News and Analysis

Savvy Retailers Are Turning Returns Into Revenue — Here’s How

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Returns are inherently expensive due to shipping and restocking fees, but some retailers are finding ways around those issues. In the process, they’re coming up with new strategies for building revenue streams from customer returns.

Google Is Using AI to Improve Business Listings — Here’s How

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Google said it would be using artificial intelligence and machine learning to build a self-updating Maps product that predicts when business hours are likely to be wrong and updates listings automatically using AI-generated predictions.

New Hires at Publica, January Digital, Vibrant Media

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The monthly Street Fight new hires roundup features movers and shakers in adtech, martech, e-commerce, localized marketing, location intelligence, and more. This month’s roundup features new hires at CTV ad platform Publica, digital analytics company January Digital, and contextual marketing firm Vibrant Media.

Commentary

Mobile Trends Set to Hit the US in 2020

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2019 was a hectic year for many in the social and technology spaces, and we expect that theme to carry into 2020: the “new normal” will become just “normal.” We are optimistic about this new year but also foresee some systemic changes as to how mobile technology will continue transforming our lives while allowing us more control.

Free and Premium Loyalty Programs Can and Should Coexist

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Brands like Lululemon and Restoration Hardware have strong, headline-making loyalty programs with annual fees upwards of $100. But thousands of brands also have free, points-based loyalty programs — can the two coexist in a single brand? 

The short answer: Yes. With shoppers’ desire for richer experiences and more valuable rewards and retailers’ need to gather data to support these desires, a blend of both premium and free loyalty is an advantageous route. 

Converting Prospects to Customers Through Event Marketing

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The marketing journey is not as predictable as it once was, and there are potential roadblocks to conversion at every stage within the funnel. Today’s buyers have access to high-quality information about products and services through digital media, so they’re not reliant on the sellers for insights. In the most successful companies, sales and marketing organizations overcome these roadblocks together. They work in concert to generate brand awareness, educate prospects, forge relationships, and ultimately to turn prospects into customers. Event marketing plays a key role in these efforts. 

Latest Posts

Drift Releases New Tech to Help B2B Marketers Convert Site Visitors Into Leads

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It’s 2018, and if visitors to your site are slapped with forms that need to be filled out manually, those visitors are going to take their business elsewhere. That’s the state of affairs that conversational marketing and sales platform Drift is addressing this week with its new technology, Drift Intel.

Heard on the Street, Episode 9: Running Lean with Stadium Goods CEO John McPheters

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VC funding is sexy, but sometimes it’s better not to take the money. Operating lean can train founders for optimal practices and efficiencies that will serve them well in the long run, says Stadium Goods co-founder and CEO John McPheters, our latest guest on Heard on the Street. 

Street Fight Daily: Apple’s Intertwined Futures in AR and Maps, Snapchat Is Shrinking

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TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING… Will Apple Help Assemble the ‘Internet of Places’?… Snapchat’s User Base is Shrinking. Here’s Why… Social Is Getting More Difficult for Content Marketers…

Facebook Announces Slew of Changes to Boost Local Businesses

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A couple of weeks after Google announced changes to local event discovery, Facebook is announcing a bevy of updates intended to make connecting with local businesses easier for its 2 billion users. Here’s everything you need to know.

Report: 34% of Ad Impressions Placed on Low-Quality Sites

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Reputable brands have pushed back hard against having their ads appear alongside content that goes against their values—for example, advertising running alongside articles or videos about how to complete the Tide PODS challenge—but Gartner L2’s research shows that the pushback hasn’t been effective enough, and the industry still has work to do.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Releases Slew of Local Features, Here Challenges Google Maps

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TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING… Facebook Announces Slew of Changes to Boost Local Businesses… Here Attacks Google Maps with New Freemium Website Plan… Alexa Users Are Reportedly Not Buying Anything with Their Voice…

5 Things to Know About Amazon’s Fast-Growing Ad Biz

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Search “Amazon advertising,” and the first webpage you’ll find comes from the e-commerce giant itself. The pitch? In a phrase: “Reach millions of customers who find, discover, and buy at Amazon.” It doesn’t get much more compelling than that. Here are five things you need to know about the most legitimate challenge to Google and Facebook’s digital ad dominance. 

Street Culture: SproutLoud’s Reinvention Requires Collaboration

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Channel marketing automation company SproutLoud had a circular problem: the turnover was bad, which was bad for employee morale, which was causing more turnover. The company’s internal culture was deteriorating—a point at which many startups have struggled to reset their environments, and a point at which SproutLoud’s leadership team took responsibility.

Street Fight Daily: What to Know About Amazon’s Fast-Growing Ad Biz, Are Publishers Now Like Tech Vendors?

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TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING… 5 Things to Know About Amazon’s Fast-Growing Ad Biz… Are Publishers Becoming More Like Tech Vendors?… Street Culture: SproutLoud’s Reinvention Requires Collaboration…

Street Fight Daily: Square Opens Its Platform to Developers, Google Pursues the Gamification Route

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TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING… Square Announces SDK, Opening Its Platform Directly to Developers for First Time… Google Hooks Up With Unity to Entice Advertisers with Game Supply… After Downgrading Publishers, Facebook Explores New Ways to Boost Them…