News and Analysis
Why Savvy SMBs Are Focusing on the Post-Sale Experience
Two-thirds of American adults say they plan to shop at more small businesses in the coming months, providing independent retailers with the perfect opportunity to turn those new customers into brand advocates.
Putting the strategy into action means capitalizing on what ActiveCampaign CEO Jason VandeBoom sees as the biggest untapped opportunity for local retailers right now — the post-sale engagement.
Square and Adobe Spark Team Up to Give SMBs a Holiday Marketing Boost
In addition to selecting three small businesses to receive a holiday marketing overhaul — pairing each up with local designers to modernize their brand marketing materials — Adobe Spark and Square are helping businesses digitize their shops to process transactions in a touch-free environment, utilizing mobile technology and QR codes. The firms have also announced a plan to give five small businesses a $10,000 media buy credit and a subscription to Adobe Spark Premium.
This E-commerce Startup Is Helping DTC Brands Navigate the Pandemic
While other firms in the retail infrastructure and logistics space are struggling, Whitebox is closing on a Series B funding round of $18 million. CEO Marcus Startzel says timing has played a key role in his company’s success. Whitebox was focused on solving e-commerce challenges for brands before the pandemic began, but the opportunities to work with major brands to improve and automate the e-commerce process have only grown over the past few months.
Commentary
Women in Local Marketing Tech: Are We There? Where Are We Going?
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
“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
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
5 Self-Service Platforms for Mobile Analytics
The vast majority of mobile analytics platforms have traditionally been aimed at the largest developers, leaving a huge swath of the market untapped. Here are five examples of self-service mobile analytics platforms that developers in the hyperlocal space can try.
How Turning Loyalty Campaigns Into a Data Play Transformed Empyr
Coaxing more customers to walk in and shop is what every merchant wants out of a loyalty program, but it is not always clear how effective these campaigns are. That’s why attribution — knowing for sure that new business resulted from an SMB’s marketing efforts — is such a holy grail in local.
Street Fight Daily: How Brands Leverage Snapchat Spectacles, Mobile App Installs Drop Sharply
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… How 5 Brands, Including GrubHub and Hyatt, Are Using Snapchat Spectacles… Mobile Boom Stalls, with Double-Digital Decline in App Installs… What Makes People Buy from a Brand They Follow on Social Media?…
Survey: Merchants Gain Social Media Sophistication, Rate it Most Effective Tactic
Over the past several years, Street Fight has seen these local merchants shift their marketing budgets away from traditional media like newspapers, print Yellow Pages, and local broadcast towards digital marketing and media. That trend continues in a new survey that we conducted earlier this year.
Zuckerberg Raises the Right Questions – Local News Should Answer Them
Mark Zuckerberg posted a remarkable manifesto on Feb. 16 about our fractured communities and how to heal them. But why was Facebook’s founder and CEO saying this first? Why aren’t America’s news publishers, especially local ones, defining the crisis and offering their blueprints for solving it? Zuckerberg’s manifesto was 5,735 words long, but its core was these 138 […]
Street Fight Daily: How Waze Will Scoop Up Driver Data, News Orgs Stick by Platforms
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Waze Digs into Your Car’s Dashboard… Report: Despite Monetization Concerns, News Orgs Are All In On Platforms… If Anyone’s Going to Buy Directly from a Chatbot, It’s Millenials…
Case Study: Bonobos Integrates In-Store Tech for Seamless Shopping Experience
In many ways, Bonobos has become a model for e-commerce startups. Although the New York City-based company started out as an online-only men’s retailer in 2007, it has since expanded its physical presence with real world stores spread across the U.S.
Raise Report: New Funding for ReplyYes, Voysis, Bolstra
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 NewsWhip, uShip, Sun Basket, and TVSquared.
Street Fight Daily: Retailers Sign Up for Texting Via Android, Dash Turns Cars into Data Troves
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Wants Businesses to Text with Android Messaging Service… Dash Aims to Turn Driving Machines into Data-Driven Machines… How Retailers Can Best Position Themselves to Thrive in an Age of Disruption…
Investment Firms Come to the Forefront Among Owners of Local Newspapers
Today seven investment entities control 349 daily newspapers, well ahead of either the 196 belonging to long-established private publishers that include companies like Hearst and Advance Publications or the 161 public publishers that include legacy chains like Gannett and McClatchy.
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AI Won’t Fix Advertising – It May Scale Its Chaotic Nature