News and Analysis
Report: Education of SMB Marketers a Glaring Hole in Vendor Approaches
The disconnect between how vendors think they are supporting and educating their clients, and how those clients actually feel they are being supported, can be alarming. BrandMuscle’s report found that local marketers are hungry for marketing knowledge, and yet 18% believe they get “little to no support” from the agencies or marketing teams with which they work. Twenty-eight percent say they get “check-the-box support,” which is still insufficient.
Within 24 Hours, Further Signs That HUD’s Facebook Probe Could Upend Digital Ad Industry
What’s at stake in the Facebook housing discrimination probe and related investigations into Google and Twitter is whether the dissemination of online content—the news, product recommendations, advertising campaigns of all kinds, and entertainment—can and should be permitted on the basis of data collected on users’ personal characteristics and past behaviors. Should organizations, in industries as varied as entertainment, apparel, tech, and education, be permitted to use evolving technology to predict whom ads should target and thus who should see the content promoting Berkeley’s MBA program, the new housing development in Long Island City, or the hip sunglasses Warby Parker will never get me to buy? How does past human behavior and long-term inequality in various groups’ access to privileged resources shape ad targeting and the technology that automates it, and can the tech industry reach beyond those limitations to open up new futures instead of capitalizing on and reinforcing historical distinctions?
The news this week of the Trump administration’s first charges filed against a major tech company is the first step on our path to finding out.
Commentary
Why Social Media Is a Battleground for Prompted Search
In a world of omnichannel search, a business’s social media spaces are places where consumers can find what brands have to offer at a local level. As consumers search across a larger palette of devices and channels such as social, a brand needs to view its social spaces as battlegrounds for prompted search.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Uber Rebrands, Amazon Rumored to be Opening Hundreds of Physical Bookstores
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Inside Story of Uber’s Radical Rebranding (Wired)… Amazon Is Said to Be Planning an Expansion Into Retail Bookstores (New York Times)… Yahoo to Cut 15% of Workforce, Explore Strategic Options (Wall Street Journal)…
Understanding the Context of Local Advertising’s Supply and Demand
The current election cycle, if nothing else, has demonstrated the importance of context in the supply and demand of local media. In this type of market, the early bird gets the worm. Consumer brands are learning this lesson the hard way and getting shut out of local opportunities that otherwise might have been available.
Street Fight Daily: Alphabet Earnings Show Google Search Still On Top, Local Advertising’s ‘Context’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Search Leads the Way as Alphabet Beats Earnings Expectations (Adweek)… Placed’s Shim: Location-Based Optimization Is the ‘SEO of 2016’ (GeoMarketing)… Yahoo Takes Declining Share of Worldwide Ad Revenues (eMarketer)…
Retale CEO Touts ‘Tremendous Potential’ of Virtual Reality for Shopping
Retale, a mobile app that brings local circulars to consumers, is jumping right in to VR/AR, launching what it calls “the world’s first virtual reality location-based shopping companion.” Street Fight recently caught up with Retale CEO Christian Gaiser to discuss why the company is betting this technology will become a vital channel for future shoppers.
7 Ways Local Merchants Can Use Messaging Apps for Marketing
Smartphone messaging apps were used by more than 1.4 billion consumers last year, but very few of the conversations that took place were between shoppers and local merchants. Here are seven examples of ways that local merchants can start using messaging apps to improve customer service and boost customer acquisition right away.
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The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation