News and Analysis

Power of Influencers May Be Growing amid Pandemic

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As many as 21% of consumers have made their first-ever influencer-driven purchase since the Covid-19 outbreak struck the US, according to new research by martech firm Valassis.

The firm speculates that this apparent increase in the power of influencers may be related to a boost in social media usage among consumers stuck at home.

Holiday Sales Are Starting Earlier Than Ever. Here’s Why

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“Retailers are responding to social distancing guidelines [this] year and preparing for potential decreases in spending by kicking off promotions earlier than we’ve ever seen,” says Dosh CEO Ryan Wuerch.

Wuerch says Covid-19 safety protocols require a more elongated approach to holiday marketing. Kohl’s, L Brands, and Macy’s have all referenced pulling forward holiday promotions, and Amazon’s Prime Day later this month seems perfectly timed to pull in early holiday shoppers.

Street Fight’s October Theme: Home for the Holidays

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Entering Q4 means many things, but to us it points to the media and commerce world’s annual culmination. That’s right — in this time warp of a year, we’re entering the holidays. Considering the oddities of 2020, what will this year’s holiday season look like? We know for sure it will not be normal.

Answering that question will be Street Fight’s October editorial focus. Branded with the cheeky title “Home for the Holidays,” (title credit: Damian Rollison), this month’s focus will be defining the holiday shopping dynamics of a socially distanced and sheltered-in-place world. What will be different?

Commentary

Women in Local Marketing Tech: Are We There? Where Are We Going?

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The challenge is national; the solutions may be hyperlocal. At Street Fight Summit 2018, we gave the audience a brief overview of some of the issues facing women in local marketing tech today and what we can do to keep moving in the right direction.

Facebook’s Perennial ‘Potential’ in Local

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“In Facebook’s pivot to focusing on person-to-person communications and its strong emphasis on messaging, is there an implicit concession that the company will not make Facebook itself the center of its local effort?” Mike Blumenthal asks in this week’s biweekly column with David Mihm.

Gauging the Opportunity to Replace Local Merchants’ Websites

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We asked respondents what they used their sites for, and, considering the functions they deemed most important, whether they could replace them with a list of suggested companies and platforms. Facebook’s company pages and Google’s enriched listings topped the list.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Intel Buys Mobileye for $15.3B, NJ Journalists Start Local Paper

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Intel is Paying $15.3 Billion to Acquire Mobileye… After Punishing Layoffs, New Jersey Journalists Start Up Their Own Local Paper… Optimizing Digital Marketing Performance to Drive Business Performance…

5 Platforms Connecting Local Customers to their Online Footprints

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More than half of marketers expect cross-channel measurement and attribution to occupy most of their time, attention, and resources in the coming year. Many of these marketers will be exploring new technologies that close the loop on attribution and unlock the hidden connections between web viewing sessions and in-store purchases around the globe.

Raise Report: New Funding for Instacart, Kabbage, Drizly

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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 Goldbely, Peerspace, Workfit, and Cordial.

Street Fight Daily: AirBnB Raises $1 Billion in Series F, Facebook Tests New Measurement Tool

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… AirBnB Just Raised a Massive $1 Billion Round that Values It at $31 Billion… Facebook to Release Advanced Measurement Tool… Brands Cool on Chatbots…

LOAC Notebook: As Platforms Ascend, Some Blunt Words for Legacy Media

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“You’re going to have to change the way you do business,” CBS’s Ezra Kucharz told media executives earlier this week in a keynote at Borrell Associates’ Local Online Advertising Conference in New York. “The world is changing and we have to change with it.”

How San Angelo LIVE! Makes Programmatic Work in West Texas

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When the West Texas oil bust hit San Angelo hard in 2015 and LIVE!’s CEO Joe Hyde turned to programmatic advertising to make up the difference in lost sales from struggling local merchants. To maximize that impact, artificial-intelligence platform Ezoic showed Hyde how to create longer revenue-generating sessions with users.

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Tackles Brick-and-Mortar, WhatsApp Tests Chat Tools for Businesses

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Confirms Plans for a 10th Book Store, Demonstrating Commitment to Brick-and-Mortar… WhatsApp Tests Business Chat Tools in Search for Revenue… Joe Ricketts, Local News Publisher and Trump Backer, Acquires Gothamist Websites…

Google’s Pragmatic Approach to the Truth, and Its Pitfalls

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If enough people believe something, should Google consider it to be true? In a world where questionable news is very popular, it’s not so surprising that Google’s logical assumptions might sometimes produce unexpected results. After all, trustworthiness at root is a matter of how many people are willing to trust you.

NinthDecimal Decouples Its Data, Expands Partnerships, and Moves Into the Black

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The location data company announced this morning that it has crossed the line into profitability and CEO Michael Fordyce believes NinthDecimal has found an approach that will help it scale up in a big way. Fordyce and chief revenue officer Brian Slitt spoke with Street Fight recently about the need to measure and understand audiences across a myriad of media and channels.

Street Fight Daily: Instacart Amasses $3.4 Billion Valuation, Uber Seeks COO

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Grocery-Delivery Startup Instacart is Valued at $3.4 Billion… Travis Kalanick Wants a No. 2 Executive… Boston-Based Localytics, a Mobile Engagement Platform, Acquires Berlin’s Tapglue…