News and Analysis

PlaceIQ Buys Freckle IoT, Marking Second Instance of Location Consolidation in 2 Days

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Location intelligence firm PlaceIQ bought fellow location data and measurement company Freckle IoT. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The move comes just a day after the bombshell announcement that location leader Foursquare was merging with location data firm Factual. Speculation that the Foursquare-Factual merger could portend additional consolidation in the location data-driven marketing and insights industry came to fruition quicker than analysts could have predicted.

Foursquare Merges with Factual, Forming Location Intelligence Powerhouse

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Location intelligence firm Foursquare is merging with location data firm Factual, the companies announced today. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Factual founder Gil Elbaz will join Foursquare’s executive team and board of directors.

The deal pairs Foursquare’s best-in-class location-based attribution technology and developer tools with Factual’s top-notch audience segments, Foursquare CEO David Shim told the Wall Street Journal. Industry insiders say the move may portend additional consolidation during the COVID-19-fueled economic downturn and positions Foursquare as an even stronger leader in the space.

Ad Tech and Privacy

Making Sense of the Crowded Customer Data Market

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In the wake of Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, Europe’s General Data Production Regulation, and the California Consumer Privacy Act, the massive market for consumer data no longer operates unbeknownst to most Americans. But for digital marketing practitioners and the average consumer alike, making heads or tails of the industry is no easy task. 

To break down the different kinds of customer data in the market, the impact of data sharing and selling on consumers, and the potential of privacy regulations to shape the industry going forward, Anindya Datta, founder, CEO, and chairman of Mobilewalla, recently checked in with Street Fight.

Commentary

SMB Ecosystems vs Universes: What’s the Difference and What Do They Tell Us?

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From analyzing the companies that specifically target the SMBs, this space is better depicted by a series of galaxies that swirl independently of each other and offer the SMB a myriad of choice. The upshot of all this work is that some stars are shrinking and others are growing. Bigger companies are actively acquiring and consolidation is increasing.

Cost-Per-Visit and Bad Location Data: Are You Really Getting What You Pay For?

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CPV is generating a welcome dialogue in the ad industry as it wrestles with questions such as how to value repeat customer visits and how much is a visit worth. Key to answering all these questions, though, is clearly understanding the accuracy of the underlying location data being used to score the visit.

The ABC’s of AR: Always Be Closing

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In these early days of augmented reality (AR), we’re learning a lot about consumer behavior and preferences — the same learning curve defined the early days of smartphone apps. One lesson so far is that consumer AR use cases will be fairly limited. It’s not a silver bullet and it’s not for everyone.

Latest Posts

#SFSNYC: Street Fight Announces Winners of the 2016 Local Visionary Awards

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The 13-category competition honors the very best campaigns, companies, ideas, and individuals working in the local marketing and commerce ecosystem. Nearly 200 submissions were received in the competition, and they were judged by a group of innovators and local experts.

#SFSNYC: Finding the Next Billion-Dollar Local Startup

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Having a great idea for a new product to launch in the local space is exciting. However, taking an idea and turning it into the next great local company takes money. And sometimes, it takes a lot of money to go from idea to a billion dollar product.

Selling to SMBs: AIDA and The Conversion Zone

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I’m often asked by entrepreneurs and venture capitalists alike to talk about what changes throughout the course of the “bell curve ride” in selling to small and medium-sized businesses — and how organizations need to adapt at each stage in order to ensure continued success. Here’s the best way I can explain how it all works.

#SFSNYC: Why Location Data Management Needs Technology and Agency Services

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At Street Fight Summit in New York on Tuesday, Brett Fritz, VP of business development at digital performance marketing company DAC Group, spoke about why marketing and location data management should be done by a mix of agency work and technology.

Street Fight Daily: Google Gets Lift from Maps Ads, Facebook’s E-Commerce Strategy

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Sees Lift from Maps Ads, Local Mobile Clicks… Facebook Puts Off Monetization of E-Commerce Efforts to Boost their Popularity… BloomReach Acquires Hippo to Create, Personalize, and Measure Every Digital Experience…

#SFSNYC: Soleo Announces Version 2.0 of Local Search API

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The local search company announced the launch of its new Local Search API at Street Fight Summit 2016, opening it up to developers to start using in their own projects. This new version brings together natural language processing and its database of over 20 million business listings.

#SFSNYC: How Marketers Are Closing in on the Holy Grail of Mobile Attribution

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“What’s super interesting is the fact that we now have a bridge between the digital and physical world,” said Foursquare’s Steven Rosenblatt, talking about how this new rise in data makes it much easier to see what’s going on down to the hyperlocal level.

#SFSNYC: How Local Tech Companies Can Reach Scale in the SMB Ecosystem

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Creating new technology for the SMB space is one thing; trying to achieve any sort of scale is something entirely different. Companies either need to bring on a large sales force to go door to door or they need to partner with one of the much larger companies in the space.

The Increasing Impact of Reviews and Google+ (?!) on Local SEO

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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

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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.