out solution more suspect. By doubling down on retail as a service, Amazon is courting enterprise customers in the very industry — brick-and-mortar retail — that its main e-commerce business gutted. The Seattle behemoth is asking firms like Walmart and Macy’s to pay it for the chance to meet the same Amazon-driven standards that put some of the retail champions of yesteryear out of business.
The Risk of Emphasizing Data Quantity Over Quality
The privacy movement heralded by January’s implementation of the California Consumer Privacy Act has shone a spotlight on the ethical issues surrounding data collection. But digital marketing insiders know that ethics is not the only issue plaguing data-driven business.
Ensuring the quality and accuracy of data is a major challenge for marketers, data brokers, and consumers. Drew Kutcharian, CTO and co-founder of audience platform DISQO, checked in with Street Fight to provide his vision of the data quality-quantity balance and how privacy legislation will affect it going forward.
CCPA and Beyond: Where Privacy Will Take Us in 5 Years
Although the language of CCPA leaves a lot open for interpretation, one thing is clear: The consumer data and privacy landscape has fundamentally shifted beneath the feet of today’s enterprises, and privacy compliance will forever be an important requirement for sustainable business going forward. But where exactly do we go from here? In a regulatory environment where there are currently more questions than answers, what do consumer privacy requirements look like in five years? Here are a few likely outcomes of current initiatives and momentum.
Review Generation and Management Platforms for Healthcare
In healthcare marketing, it all comes down to the patients. Adding patient reviews to a healthcare organization’s website can improve its ranking in the Google algorithm, particularly when those reviews are filled with relevant keywords. Just as importantly, though, patient reviews have a positive impact on the way other people view medical websites. Practice websites with user-generated content, including reviews, score higher in reliability, expertise, and professionalism.
Here are six examples of review generation and management platforms aimed squarely at healthcare organizations.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem