News and Analysis
Street Fight’s October Theme: Home for the Holidays
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?
Interactive Maps Help Bring Back Shoppers After Covid Hiatus
As the pandemic has worn on, marketers have begun to ask what’s next. How do you keep open and click-through rates high, even as consumers shift back from e-commerce to in-person shopping? The answer, for many, involves maps.
Just look at Torrid, the women’s retail chain formerly owned by Hot Topic, with more than 600 stores across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
Plain Sight Pivots to Help Local Businesses Drive Foot Traffic
Founded by James Chapman and backed by Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, Plain Sight originally started as a way for people to explore professional connections based on location.
With local businesses closing by the thousands, Chapman says he’s envisioning the Plain Sight app as a tool for businesses to promote themselves and increase foot traffic. Businesses can use the platform to develop stronger customer loyalty by engaging with consumers directly. In addition to sharing information about how they are keeping customers safe, restaurants and other businesses can also accept free and paid reservations through the platform.
Commentary
Selling to Multi-Location Brands: Streaming Video Is On the Rise
Suppliers of local marketing technology and services should move streaming video up on their priorities lists and help their brand customers apply it effectively.
Your Voice-First Future is Here
Digital giants are forging a path to every consumer, looking to win a home automation arms race. You, too, should be considering how to connect in new ways with your customers because voice and speech recognition are ready for prime time.
The Bifurcation of the Local SEO Services Market
“The changing nature of search and the increasing localization are making “traditional SEO” harder, more expensive, and less productive of ROI, and that should lead every agency to assess what they are delivering and to whom,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm in their latest biweekly column.
Latest Posts
SeeClickFix Grows Its Base to Over One Million Problem-Flagging Citizens
SeeClickFix has used 21st-century technology to fix 2,666,448 issues (and still counting) in municipalities and other jurisdictions around the country. In this Q & A, CEO Ben Berkowitz talks about how the company he founded eight years ago has forged partnerships with 300 governments and other entities.
Street Fight Daily: Twitter Drops Buy Button, Google Privileges Its Own Products in Ads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Twitter Unclicks Buy Button, Signaling Unclear Future for Social Commerce… Google Uses Its Search Engine to Hawk Its Products… Snapchat is Now Pitching Brands on Sequential Video Ads…
Post in the Machine: How Blockast is Taking a Shot at Local News Collection
The local news automation camp keeps graduating hopefuls. One of these is a four-year-old startup spawned from the mind of a former Microsoft-Amazon engineer who faced a very common problem: “how do I find out what’s happening outside my home right now?”
Near CEO: Bad Data Remains a Big Challenge for Location Platforms
Near enables brands and businesses to “visualize, engage and analyze audience data including their location and behavior for data-driven decisions.” Street Fight recently caught up with Near’s founder and CEO, Anil Mathews, to talk about location intelligence in 2017 and what types of new use cases we may soon see.
Street Fight Daily: DoorDash and Postmates Test Robot Delivery, Lighting Tech Helps Retailers Sharpen Location Data
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Postmates and DoorDash Test Delivery by Robot with Starship Technologies… Retailers Leverage Lighting Communication System to Sharpen Location Data… As Alexa Becomes Ubiquitous, Amazon Must Craft a Consistent User Experience…
Making Sense of Amazon’s Push Deeper Into Local
Clearly Amazon is positioning itself in the sales funnel aggressively, Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “And unlike Google their presale efforts lead directly to sales that they control. ”
Sponsored Content: Using Your Website as a Customer Engagement Tool
Websites remain a foundational marketing element for companies of all sizes and they are likely the “home base” for customers finding the detailed information they desire as well as the basics, like store hours, contact information, product details and links to social channels. While on the surface it may seem like websites are the opposite of engaging—static, one-size-fits-all, impersonal—the fact is with a little bit of strategy, businesses can create a website that provides customers with a truly engaging experience with clear calls to action as part of the customer’s journey.
Why Mobile Payments Will Heat Up in 2017
Mobile payments have been inhibited by point-of-sale hardware upgrade requirements and the lack of a killer pitch for either users or merchants. But the movement to chip-based credit and debit cards in the U.S. could help.
Street Fight Daily: Here Helps Baidu Expand Mapping Service, Retailers Use Tech for Personalization
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Here Partners with Baidu to Expand Its Mapping Service to Europe and Beyond… How Retailers Use Personalization — If They Do At All… Facebook Measurement: The Walled Garden is Cracking a Window…
Surefire Social Rebrands, Acquires Franchise Marketing Firm in Hyperlocal Push
Surefire Social has announced this morning that it is rebranding as Surefire Local, as it looks to more strongly emphasize its hyperlocal focus. The new name is just one of many changes at the company, which recently purchased the local marketing automation vendor Promio.
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AI Won’t Fix Advertising – It May Scale Its Chaotic Nature