News and Analysis
How Are Brands Preparing for Native Ratings in Apple Maps?
A foundational element of local marketing strategy could be changing. Rumors began circulating last week that Apple would be giving users the ability to add ratings and photos to local business listings on Apple Maps when iOS 14 releases this fall. That could mean big changes are in store for brand marketers who’ve grown accustomed to monitoring reviews and ratings on a core group of third-party platforms.
Apple’s move into the ratings and review space isn’t totally unexpected, but it’s still causing the local marketing community to question how the update will impact local search and discovery.
Meliá Hotels Uses Local Influencers to Drive Covid-19 Awareness
Brochures and signage are easy to overlook, but social media influencers are harder to miss. As they work to bring back guests during the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of hotel chains are relying on partnerships with social media influencers to educate guests on the new safety protocols they’ve put in place.
Street Fight’s September Theme: Mapping the Future
What does “Mapping the Future” entail? As a primary tool for consumer local search and discovery, mapping continues to undergo UX innovations and structural changes. We’ll examine these areas as well as mapping’s interplay with local search and SEO strategies.
Though mapping is more of a Street Fight staple than a trending topic, market signals indicate that the timing is right. In fact, we already got started last month with a look at Snapchat’s moves into local mapping — not just UX upgrades to Snap Map but also self-serve advertising for local businesses.
Commentary
Why Local Media Firms Are Banking Big on Marketing Services to Grow Revenue
In an under-the-radar move to grow their revenue substantially, local media companies are putting major resources into developing a broad suite of digital marketing services (DMS). Media companies make this pivot as B2Cs rethink their own marketing goals, aiming not just to reach potential consumers but to convert them into paying customers, closing the path to purchase.
GateHouse Media Shows How Media Orgs Can Offer Value for SMB Advertisers
“Most newspapers and Yellow Pages (and Yelp?) are basically ad-selling machines. GateHouse, in selling HR, IT, and financing services as well as digital services, understands that once you know how to sell one service, you can sell (or more likely upsell) any service. It’s critical for legacy organizations to bite the bullet and figure out services,” writes Mike Blumenthal.
Latest Posts
Street Culture: Cuebiq’s Aggressive Growth Bolstered by Candid Culture
“We are a company that values transparency,” says the company’s CEO, Antonio Tomarchio. “Every month we present to all the people across the company everything that’s going on. I believe that not only it’s the right thing to do, but also that it’s always the best long-term strategy for success.”
xAd Introduces Pay-for-Performance Model, Guaranteeing Offline Store Visits
Location intelligence company xAd today launched a new media buying model called “Cost Per Visit,” which is intended to ensure offline visits at stores by customers — and offer better ROI for brands. Marketers who use “Cost Per Visit” only pay when targeted customers physically go to a store after seeing a mobile ad.
Google’s AMP Pages Speed Mobile, But Publisher Control Remains a Big Issue
Mobile page-loading issues are so pervasive that 59% of users click off content that takes more than three seconds to load, costing news publishers numerous opportunities to lengthen pageviews into sessions and monetize their articles and videos. Google’s AMP addresses the problem, but at what cost?
Street Fight Daily: Walmart Acquires ModCloth, Marketing Tactics Divide Consumers by Generation
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Millenials Follow Brands; Gen-Xers, Contests; Boomers, Promotions… Walmart is Acquiring ModCloth, the Online Women’s Fashion Retailer… Introducing Marketing-Stack Management, Powered by Enterprise Machine Learning…
ShopChat Comes Out of Stealth with a Mobile Shopping Keyboard
ShopChat’s newly debuted mobile shopping keyboard works with messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger and Apple iMessage, letting users find and share pictures of products through their smartphones with their friends. Those friends can then give feedback, including emojis, and recommendations about the products.
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