News and Analysis
Location-Based Search Disrupts Brand-Centric Theory of Marketing
Building a brand will never stop being essential for companies with brick-and-mortar locations hoping to secure the dollars of nearby consumers. But a new report from location marketing firm Uberall suggests the rise of location-based or “near me” search is undermining the power of branding alone, increasing the importance of optimizing for searches in which consumers are simply looking for the closest, most convenient option while on the go.
Covid-19 Accelerates Online-Offline Retail Convergence
The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the offline-to-online convergence in retail, leading to a huge shift in the way people shop over a short period of time. Shelter-in-place orders have forced shoppers to purchase the majority of their goods online, and it’s made retailers rethink the way they’ll operate in the post-pandemic world.
Big0-box retailers have beefed up their ecommerce divisions, and we’ve seen dozens of major chains with new curbside pickup options. Some types of retail environments have done better than others. Hardware stores, like Home Depot and Lowe’s, have found themselves categorized as “essential” businesses, and they’ve been able to remain open in many areas with little adaptation necessary. The transition has been harder for retailers in high-touch categories, like clothing, and for those independent operators that didn’t have websites with ecommerce capabilities in place before the pandemic began.
What Comes Next For Businesses After Covid-19 Shutdowns?
As states around the country begin to reopen their economies, local businesses are looking anywhere they can for guidance. County health departments are issuing advisories about proper social distancing and sanitation practices, but what about the technology upgrades businesses might need when they reopen after their pandemic shutdowns? How might business contend with changes in optimal inventory levels if shoppers continue to buy in bulk?
Commentary
Cost-Per-Visit and Bad Location Data: Are You Really Getting What You Pay For?
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
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.
State of Hyperlocal: Attribution Is Top Industry Challenge and R&D Priority
Companies selling local marketing and technology and services continue to believe that online-to-offline attribution is the toughest challenge facing the industry, and it’s now their top near-term R&D priority. That’s what we’re hearing from a preliminary analysis of our annual State of Hyperlocal survey of Street Fight readers.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Brands Cash In on Snapchat API, Google to Launch Click-to-Message Ads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Brands Cash In on Snapchat’s Long-Awaited API… Google To Launch Click-to-Message Ads on Google Search in Coming Weeks… Platform Publishing Creates Challenges for Publishers’ Mobile Design…
Why Brands Need to Master Prompted Search
When a business launches a new product, or, say, the latest Harry Potter adaptation hits the market, retailers are often challenged to update their location pages in a timely manner to show the availability of the product for consumers who rely on local search to find what they want nearby.
Street Fight Daily: Google Shifts to Mobile-First Index, Twitter’s Carousel Ads See Success
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Shifts from Desktop- to Mobile-First Indexing… Ad Buyers See Promise In Twitter’s Instagram-Like Carousel Ads… Is Omnichannel Marketing Finally Going From Retail Dream to Reality?…
Street Culture: Why Lunch Is a Big Deal at Euclid Analytics
At six years old with about 40 employees, the company is currently in a growth phase, and will likely grow considerably in the next year. Euclid’s director of product, Alexander Reichert, says that the daily lunch hour has been a kind of string that ties the team together.
Street Fight Daily: Verizon May Renegotiate Yahoo Deal, Facebook Tweaks Audience Metrics
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Verizon Says Yahoo Hack Could Reopen $4.8 Billion Deal Talks… Facebook Tweaks Audience Network to Favor Advertiser Metrics… Google Rolls Out New Tech for Publishers to Count Mobile Viewability…
Weather Company Continues Data Expansion With First-Party Location-Targeting Platform
Continuing in its evolution from media property to data provider, the company unveiled a newly updated ad platform this morning that provides marketers with the ability to produce highly-accurate location-targeted campaigns.
PlaceIQ Announces Strategic Investment From Alibaba Group, Expansion Into China
The location-based audience and insights platform has partnered with — and received a strategic investment from — Alibaba Group, the largest online and mobile commerce company in the world. The minority investment will be used to help PlaceIQ scale its operations globally, beginning with the Chinese market.
TAPinto Grows to 57 News Franchises, Eyes National Reach
The New Jersey-based local news network has used a franchise model to expand into dozens of suburban communities. In this Q & A, CEO Mike Shapiro talks about how TAPinto continues to grow in a hotly competitive market for community news.
Street Fight Daily: Labor Ruling Threatens Uber’s Contractor Model, Geofeedia Used to Monitor Protests
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Drivers Ruled Eligible for Jobless Payments in New York State… Geofeedia is Just the Tip of the Iceberg: The Era of Social Surveillance… BuzzFeed’s Head of Commerce Talks About Shop, Part of Media Company’s E-Commerce Efforts…
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem