News and Analysis
Mobile Far Superior to Desktop for DTC Advertising
DTCs are notoriously effective in courting young shoppers, including millennials and emerging Gen-Z consumers. This is likely because younger shoppers, growing up in the digital age and native to its conventions, gravitate toward convenience and are less tied to the longstanding preferences that legacy brands carefully crafted through decades of advertising. Mobile, which is tied to identity and location and offers quick digital purchasing options, is the platform where these trends are most exaggerated.
Gimbal Innovates to Track Consumer Trends in the Physical World
For years, marketers have used Google Trends to uncover insights based on search data. Now, executives at the advertising and marketing automation platform Gimbal are hoping their newest product will serve the same purpose for the physical world.
Built on top of an independent location data set, Gimbal Trends has been designed to provide marketers with a comprehensive view of consumer behavior in the real world. The product was released this morning, and already Gimbal is seeing interest from companies in the entertainment industry that are interested in leveraging the data to optimize their decision-making processes about upcoming events.
7 Indoor Mapping Platforms for Retailers
More than half of shoppers (57%) have used a retailer’s mobile app while in-store. In order for their apps to provide the greatest amount of value, retailers need to tap in to location features, including indoor mapping. When Street Fight first wrote about indoor mapping tools back in 2013, the technology was still relatively young. Now, the market has had time to mature and retailers looking at integrating indoor mapping technology into their mobile apps have an even wider array of vendors to choose from.
Here are seven companies with indoor mapping solutions for retailers.
Commentary
Google’s Pragmatic Approach to the Truth, and Its Pitfalls
If enough people believe something, should Google consider it to be true? In a world where questionable news is very popular, it’s not so surprising that Google’s logical assumptions might sometimes produce unexpected results. After all, trustworthiness at root is a matter of how many people are willing to trust you.
Why Google Is Becoming the ‘New Homepage’ for SMBs
“So many things are happening right on Google; clicks to call, driving directions, etc., and even more so than a website,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “For a business to do well there, things like photos, reviews (everywhere) and other visuals are becoming ever more important.”
Will Native-Social Ads Dominate Mobile?
The majority of mobile ad companies that don’t evolve their janky and interruptive banners will be displaced. A new era of mobile ads will be defined by intelligent formats that speak to the affinities of buying-empowered millennials (who are now almost 40 by the way).
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Facebook’s Messenger Could Be the Next PayPal, Uber Won’t Go Public Anytime Soon
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Report: Facebook Messenger Might Become Your New Mobile Wallet (Marketing Land)… Uber IPO Uber-Unlikely (CNBC)… Searching For Google CEO Sundar Pichai (BuzzFeed)…
9 Killer Location Features for Retailer Mobile Apps
Retail apps have a reputation for being bulky and unnecessary, and for taking up space on consumers’ phones without delivering enough benefit. Going forward, the key for retailers looking to gain traction with their branded mobile apps will be integration with more location-based components.
Service Marketplace Lead Gen — What Color Do Disruptors Bleed?
Marketplaces are sexy. They have disrupted long-standing lead-gen sources like Google, Craigslist, HomeAdvisor, and Angie’s List — all of which caused disruption within yellow pages years before.
Street Fight Daily: Lyft Launches Waze Integration, ‘Platform Relationship Specialists’ Emerge
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Waze Integration for Drivers Rolls Out Nationwide in Lyft’s Mobile App (TechCrunch)… The Rise of the Publishing Platform Specialist (Wall Street Journal)… Publishers See Rising Premium on Mobile Advertising (AdExchanger)…
Raise Report: New funding for DoorDash, Handshake, GoCardless
Marley Spoon, a startup that delivers ingredients needed for specific recipes to users, has raised $17 million and some of the other top funding news of the past week in this week’s Raise Report.
Promotions and New Hires at Amazon, Nuts.com, and Gorilla Logic
An internal promotion at Amazon and some new personnel changes at Delivery.com and Gorilla Logic in the latest Movers & Shakers column.
Street Fight Daily: Apple Pay Coming to Mobile Web, DoorDash Moves Into Yelp Territory
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Apple Pay Moving to the Mobile Web, Could Give Big Boost to Mcommerce (Marketing Land)… DoorDash Takes On Yelp, Offers ‘Objective’ Restaurant Quality Scores (VentureBeat)… Microsoft Tells Possible Yahoo Buyers It Would Consider Backing Bids With Big Bucks (Recode)…
A ‘Network and Brand,’ 30A Aims to Add $1 MIllion Revenue in 2016
Mike Ragsdale’s 30A is successfully covering the Santa Rosa Beach communities in Florida, covering daily minutiae while capturing what’s special about the place. The site is also pulling in seven figures. Can others learn from him?
7 Ways Local Merchants Can Foster Customer Loyalty
Random rewards and eco-friendly initiatives are among the suggestions experts in local marketing offer SMBs who are looking to foster customer loyalty and bridge the gap between the virtual and the actual.
March Brand Battle: Marriott Residence Inn vs. Hilton Garden Inn
Spring break is a big time for family travel across the U.S. According to travel booking site Orbitz, 61% of spring travelers will be families. What are they looking for? The March Brand Battle pits two affordable luxury hotel chains, Marriott Residence Inn and Hilton Garden Inn, against each other in a fight for local-mobile hotel domination as they head into the spring break season.



















































Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem