News and Analysis
Search Marketers Cater to New Customer Needs for Holidays
Grocery stores are doing more business than pre-pandemic, with average weekly household grocery bills surging from $120 to $161 at the height of statewide lockdowns this spring. Many restaurants are pivoting right now to promote their takeout and delivery options. Health and wellness websites are fielding questions about coronavirus, as are many news publishers.
Leaning into the changes means understanding and responding to the challenges consumers are facing right now and setting up a search strategy that focuses on providing the best experiences possible.
Why Savvy SMBs Are Focusing on the Post-Sale Experience
Two-thirds of American adults say they plan to shop at more small businesses in the coming months, providing independent retailers with the perfect opportunity to turn those new customers into brand advocates.
Putting the strategy into action means capitalizing on what ActiveCampaign CEO Jason VandeBoom sees as the biggest untapped opportunity for local retailers right now — the post-sale engagement.
Square and Adobe Spark Team Up to Give SMBs a Holiday Marketing Boost
In addition to selecting three small businesses to receive a holiday marketing overhaul — pairing each up with local designers to modernize their brand marketing materials — Adobe Spark and Square are helping businesses digitize their shops to process transactions in a touch-free environment, utilizing mobile technology and QR codes. The firms have also announced a plan to give five small businesses a $10,000 media buy credit and a subscription to Adobe Spark Premium.
Commentary
Who Will Own Your Augmented Reality?
Questions about AR ownership will be particularly contentious wherever money is changing hands, such as in AR advertising. Courts will face questions such as ownership of digital ad inventory when there are AR overlays on private property (or on other ads). There could be similar gray area in retail & commerce.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Can Walmart Compete with Amazon?, Uber Slapped with Federal Inquiry
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Can Walmart’s Expensive New E-Commerce Operation Compete with Amazon?… Uber Faces Federal Inquiry Over Use of Greyball Tool to Avoid Authorities… Mark Zuckerberg Is Still in No Hurry to Monetize Facebook Messenger…
GoDaddy Balances Tech and Self-Service in a Fragmented Marketplace
“The way that you cut through the noise is to build products and services that are loved by the people who use them so much that they proactively tell their neighbor next to them, or proactively tell the business group they are a part of,” says the company’s product chief, Steven Aldrich.
Report: Beacons Making Sizable Impact on Retail
The Proximity.Directory Q1 2017 Report shows that 75% of retailers in the U.S. are integrating proximity technologies into their marketing mix to increase operating profit. By using beacon technology, retailers can improve their position and increase operating profit by nearly 9% with an ROI of 175%, according to the report.
Street Fight Daily: Snap Launches New Ad Buying Tools, Facebook’s Mobile Bump Evens Out
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Snapchat Is Opening Itself Up to Advertisers of All Sizes with New Buying Tools… Facebook’s Days of Easy Growth from the Shift to Mobile May Be Over… Consumers Can Stomach Ads in News Feeds, Research Shows…
If the Gym Fits, Reserve It — Startup Makes It Easy to Never Miss a Workout
A bloom of new companies are aggregating gyms and offering single subscriptions to all of them with one “membership.” FitReserve saw the simplicity and convenience in such a program back in 2015 when three co-founders launched to fill what CEO and co-founder Megan Smyth calls a void in the market.
Street Fight Daily: Retailers Test Personalization, Facebook Drives Biz Engagement with Messenger
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Tipping Point: Teens Spend More Time on Mobile than Desktop… mParticle Launches Peer-to-Peer Audience Sharing to Make Marketing with Partners Easier… eBay Incorporates Machine Learning to Overhaul Email Marketing Platform…
How Harman Takes Electronics Marketing to the Local Level
Having the customer’s ear is literally what Harman International wants, but getting their attention at the local level takes more than a few steps for a consumer electronics maker. Shobhit Kapoor, Harman’s vice president of global brand marketing, caught up with Street Fight recently to talk about how the company thinks about connecting with local consumers.
Street Culture: Pointy Focusing on People and Product, Not Process
Dublin-based digital search platform startup Pointy is still at that point where the culture is just what it is, without special definitions or structure. “The number of people on our team now is small, almost painfully small,” says co-founder Mark Cummins. “There’s not a lot of structure. Well, there is structure, but there’s not a lot of process around it.”
Street Fight Daily: Angie’s List Acquired by HomeAdvisor, News Orgs Experiment with Amazon Echo
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Angie’s List Acquired by IAC’s HomeAdvisor in Deal Valued at More than $500 Million… NPR, the AP, and Local Newspapers Are Experimenting with Amazon Echo… Google is Testing a Job-Search Feature that Could Rival LinkedIn — And Facebook…
Beyond Likes: Win Hearts with Emotional Marketing