News and Analysis

The Future of Amazon as a Service

The concept of Amazon-as-a-service, or AaaS, didn’t begin in 2020. But as the year wore on, and people began relying on e-commerce platforms more than ever before in history, the concept took off. Reaching the first page of Amazon became paramount for brands hoping for digital success, particularly now, during the tumultuous holiday season.

Brands Embrace Live Video to Keep Shoppers Engaged

Live streaming, advertising, and e-commerce are all coming together in a new technology that could change the way brands interact with shoppers online.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly increased the interest in shoppable video tech, on both the brand and consumer side,” says Clicktivated CEO Chris Roebuck.

What’s the Fate of Location Intelligence in 2021?

The biggest thing we predict is location intelligence sector consolidation. This has already gotten started in 2020, considering Foursquare’s merger with Factual, and smaller deals like X-Mode’s acquisition of Location Sciences and Near’s recent Teemo acquisition.

Commentary

6 Ways to Engage Your Online Audience and Turn Visitors Into Customers

How do you create content that will help you attract new customers, establish long-term relationships with your existing customers, and reach your business goals? Here are six practical recommendations on how to make your content marketing work.

Proving Local Attribution and ROI Remains a Top Challenge for Multi-Location Brands

Outside of budget and time/resource constraints, local marketers at big brands and multi-location retailers continue to rate attribution and ROI as their most difficult digital marketing challenge, according to Street Fight’s latest survey. That’s similar to what they said in 2017.

How Business Reviews Contribute to Local SEO

Local businesses need to pay attention to the reviews that they are getting to make sure that they have an optimized online presence. Reviews definitely play a part in a business’ local SEO, and they also help improve customer interaction and CTR.

Latest Posts

Why the Creative Director of the Future Stands at the Crossroads of Marketing, Tech, Product, and Ads

Think of the evolving creative director as a technological and marketing pentathlete, a dynamic force who’ll need to satisfy more than just the traditional advertising imperative. Envision a product-strategy role; that is the model to come.

Raise Report: Flow, Databerries, PlateIQ Secure 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 new funding for EVRYTHING, Helpling, Drivemode, and Lynkos.

Street Fight Daily: Uber’s Secret Tools Undercut Competitors, Marketers Take on Google

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… ShopTalk ’17: Retail Brands Focus on Amazon ‘Work-Arounds’… Uber Employees Still Use Secret Tools to Target Drivers and Undercut Competition… Opportunity Knocks: Marketers and Media Take On Google…

Voice Bots Have One Big Problem: Human Behavior

We’re surely moving in the direction of voice input to bots, but unless microphones advance — allowing you to request things with a near-silent whisper (or perhaps with thoughts) — people will continue to let their fingers do the talking.

How Local News Publishers Can Make Revenue and Engagement a Single and Successful Strategy

Too often, local news publishers are given an either-or — either focus on growing revenue or on making deeper connections with users. Relay Media’s head of product Barb Palser believes publishers can do both at the same time.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Recommends Local Businesses, Google Maps Supercharges Location Sharing

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Tests an Enhanced Local Search and Discovery Feature Offering Business Suggestions… Google Maps Supercharges Location Sharing, Begins Drooling Over Your Data… AT&T, Verizon Pull Ads from Google Over ‘Hate’ Videos…

6 Ways Retailers Are Using Messaging Apps for Marketing

Popular consumer-facing apps like Viber, Kik, and WhatsApp, are pushing hard to become known as more than just messaging services, and one of the ways they’re doing that is by beefing up their social commerce capabilities. Here are six examples of innovative ways that retailers are using them to market to consumers.

Tried and True Marketing Tactics SMBs Can Borrow From Premium Brands

Many small-but-growing businesses have a multi-store operation and a dynamic online presence, but simply can’t afford the custom-built, integrated retail and ecommerce systems that keep a premium brand’s customer experience tight and consistent. Here are some tactics they can employ to hack that problem.

Street Fight Daily: Instagram to Add Data and Direct Booking, Uber Rides in U.S. Hit All-Time High

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Instagram Grows to 1 Million Active Advertisers, Plans to Add More Data and Direct Booking… Uber Says It Just Had Its Best U.S. Week Ever Despite Controversies… The Texas Tribune is Using a Facebook Messenger Bot to Reach New Audiences…

YP’s Rowe: Hybrid Print/Digital Offerings Can Reinforce Value

The company’s chief executive, Jared Rowe, talked about where YP saw its sweet spot. In particular, he spoke of a “blended” print and digital model where publishers could move consumers “back and forth, and in between” to create more value for local businesses.