News and Analysis

Brands Push Forward with Automation, But Privacy and Creepiness Concerns Remain

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“Marketing automation is all the rage. Everyone feels like they need to ‘do it’ or they’ll be left behind. That rush to do the latest ‘new thing’ without thoughtful planning often leads to failure,” says Winston Lord, co-founder of Venga, a guest management platform that uses automation to enhance customer experiences. “It’s critical to build a 360 degree view of your client and your strategy before implementing marketing automation.”

Programmatic OOH Is Real. Why Isn’t Your Agency Using It More?

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The ad tech industry’s state of flux and disarray spurs confusion and buyer skepticism of real innovation. This is particularly prevalent in rapidly evolving areas like programmatic that also contend with existing legacy trust issues. I come across this every day, as there seems to be a persistent rumor that programmatic Out of Home (OOH) is “fake,” and that, when looking under the hood, programmatic OOH is merely an automated process for reserving and purchasing inventory. This misconception results in missed opportunities for marketers.

Factual Partners with Airship and Braze to Power Location-Based Mobile Marketing

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The partnership will enhance Airship and Braze’s efforts to furnish clients with precise mobile messaging based on the location of the customers they want to reach. Airship and Braze help brands engage their customers, retaining their business and ideally driving them back in-store. Airship rebranded, dropping the Urban from its name, last month.

Commentary

Just How Big a Deal Are Voice Search and Chatbots for Local?

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At Street Fight Summit we raised a little controversy around the potential disruptiveness of voice search to the hyperlocal economy. Street Fight believes voice search is a critical emerging technology, a view that seemingly contrasts with that of many companies on the supply side of hyperlocal.

Reimagining the Mobile Banner: In-App Ad Innovation Spares Brands from Google’s Interstitial Pinch

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The future of our work is about designing smarter ways to reach users, so we need to focus on ways to drive engagement, not distraction. And that means finding subtle things that trigger the meaningful interactions. This isn’t 1999; we’re not building banners for last century’s desktop.

So, as January 10 approaches, let’s look at some creative models from the app side of the table

Why Local Search Is Even More Important in the Age of Ad Blocking

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With so many people blocking traditional advertising, a growing proportion of internet users cannot be reached through “classic” search engine marketing. That’s why in the context of ad blocking, SEO is still king.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: GrubHub to Rebrand, New Stats Show Importance of Mobile to Physical Shopping

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… GrubHub Q4 Financials Show Growth as Company Plans a Rebranding (Chicago Business Journal)… More Than M-Commerce: Mobile Is Part of 46% of All Shopping Journeys (GeoMarketing)… Internet of Things Is Changing How Media and Entertainment Companies Operate (eMarketer)…

New President’s Focus at Hearst Digital: ‘News Users Can’t Get Anywhere Else’

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“Many quality news sites with paywalls equate ‘premium’ with ‘quality journalism,’ where the paywall encircles the most expensive, ambitious and time-consuming public-service journalism,” says Rob Barrett, who recently took over as president of Hearst Newspapers Digital. “That’s not how the minds of consumers necessarily work.”

As Mobile Ordering Platforms Evolve, Expect More Personalization and Integration

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Consumers are more likely to seek out restaurants that accept mobile orders, with 34% saying that technology is the reason why they’re ordering takeout more frequently. To keep these customers excited and engaged, vendors have to keep innovating and improving. Here are some predictions from top executives about where things are headed.

Street Fight Daily: Geofeedia to Expand After $17M Series B, How Patch Succeeds Post-AOL

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Geofeedia Raises $17M to Help Businesses Tap Into Social Location Data (TechCrunch)… Patch Rebounds After Split From AOL (Wall Street Journal)… Why Would Amazon Want To Be the New Barnes & Noble? (New Yorker)…

With New Attribution Feature, Placed Can Tell Whether Your Billboard Is Hot or Not

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Seattle-based Placed announced this morning that with Placed Attribution, which was unveiled back in July, the company can bridge the gap between OOH ads (billboards) and physical store visitations.

Report: More Than 70% of Franchisees Use a Digital Agency

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Franchisees (and their co-op spending) represent an important segment of the local digital marketing ecosystem, and a new report reveals that these businesses are starting to accelerate their adoption of digital media and platforms, and are increasingly working with digital agencies.

Telmetrics Names New CEO, Looks to Prove the Value of Phone Calls — And the Digital Ads That Drive Them

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The call tracking and call analytics company announced this morning that it has named Andrew Osmak its new CEO, replacing David Howard (who assumes the role of chairman of the company’s board). Osmak had been managing partner of Toronto-based Leverage Capital.

Street Fight Daily: Uber Rebrands, Amazon Rumored to be Opening Hundreds of Physical Bookstores

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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)…

Cupcakes

Case Study: Bakery Takes Digital Approach to Local Marketing

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Like many local merchants, Heather Zidell has seen the number of customers finding her business through Yelp climb over the years. She decided to take the leap into paid advertising on the platform as a way to ensure that her bakery was being listed ahead of competitors.

Understanding the Context of Local Advertising’s Supply and Demand

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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.