News and Analysis
Charting the Rise of Conversational AI
Conversational AI is a broad term used to describe technologies that automate conversations and personalize customer experiences. With the right systems in place, brands are able to understand, process, and actually respond to voice inputs in a natural way. While voice assistants, chatbots, and messaging services like WhatsApp, Kik, and Facebook Messenger can all be harnessed in a conversational AI strategy, virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri are the most popular tools adopted by brand marketers today.
How the Rise of Unbranded Search Upends Restaurant, Retail, and Grocery Strategy
Fueled by the growth of mobile and set to rocket even further north in coming years thanks to voice, unbranded searches like “burgers near me” or “Thai food” are growing as fast as 113% year over year, according to a fresh study by multi-location marketing firm MomentFeed. Unbranded search grew about 30% from 2016 to ’17 and 56% the following year before doubling pace in 2018-19, suggesting the slope of this trend’s adoption could get even steeper in coming years.
Valentine’s Day Boosts Entertainment, Food, and Social Apps
The data shows that Valentine’s Day marks a major uptick in app usage across verticals. Compared to an average February day last year, on Valentine’s Day, entertainment app usage was up 24%, food and drink apps 20%, and social 16%. Consumers also spent an unusual amount of time on transport (7%) and gaming (6%) apps.
Commentary
How Marketers Must Prepare for the Voice-Connected Consumer
As digital media surpasses traditional, marketers must prepare for the changes that will result from connected devices becoming a common source of customer experience. Local search will be of paramount importance as consumers turn to their voice devices, and eventually their connected cars and appliances
State of Hyperlocal: Location Data Is Key R&D Priority Now and Longer-Term — AI and Voice on Horizon
Location data and analytics are a key R&D priority both now and in the longer term for companies supplying technologies and services to the connected local economy, according to Street Fight’s latest reader survey. Those companies deem AI and voice technology as two areas that require investment now, with an eye on a later payoff.
Follow-Up Thoughts on the SMB Marketing/Operations Universe
“Regardless of the right package, the key for both agencies and small businesses is to choose best-of-breed components in each galaxy that integrate with each other so that you can add relevant and profitable services over time,” David Mihm says to Mike Blumenthal in their bi-weekly column.
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The Increasing Impact of Reviews and Google+ (?!) on Local SEO
Some new data has given us some “big time insight” into how Google is using authoritative local sites to inform local search rankings, says David Mihm. Mike Blumenthal agrees, saying that the prominence of local review pages and appears to be “transferring prominence directly to the local entity in a way that is totally independent of links.”
Local Listings Get a Real-Time Update from Brandify
The company’s new digital marketing platform combines the power of tech with the authority of the human brain. Brandify’s Nip Zalavadia, says the platform has the capability to access and analyze huge amounts of data, but also uses real people to address details that often fall through the cracks of automated software solutions.
How Lawyers Capture & Convert Clients
No longer a taboo, law firms are aggressively using digital channels to recruit clients, in response to changes in consumer behavior. According to a survey by FindLaw, 74% of prospects who begin their searches online end up contacting their choice firms via phone. Eighty-six percent of consumers start their online research with search engines, and a small-but-growing 3% relies on social media.
Street Fight Daily: Apple to Report Revenue Drop, Reviews Increasingly Impact Search
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Apple Expected to Report First Drop in Annual Revenue Since 2001… From East Coast to West Coast: The Company Behind Miami’s The New Tropic Expands to Seattle… To Dunkin’ Donuts, Media is More Than Just New User Acquisition…
New Report Shows Urban SMBs Do Better with Agency Help
Street Fight’s new analysis, The Urban SMB Report, indicates that local business owners in big cities get better results from their digital marketing efforts by not doing it themselves. The more they outsource, either to internal staff or to an agency, the higher their satisfaction rating. But there is room for improvement.
Brand Battles in Depth: Looking at Starbucks vs. Dunkin’ Donuts
The series demonstrates the real complexity of cross-platform digital marketing and the importance of a data-driven strategy in identifying meaningful objectives and tracking performance. This commentary explains how Brand Battles are constructed and how their subject areas fits into the bigger picture of local marketing for national brands.
The Importance of Location in Today’s Innovation Dialogue
It’s hard to overstate the importance of location in today’s business innovation dialogue. While consumers are online more than ever before, they continue to live their lives in the physical world. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, while Americans spent $97 billion online in Q2 of this year, offline retail sales amounted to more than $1 trillion. The vast majority of transactions still occur in-store, and that makes location targeting an immensely powerful tool for brands.
Street Fight Daily: AT&T to Acquire Time Warner, Mobile Moves to Majority of Google Ad Rev
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… AT&T To Acquire Time Warner, Becoming Latest Media Giant with Cross-Device Mojo… Mobile Moves to Majority Share of Google’s Worldwide Ad Revenues… How Quartz Sculpts a Global, Mobile-First Brand…
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