News and Analysis
Google’s Latest Privacy Play Has Big Implications for the Open Web
Google’s recent announcement that it would stop selling ads based on users’ specific web browsing histories was met with enthusiasm among consumer privacy experts. Within the local marketing and advertising community, the reaction was different.
Brand Identity, Privacy, and First-Party Data
Lucid is a research technology, or ResTech, firm that hooks up companies with millions of customers to gauge customer sentiment at scale. I connected with Pauline Wen, chief privacy officer at Lucid, to understand the challenges brands are facing and how they can navigate a rising bar for privacy.
What Emerging Tech is Driving Localized Brand Marketing?
Running an emerging tech-driven digital agency, Maher is on the front lines of marketing innovation for brand clients like Panera and Bolle. For both of those campaigns, there was a local component, including Panera’s in-store AR integrations and Bolle’s local activations at Dick’s Sporting Goods.
To anticipate the upcoming Street Fight Summit and Maher’s speaking role, we sat down with him for his view on the drivers and dynamics of digital marketing. Here’s our dialogue with Maher on the biggest brand marketing trends and value drivers he’s tracking.
Commentary
Amazon Furthers Embrace of SMBs with Storefronts
What Amazon has done is create a channel for the entrepreneurial impulse of small business owners that would appear to sidestep local commerce completely. But has local really been removed from the equation?
How Dallas Morning News Tunes Its Ear to Connect With Its Diverse Audiences
“I’m not saying that an audience-first culture didn’t exist at the newspaper, say, 75 years ago. But how do we reach today’s audience? It’s not enough to put all the news that we decided is important on the front page and expect everyone to read that as part of their shared experience,” says Nicole Stockdale, director of digital strategy at the Dallas Morning News.
Not All Burrito Eaters Are the Same: Why Advertisers Need to Think Local
With the new wave of technology tools on the market, marketers can access detailed reporting to identify specific data points that are performing, or not performing, and then optimize their campaigns accordingly to improve results and curb wasted expenditure. Leveraging unstructured data for audience localization should be a top consideration.
Latest Posts
How a Small South Texas Daily Is Building a Profitable Digital Future
The family-owned paper, which serves a nine-county South Texas market of 250,000, has stepped boldly with both boots onto the digital landscape. Publisher Dan Easton tells Street Fight how digital readership and revenue keep the Advocate editorially and financially vibrant.
Street Fight Daily: Brands Use Data to Power Email Engagement, Amazon’s Brands Catch Fire
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… How Brands Are Using Data to Power Email Engagement… Some of Amazon’s Own Brands Are Becoming Super Popular Online… How Google Could Fire Up Its Smart Home Play…
SMB Index: Local Stocks Up 5.4% in May
The SCP SMB Index climbed 5.4% in May. The Nasdaq was up 2.6%, while the S&P 500 was up 1%, and Dow Jones was flat, gaining 0.2%. Four of the top five constituents in the index continued to experience stock price gains after April, which saw all five companies gain in value.
Are Website Builders the Next Big Growth Market in Local?
Website builders have been around almost as long as the internet itself. As you would expect, this is a busy market. Sitebuilderreport.com tracks 35 vendors. There are many more. Interestingly, only 4 of the 35 vendors get a good rating. Clearly, this is a large market that is ready for new and better solutions.
Raise Report: DemandBase, G2 Crowd, People.ai 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 includes funding for Frichti, Bulletin, StreamSets, and Julie Desk.
Street Fight Daily: Apple Manufacturing ‘Smart Home’ Speaker, Blue Apron Files for IPO
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… For Smart Home Speakers, a Possible New Competitor… Blue Apron Delivers $100 Million IPO Filing… Uber Says It Just Noticed Error on Pay, But It Was No Secret…
Google’s Next Local Conquest: Visual Search
Indoor mapping continues to be one of those “holy grail” topics in local. It picks up where GPS drops off, tracking consumers all the way to the cash register. The latest move comes from Google, with an approach that could leapfrog beacons by using the positioning capability already in your phone (or soon will be).
How Legacy Retailers Are Infusing Tech Into Brick-and-Mortar
Many brick-and-mortar retailers are finding more ways to integrate in-store experiences and ecommerce into their offerings — both to offset brick-and-mortar declines and to drive more foot traffic into their stores. It is a redefinition of a retail revolution that still has fighting power for the old retail guard.
Street Fight Daily: Meeker Touts Mobile/Video/Voice, Facebook Expands Factual Partnership
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Mary Meeker’s 2017 Internet Trends Report… Facebook Expands Location Data Partnership with Factual… Uber’s Head of Finance is Leaving…
#SFSNYC: Verve Sees New Revenue Streams in Location-based Mobile Ads
“People, not platforms, drive revenue,” says Verve’s Ray Green. “We [often] talk about technology and revolutionary platforms, but rarely do we talk about the actual people, which is what drives revenue for most of what we do.”
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem