News and Analysis
Chatmeter Scores New Funding Amid Hiring Spree
Local brand management platform Chatmeter announced a new investment by Providence Strategic Growth aimed at helping the company increase its ambitions further after hiring 25 employees over the course of six months. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Report: DTC Brands Outperform Traditional Retail, Win Over Gen-Z
As the millennial generation settles down and moves into its 30s, retailers are looking at a new group of consumers as the most coveted demographic. Generation Z—born between 1994 and 2002—is forming its own identity and seeking out different shopping experiences than its older counterparts.
A new report, released by the location intelligence platform Ubimo, finds that Generation Z shows a surprising preference for physical stores, although members of this group aren’t interested in shopping so much as experiencing new products in-store.
Heard on the Street, Episode 29: Push Notifications and Tech History, with Airship’s Mike Stone
Airship has been innovating around push notifications for more than a decade, a lifetime in internet years. Airship SVP of Marketing Mike Stone, the latest guest on Street Fight’s Heard on the Street podcast, broke down the company’s approach to the mobile marketing business.
“There are two dimensions. One is the proliferation of devices and the channels that are attached to them, but there’s also that much more difficult thing of what consumers are willing to do,” said Stone. “The devices are one thing, but it’s also, once they’re there, where’s that line of creepy versus helpful.”
Commentary
How Marketers Can Convert Mobile Shoppers Into Sales
Although consumers are willing to buy on mobile, the medium is primarily the gateway to get the consumer into the store to make the purchase. A business can prepare for mobile shoppers in many ways, but have you considered the many challenges that mobile shopping creates?
How Facebook Finally Reconciled Commerce and Connections
The social media giant recently rolled out a suite of new experiences for Facebook Pages — most powered by third party technologies. These collaborations mean more engagement, visibility, and revenue for the companies that provide them; but what does it mean for Facebook?
Building the Essential Digital Marketing Bundle for Local Businesses
“Last time we identified our essential digital bundle for small businesses,” says David Mihm to Mike Blumenthal. “This week I thought we might tackle how agencies and media companies might go about building and selling that bundle — and why there seem to be so few who are actually doing it.”
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Local News and Ad Industries Eye Sweeping Realignment With Users (Part 1)
The solution to digital news media’s woes, according to Bill Densmore, will necessitate a total transformation of the news industry to create more transparent and mutually beneficial relationships among publishers, users, and advertisers. It can happen through what Densmore calls the “Information Trust Exchange.”
Yext Integrates Google Into PowerListings, Extends Real-Time Updates for Both SMBs and Enterprise
Yext today announced a new integration with Google that will allow the company to offer real-time updates to all of its customers across Google’s suite of listings products. The integration eliminates manual submission, and allows all of the Yext’s customers to adjust how information is displayed on Google in real time.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Puts Focus on Pages for SMBs, Smartphone Purchases Set to Surge
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Inside Facebook’s Push to Make Pages the Dominant Mobile Tool for SMBs (Street Fight)… Print’s Dead — But So Is Digital (USA Today)… Most Digital Buyers Will Make Purchases via Smartphone by 2017 (eMarketer)…
Lesson From Yodle’s Acquisition: Scaling SMB Performance Marketing Isn’t So Easy
While the acquisition is likely welcome news for Yodle’s backers and Web.com’s shareholders, the resounding message for SMB performance marketing vendors is one of caution. The real problem facing large performance marketing vendors like Yodle is that of customer retention.
Street Fight Daily: Alibaba Buys 5.6% of Groupon, Apple and Google Struggle for Upper Hand
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Alibaba Gets New Learning Opportunity with 5.6% Stake in Groupon (Bloomberg)… ‘Apple’s Bargaining Power Over Google Is Weaker Than Previously Thought’ (Business Insider)… The Battle for App-Specific Maps (VentureBeat)…
Openings and New Hires at Factual, Yext, xAd and ZypMedia
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes a new company for SinglePlatform founder Wiley Cerilli, a new gig at Soleo for Jovana Riddle, and a chief people officer appointment at Verve.
Raise Report: Fresh Funding for Branch Metrics, Spotcap, Geofeedia
Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes new cash infusions for IdealSpot, The Bouqs, and JANDI.
LBMA Podcast: Citymapper, Land Rover, Indoo.rs, and Micello
On the show: Order Domino’s from Amazon Echo; Los Angeles GeoHub; Ace Hotel + WeTransfer; Starbreeze’s Starcade virtual reality arcade; Land Rover’s #hibernot Instagram campaign; Screenvision & Mobiquity bring beacons to the movies.
Street Fight Daily: Web.com to Acquire Yodle, Foursquare Latest to Embrace On-Demand Delivery
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Web.com to Buy Online Advertising Firm Yodle (Wall Street Journal)… Foursquare Adds Deep-Linking Integration with Delivery.com (The Next Web)… Groupon Soars 23% on Favorable Earnings (TechCrunch)…
CourseHorse Co-Founder: People Are Spending Locally in Adult Education
The company, which recently raised $4 million in Series B funding, powers a local discovery engine connecting students and classes (and taking a commission on every registration). Street Fight spoke to co-founder Nihal Parthasarathi about the various local opportunities in ed tech and adult education.
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