News and Analysis

Brick-and-Mortar in a Post-Covid World

Share this:

After months of shopping primarily online, and taking advantage of services like same-day deliveries and curbside pickups, can shoppers be persuaded to come back into physical stores?

SMBs Seek Speedy Relief to Recover in 2021

Share this:

The Biden administration is pledging $15 billion in grants to help businesses, and $35 billion for small business financing programs, as part of its new American Rescue Plan. But many grants and recovery programs have long timelines, and business owners are saying they need more immediate support.

Predictions Roundup: Location Consolidation and the Rise of BOPIS

Share this:

A roundup of top digital marketing, SEO, and location intelligence experts predicts location consolidation, the re-humanization of digital marketing, and the dominance of Google My Business and new retail features such as BOPIS in 2021.

Commentary

How Giant GateHouse Media Performed in Harsh Duke Study of Local News Sites

Share this:

I went to Bill Church, senior vice president of news at GateHouse Media—the biggest publisher of newspapers in the U.S.—with questions about the quality of GateHouse sites that were put under the microscope in a 100-community study from Duke University that painted a critical picture of news deserts across the country.

How Brands Can Create Personalized Experiences for Each Local Market

Share this:

Digital properties must not only gather information about people but also use it to help consumers meet their goals in a contextual and timely manner. With changes such as the GDPR going into effect, the onus is on brands to deliver a connected experience that will leave customers feeling as though brands’ use of their data is justified.

The Quantitative Evidence That Reputation Management Works 

Share this:

At times, the research findings published in our industry seem a little suspect. But in one vertical in particular, there’s a body of academic research that speaks to exactly the kinds of questions we want answered about reputation management—namely, does online review monitoring and response really make a difference to a business’s bottom line?

Latest Posts

Understanding Facebook’s Place as a Small Business Marketing Vehicle

Share this:

“While [Facebook is] not yet anywhere near Google’s ability to generate leads, I have, over the past 6 months, started to see them surpassing Yelp in driving local key performance indicators on the pre-sale side,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm.

Street Fight Daily: Publishers Grapple with Google’s Algorithm, Facebook Builds Up SMB Marketing

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Publishers Renew Focus on Search Optimization — and Find New Tricks… Hotels, Feeling the Pinch of AirBnB, Promote Local Experiences… Instagram CEO on Stories: Don’t Call It a Copycat…

Openings and New Hires at Facebook, Alphabet, and RingPartner

Share this:

Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Womply, Airbnb, and AdRoll.

‘Deep Audience’: Reach, the Location-Rich Media-Mix, and the Whole Marketing Picture

Share this:

TV and other legacy platforms are evolving to become more precise. These forces reflect brands’ desire to reach the people they’ve identified as most amenable to their products, and they reflect the desire to do so with messaging that is deeply relevant to consumers’ lifestyles and interests.

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Tests On-Demand Grocery, Lyft Launches Luxury Service

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon’s Drive-Up Grocery Stores Are Now Open to the Public in Seattle… Lyft Launches Luxury Service in NY, SF, and LA… Facebook Recruits Its Top Publishers for Exclusive Shows…

Retailers Need to Use Tech to Work Smarter, Not Harder

Share this:

To have any chance for long term survival, retailers and brands need to bring more technology to bear in operating their businesses, enabling them to work smarter, not harder. Here are some strategic ways big retailers can use technology.

Borrell: Too Many Local Newspapers Remain Stuck in Their Newsroom ‘Church’

Share this:

Facebook collected $13.6 billion in local ad spending in the U.S. in 2016, according to the report — more than all local media put together — $12 billion. The report says Facebook, Google and other global pureplays will continue to dominate digital ad revenue that comes from merchants and other businesses at the community level.

Street Fight Daily: SMBs Struggle with Social, Pinterest’s Appeal for Brands Climbs

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Small Businesses Are Missing the Boat on Social… Pinterest is Quietly Gaining a Foothold Among Marketers… WaWa, Walgreens and Others Try to Clean Bad Map Data…

Street Fight Daily: Twitter Boosts Brands, Facebook Equips Publishers with Data-Based Ad Tools

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Twitter Created an Ad Format to Help Brands Directly Message Users… New Facebook Tool Handles Media Companies’ Video Ad Sales… Uber to Repay Millions to Drivers, Who Could Be Owed More…

Report: Solid Opportunity to Sell Marketing and Data Management Services to Local Merchants

Share this:

As local merchants increasingly shift their marketing spending to digital tactics, they’re becoming more sophisticated in how they manage those programs. Street Fight’s latest analysis of its local small business survey shows a much higher adoption rate of digital dashboards and the like compared with previous research.