News and Analysis
Innovation Brief: Girls Who Code, Facebook Messenger, and Humanoid Robots
Street Fight’s Innovation Brief series aggregates and analyzes happenings from across the technology and media spheres. This week, we look at Girls Who Code, Facebook Messenger payments, and humanoid robots.
Reputation Report Shows Increasing Relevance of Google Business Profiles
Examining 3.7 million shopper reviews online, Reputation found that Google Business Profiles now have more impact on a location’s findability than any other factor. With 90% of consumers reading reviews before making a purchase, and review volume up 12% from 2020, retailers can’t afford to miss out on the opportunities that localized online marketing provides.
2021 Ranking Factors Report Underscores Importance of Google Profiles and Reviews
Three of the most notable trends — the ever-increasing importance of native Google My Business (now Google Business Profile) factors and, in particular, of reviews, as well as the diminished impact of citation building — are reinforced this year, with Google profile optimization accounting for 36% of local ranking, up from 33% last year, and reviews inching up from 16% to 17%, while citations continue at 7%, down significantly in importance compared to their prominent role in earlier years.
Commentary
Brand Safety is a Brand Authenticity Problem
Marketers know that in a world of globalized competition, consumers are one click away from choosing a different product or service. Taking a stand can help brands appear righteous and earn consumer loyalty, which is why brand safety scandals necessitate a massive and speedy PR response. However, responding to or apologizing for such scandals can only be perceived as authentic the first time around—not the second time, and definitely not the third. The endless cycle of brand safety scandals reveals one of two things about today’s brands—they’re either lemmings, or they don’t really care about brand values.
Outsourced or In-House Delivery? We Did the Math
Local delivery is rapidly becoming a must-have for all kinds of businesses—people have become accustomed to online ordering and speedy delivery. According to a Go People survey, 65% of retailers will offer same-day delivery by the end of 2019, and according to Technomic, food delivery volume will grow by 12% year-over-year from 2019 to 2023. The question isn’t whether your business should offer delivery, but how.
Tim Cook Demands New Commitment to Responsibility from Big Tech
With the moral and commercial high ground in clear sight, Tim Cook used the spotlight at Stanford University’s commencement ceremony Saturday to slam Big Tech peers Google, Facebook, and Twitter for failing to take responsibility for the hateful content and disinformation on their platforms.
Latest Posts
How Major Brands Are ‘Gamifying’ the Consumer Buying Experience
Although gamification itself is not a new marketing strategy, advancements in mobile apps and location technologies are providing brands with new opportunities to engage customers using these time-tested techniques. Here’s how six major brands are using gamification to change the consumer experience and promote loyalty.
Street Fight Daily: GoDaddy Acquires Main Street Hub, New York Times Leads Way on Loyalty
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… GoDaddy Is Acquiring Main Street Hub, Social Marketing Platform for SMBs… How the New York Times Uses Interactive Tools to Build Loyalty and Subscriptions… Here’s Why the Epidemic of Malicious Ads Grew So Much Worse Last Year…
5 Text Messaging Platforms for Businesses
Millennials don’t want to call businesses for answers to basic questions like store hours or product availability. That’s part of the reason why click-to-call platforms have taken off in recent years. Here are five vendors with click-to-call platforms for businesses.
Selling to Multi-Location Brands: Who Makes the Decisions
Across tactics, over a third of those big companies we surveyed manage local digital marketing in a centralized fashion, but a similar number do so locally or regionally. Local sites and email are the tactics most often de-centralized; mobile and paid search the most often centralized.
Street Fight Daily: Social Declines in Search Visibility as Video Rises, Amazon Deal Boosts Kohl’s
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Social Sees Precipitous Decline in Google Search Visibility While Video Rises… Kohl’s Shares Could Pop 50 Percent as Amazon Partnership Ramps Up… With Facebook Emphasizing Community, Marketers Are Trying Out Facebook Groups…
5 Tech Companies Changing the Grocery Industry
The percentage of grocery purchases influenced by digital media nearly doubled last year, and by 2025 roughly one-fifth of U.S. grocery sales are expected to happen online. Now it’s time for technology vendors to step in with new innovations, so that the industry can continue to evolve. Here are five firms working to change the way we buy groceries right now.
ThriveHive Balances Software and Human Support to Power SMB Marketing
“So many people on the software side just want to solve everything with software, and on the agency side, there’s too much of a bias toward people. We think the right combination is in between,” said Steve Gottlieb, senior director of demand generation at ThriveHive.
Street Fight Daily: Amazon Go Opens to Public, Advertisers See Video Pivot in News Feed Change
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Go, High-Tech Grocery Store Sans Cashiers, Opens to the Public… As Facebook Changes Its Feed, Advertisers See Video Ambitions… Google’s Emphasis on Webpage Speed Will Hit CNN, WSJ, Other Top Sites…
Openings and New Hires at GroundTruth, Attune, Cardlytics
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest openings and new hires in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at VaynerMedia, dataPlor and Foursquare.
Raise Report: Usermind, Red Points, True Fit Score New Funding
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition also includes funding for Closetbox, CircleCI, Apartment List, and Grove Collaborative.
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Why MULOs Need a Localized Unstructured Citation Strategy