News and Analysis

Direct-to-Consumer Brands Are Winning at Personalized Messaging. Here’s Why

According to new research conducted by Braze, a company that specializes in growth marketing automation, direct-to-consumer brands beat non-direct-to-consumer brands with 58.6% higher messaging open rates across channels.

One reason for the higher open rates is because direct-to-consumer brands show greater willingness to use automation and iteration to personalize messages and speak to customers at a point in the journey when it makes sense for them.

Nextdoor Releases Local Deals to Connect Businesses with Nearby Customers

Nextdoor, the social networking app that requires users to enter a verified address in order to connect neighbors, is announcing local deals, a feature that will allow businesses on the platform to promote sales, discounts, and other offers to nearby customers.

Nextdoor is active in more than 248,000 neighborhoods across 11 countries.

Google Considers Buying TikTok Rival

TikTok could be seen as a competitor for YouTube, the video platform owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. TikTok is typically seen as a greater threat to Facebook in the social category, and the social giant is testing a copycat app of its own to crush the insurgent. But more time on TikTok could also mean less time on YouTube in a tight attention economy, and TikTok’s fervent teen users apparently have Google concerned enough to spark a potential Firework deal.

Commentary

How Brands Can Find the ‘Advertisable Moments’ They’re Missing

Advertisable moments exist in a range of digital and physical contexts beyond TV sets and even beyond desktop browsers — and if a brand wants to capitalize on all available moments (especially those proverbial micro-moments) it has to look for ad opportunities in unexpected places.

Are We on the Brink of a Retail Revolution?

Revolutions often happen over short periods of time and leave death and carnage in their wake. What we are experiencing today in retail is more of an evolution — a sort of “survival of the fittest” as both local and big brand retailers either embrace shifting consumer shopping patterns or face extinction.

What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Fake News’

“Fake news” is actually about stories written to win clicks (and potentially do harm). Losing the focus on this accurate definition to spin and political jockeying creates a challenge for the business of marketers, advertisers, and publishers.

Latest Posts

Moving App Zootly Wants to Make Your Relocation On-Demand

Launched in 2015, the on-demand moving app connects anyone who needs a mover or delivery with a professional mover in minutes. Whether it’s for moving a couch, a whole home or even getting some big purchases home from a day of shopping, the idea is that you can get a van or a truck and some movers when and where the need arises.

6 Local Directories Every VSB Should Be On

Consumers are increasingly going online to research local services and products, but for very small businesses (VSBs), this trend is becoming a problem. Fifty-nine percent of VSBs still don’t have websites, with owners often citing perceived cost and lack of technical expertise as reasons why they haven’t made their way online. For business owners who […]

Street Fight Daily: In-Depth Look at Restaurant Tech, Consumers Getting Ads Through FB Messenger

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Restaurant OS (TechCrunch)… You Could Get Facebook Messenger Spam from Any Website You Visit (Business Insider)… Will Readers Pay for Local News? A Digital Startup in Tulsa Bets That They Will (Columbia Journalism Review)…

What It Takes for Legacy Media Companies to Innovate and Thrive

As the media industry spins further away from the long-established familiarity of print models, its companies — large and small, old and new, hyperlocal and international — are hurrying to implement a plan for sustainability. Three organizations with creative solutions spoke on a panel at Street Fight’s LOCALCON in London last week about their strategies.

Why Top Newspaper Groups Are Pitching New ‘Solutions’ to the Ad Market (Part 2)

Christian Hendricks, the longtime leader of McClatchy’s digital operations who was recently promoted to VP of Products, Marketing and Promotion, talks about at NMS from the perspective of one of its four founding newspaper groups, and discusses its relationship to the 3-year-old Local Media Consortium.

Street Fight Daily: Gannett Makes Offer for Tribune Publishing, UPS Focuses on SMBs

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Tribune Publishing Is Weighing a Surprise Offer from Gannett (Poynter)… The UPS Store Will Kick Off ‘Small Biz Salute’ for Small Business Week (AdAge)… Leaked Postmates Financials Suggest Company Might Be Doing Better Than Everyone Thought (TechCrunch)…

5 Hyperlocal Q&A Services That Connect Merchants to Customers

Most merchants think they’re reaching a targeted demographic when they advertise on neighborhood blogs or run geofencing campaigns, but a new type of hyperlocal marketing platform is taking consumer targeting one step further and giving merchants an organic way to connect with consumers who are primed and ready to convert.

How Facebook Helps Small Businesses Stay Relevant on Mobile

In a presentation at LOCALCON in London last week, Facebook’s product manager for local ads, Joe Devoy, took the stage to talk about how the company thinks about serving small businesses. The speech reflected the company’s broader strategy: build so many everyday functions into the Facebook mobile app that no one ever really has to leave it.

Why Top Newspaper Groups Are Pitching New ‘Solutions’ to the Ad Market (Part 1)

The top four newspaper groups in the country — Gannett, Tribune Publishing, McClatchy and Hearst — have formed a national network called Nucleus Marketing Solutions. Street Fight recently spoke with NMS’s CEO Seth Rogin, about the push-pull dynamics involved in creating and monetizing quality journalism online.

Street Fight Daily: Twitter Integrates with Yelp, Facebook’s Geotargeting Capabilities

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Twitter Integrates with Yelp for Location Tags in the UK and Japan, Bypassing Foursquare (TechCrunch)… How a Senator Used Facebook Ads to Influence Employees in a Single D.C. Building (Fusion)… The Road to Self-Driving Cars Winds Through Here (Crain’s Chicago)…