News and Analysis

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

Share this:

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

Share this:

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.

Foursquare’s Location-Based Loyalty Metrics Point to Best Practices for Casual Restaurants

Share this:

Brushing aside customer surveys and other imprecise measures of customer loyalty, location intelligence firm Foursquare released a location-based report this morning that evaluates best practices and practitioners in loyalty among casual restaurant chains. 

Most importantly for future considerations, the report suggests that brands can improve loyalty in all four of the areas that contributed to its index.

Commentary

New Report Shows Urban SMBs Do Better with Agency Help

Share this:

Street Fight’s new analysis, The Urban SMB Report, indicates that local business owners in big cities get better results from their digital marketing efforts by not doing it themselves. The more they outsource, either to internal staff or to an agency, the higher their satisfaction rating. But there is room for improvement.

Brand Battles in Depth: Looking at Starbucks vs. Dunkin’ Donuts

Share this:

The series demonstrates the real complexity of cross-platform digital marketing and the importance of a data-driven strategy in identifying meaningful objectives and tracking performance. This commentary explains how Brand Battles are constructed and how their subject areas fits into the bigger picture of local marketing for national brands.

As Voice Search Gains Importance, So Does Schema Mark-up for SMB Sites

Share this:

Like it or not, SMBs have become far more educated and sophisticated with regard to digital media, and are in a much better position to hold their providers accountable. As a result, providers now must look for ways to more cost effectively provide higher quality products.

Latest Posts

Taking ‘Local’ Right Down to the Keystroke

Share this:

A new group of companies are finding ways into local services by getting in between consumers’ desires and fulfillment of their desires at the core level: where their thumbs are hitting the glass. Startups like PopKey and Slash have found what feels like a Trojan Horse into our stream of communication.

For Brick and Mortar to Beat Ecommerce, It Takes Mind, Body, and Spirit

Share this:

While many onlookers think that increased comparison shopping, faster and cheaper delivery options like drones, and the convenience of shopping at home equal doom for physical stores, the reality is that the economy (like the people behind it) is largely driven by the irrational.

Street Fight Daily: Waze Partners With Lyft, Craigslist Competitor 5miles Now Valued at $300M+

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Waze to Scoop up More Data through New Partnerships (Wall Street Journal)… Mobile App 5miles Raises $30M at a $300M+ Valuation to Rival Craigslist in Classifieds (TechCrunch)… Bootler Brings Comparison Shopping to Food Delivery Services (Chicago Tribune)…

As Local Search Behavior Evolves, Marketing Spending Will Follow

Share this:

Merchants and marketers have to be findable and present useful information regardless of the searcher’s context. And that’s where the mechanics of local search marketing get messy. It feels like a great opportunity for tools and managed services that help break down those silos, and measure effectiveness across or between them.

It’s Been a Long Slog, but Digital News Publishers Are Beginning to Innovate

Share this:

News publishers get beat up regularly for not making a successful journalistic transition from their palmy print days to the hotly competitive digital era. And they certainly deserve it. But I think Neal Mann’s recent full-metal-jacket attack on them in Medium was way over the top.

Street Fight Daily: AOL Merges All Publishing Products, the Scope of Uber’s International Disruption

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… AOL Is Combining All of Its Publisher Products (Business Insider)… Why Uber’s Rushing Into Deliveries Could Reap $24.6B Internationally (Forbes)… For Some Sprint Customers, Watching Ads Cuts Phone Bill (Wall Street Journal)…

Report: Beacon Use Growing, Industry on Track to Deploy Nearly 400 Million by 2020

Share this:

“The number of sensors is increasing quarter by quarter,” said Unacast co-founder and CEO Thomas Walle. “A lot of companies are still in testing and trialing, but we’re moving out of that phase and into full commercial deployments.”

Basket President: App’s Crowdsourced Price Information Empowers Shoppers

Share this:

“The difference in prices between stores in a five-mile radius can be as much as 50 percent, based on in-store unadvertised specials, advertised specials, and variance in list price,” says Andy Ellwood. His company, Basket, has built “a massive database” that allows the company to display that price information back to consumers.

Street Fight Daily: How Ad Blocking Affects Ecommerce, Is Food Delivery the New Gold Rush?

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Ecommerce Links Become the Latest Unlikely Casualty of Ad Blocking (Digiday)… The Food Delivery Wars: A Little Bit of History Repeating? (PYMNTS.com)… FiveStars Gets $50M to Help Small Retailers Run Loyalty Programs Like Their Bigger Rivals (TechCrunch)…

6 Social Media Tactics that Reduce Marketing Costs for SMBs

Share this:

In addition to generating leads, building brand awareness, and adding credibility to a business, a well-implemented social strategy should also lower a merchant’s overall marketing expenses. Social media is oftentimes less expensive than other types of marketing, and can easily be used to leverage a merchant’s complimentary marketing programs.