News and Analysis

Inform Your Multichannel Customer Experience Strategy

The Comment Section Could Be the Next Big Source of Audience Data

Comments sections can be a source of feedback, wisdom, and community. They can also provide rich, first-party audience data. OpenWeb is betting on the latter.

Contact Center Should Be the Marketing Engine

Expert Roundup: How Will Retail Transform in 2021?

Retail transformation experts expound on Google and Amazon’s approaches to e-commerce, managing customer relationships, and targeting after cookies.

The Stakes of Apple’s IDFA Change

The IDFA change means that iPhone users will be asked whether they want to allow tracking when they open apps. It will deal a blow to digital advertising.

Commentary

Civil’s Bold Plan for the News Crisis: ‘Flip the Business Model on Its Head’

In this Q&A, Matt Coolidge, head of marketing and a co-founder at Civil, explains how a “new economy for journalism” oriented around unifying publishers and their audiences is working to flip the business model for news through such innovative approaches as blockchain technology.

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.

Mobile Advertisers, Don’t Be Fooled By Claims About ‘Precise’ Data

When selecting data for mobile campaigns, don’t base your decision solely on claims about precision or how many decimal places appear in the coordinates, and definitely don’t mistake precision for accuracy. Precision is important, but the value of precision hinges on data accuracy.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Twitter Launches 24/7 News Service with Bloomberg, Uber Boosts Data Privacy

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Twitter to Launch 24/7 News Streaming Service with Bloomberg… Uber Beefs Up Privacy Controls Amid Data Use Controversy… Now That It Knows Who’s Talking, Google Home Might Reach Its Potential…

Location Data for Brands: ‘Alternative Facts’ No Longer

As the proximity industry grows, it’s important for brands investing in location and proximity to understand the differences between the various data points and technologies on the market. These differentiators can greatly affect how the proximity and location data is applied towards a brand’s marketing goals.

Study: 55% of Mall Shoppers Would Shop at an Online Retailer’s Brick-and-Mortar Store

Online retailers like Warby Parker and Bonobos have been experimenting for years with pop-up stores and actual brick-and-mortar locations. This phenomenon was the subject of a recent study conducted by ChargeItSpot, which provides cell phone charging stations for retailers and events.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Will Train Local Journalists, Alphabet Records ‘Stunning’ Earnings

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Will Start Training Local Journalists and Newsrooms… Alphabet Made a Lot of Money on Google Advertising Despite Recent Controversy… Amazon’s Echo Look Could Snoop a Lot More Than Your Clothes…

Comcast Rolling Out a New Local Ad Service

For local businesses looking for advertising, there’ll be a new kid in town to help this summer. Better still, ad buyers will get the help for free. The service, called Stratasphere, is a new offering from Comcast-owned Strata, which already has three decades in the business of connecting ad sellers with ad buyers.

Cupcakes

Case Study: Bake Shop Owner Finds Customers in Local Facebook Groups

What does it mean to run a local business without a local storefront? For Melissa Brogan, owner of The Bug & The Bear Bakeshoppe, it means having to use highly-targeted online marketing strategies to let people know she’s open for business, without getting the marketing benefits that come from having signage on the front of a physical storefront.

Street Fight Daily: More Than Half of Ad Spend Now Mobile, Amazon Launches Echo Assistant with a View

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… More Than Half of Ad Spend Now Mobile; Digital Audio Revenues Also Surge… Amazon Has a New $200 Echo Camera That Can Judge Your Outfit… Brands Recognize Realities of Customer Journey…

The In-Between Stage for Startups: Visions of Growth and the Value of Pivots

The stages of business growth may have no end point, but the opportunities that lie within them are more abstract than they seem. Moz CEO Sarah Bird says that Jeff Bezos’ well-known assertion that it will always be “day one” at Amazon resonates with her, but that financials can cloud the view of that goal.

Made for Each Other: Wallets, Loyalty, and Mobile Payments

It’s fair to say the local marketing industry has been a little disappointed by the adoption of mobile payments. The combination of a sluggish hardware upgrade cycle and consumer reluctance appears discouraging. But there are catalysts on the near horizon.

Location Data Shows Which Brands Coachella Attendees Favor

Attendees at the annual music festival may seem somewhat heterogeneous from the outside, but a new study of InMarket’s anonymized location data gives a sense of the concertgoers’ brand preferences, and insight into the effectiveness of sponsors’ campaigns.