News and Analysis
Street Fight’s April Theme: Local Commerce in the Time of Coronavirus
We’ll devote coverage this month to the virus’ continued outbreak and its effect on local business. Of course, the airwaves and ether are already filled with pandemic coverage, and we won’t look to compete with that. Rather, we’ll be writing specifically about the crisis’ impact on local commerce, marketing, and related subjects.
In fact, we’ve already gotten started. Our March theme of reputation management barely got off the ground before we and many of our contributors came to the realization that it didn’t really feel right to talk about anything other than Covid-19. Don’t worry, we’ll give reputation management an encore performance later in the year.
This Startup Is Helping Local Stores ID Customers During COVID-19
Chatbots are helping resolve customer service issues when businesses are closed and call centers are slammed, but brick-and-mortar stores are still struggling to adapt to an online-only business format. Pure play ecommerce outlets have spent years developing systems to manage transactions and verify customer identities, but most retailers on Main Street are accustomed to seeing shoppers in person and visually checking IDs.
A San Francisco-based startup called Persona is offering to help those local businesses adapt by giving away its online ID verification service for free during the COVID-19 crisis.
7 Delivery Apps Keeping Restaurants, Grocers Afloat During COVID-19
Dozens of states have banned dine-in service at restaurants, and nearly as many are requiring retailers to close up shop in a bid to slow down the coronavirus outbreak. As local businesses deal with the enormous financial implications that come with closing down to customers, many are trying out delivery services for the very first time.
For restaurants and other local businesses interested in offering their products via on-demand delivery, here are seven delivery platforms with which local businesses can partner during the Covid-19 crisis.
Commentary
Lots of Facebook News — But Little Progress in Local
Instead of integrating multi-media news consumption with entertainment, community conversations, events calendars, advertising, and a buyers and sellers marketplace, Facebook is isolating them as components. While this is consistent with its separate apps approach, it likely won’t result in as much audience cross-fertilization as it should. Nor does it feel at all local advertiser-friendly.
Should Local Businesses Ask for Reviews?
Reputation management services should focus on helping businesses understand what consumers are saying and engage with reviewers by responding. Unbiased review content is a true goldmine for the brand who works with a reputation company to glean deep insights about consumer sentiment offered by consumers themselves for free.
Latest Posts
How Location Data Influences Consumer Buying Decisions
According to a new report from YP, 37% of consumers won’t consider local businesses with inconsistent information online, and 32% won’t consider a business with the wrong information listed on its website. Even inconsistent messaging and website content is enough to dissuade multi-channel shoppers.
Street Fight Daily: Kalanick Calls Self-Driving Tech Race ‘Existential,’ Facebook Ramps Up E-Commerce
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Kalanick Says Uber Has 40 Million Monthly Riders Paying $50/Month, Calls Self-Driving Tech Race ‘Existential’… How Location Data Influences Consumer Buying Decisions… Any Business on Facebook Can Now Sell Goods Right From Its Page…
GateHouse’s Newton: ‘We Want to Own More Local Newspapers’
The company recently created a division for new ventures and appointed as its CEO a publishing executive with deep experience in marketing and sales — Peter Newton, who will also continue as CEO of GateHouse’s Propel Business Services. In this Q & A, Newton talks about present and future change at GateHouse:
The Fight for Leads: How Marketing Agencies Help SMBs
This post is the third in the “Fight for Leads,” a series focused on lead-generation tactics in four key industry verticals: healthcare, automotive, legal and marketing agencies. Sponsored by CallRail. Rarely do local merchants have the time available, let alone sufficient knowledge and expertise, to manage every aspect of their businesses. With so many new digital marketing […]
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Launches Updates for Local Commerce, Pinterest Lends Hand to Brands
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Rolls Out Series of Updates to Get Hold of Local Commerce… Pinterest Enlists Publishers, Creators to Boost Presence of Brands on Its Platform, Ad Revenue… Yelp Rolls Out Nowait Nationally to Deepen Ties with Casual Dining Restaurants…
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Scaling Seasonal SEO Across Locations With AI Insights