News and Analysis
Allset Redefines Its Position in the Mobile Ordering Space
Standing out in the mobile ordering space isn’t easy. GrubHub, Uber Eats, Door Dash, and dozens of other mobile ordering platforms are competing for business in what’s already become a tight market. So how does an outsider break into the business, and break away from the competition?
For companies like Allset, the answer is to create entirely new services that competitors aren’t offering.
Foursquare Acquires Placed, Announces $150M in Funding
Foursquare and Placed are location tech’s new power couple.
The location intelligence firm is acquiring Placed, which had previously been bought by Snap for its top-rate online-to-offline attribution solution, and the two will offer one of the most powerful attribution solutions in the location industry, to be called Placed powered by Foursquare.
As ad tech faces tougher times and a privacy-driven crackdown on data collection and ad targeting practices, more mergers and acquisitions are likely to transform the industry’s terrain. Teaming up and stockpiling as much first-party data as possible, thereby eliminating the need for less compliant modes of data harvesting, will boost the longevity of some firms while others flounder.
SMBs Warm Up to New Tech But Are Skeptical of Impersonal Interactions
A freshly released report from SMB software firm Broadly uses data from a survey of 300 SMB leaders to paint a picture of the American SMB in 2019: gradually embracing mobile-first communication, skeptical of innovation that undercuts human connection, and ambivalent toward large digital marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy.
Commentary
Why Local Marketing Tech Is Strongly Influencing 2016’s Furious M&A Activity
This year, investment in marketing tech is on pace to more than double the investment in ad tech, suggesting just how promising this market is. Because these solutions are in high demand and are built on a recurring and relatively predictable software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenue model, profits have surged.
Apps Continue to Battle, But the Mobile Web May Be Catching Up
With a shift to mobile websites, most mobile marketing dynamics will remain, although implementation for sites versus apps will be more than nuanced. Mobile search is already undergoing shifts, and listings management must take into account the role of the mobile platforms, maps, and, probably, Amazon.
Can Google Shift Its Revenue Model From Advertising to Products?
“Google rolling out integrated hardware and software is a big change,” Mike Blumenthal says to David Mihm. “They have tried their hand at manufacturing many times and failed, but this feels more strategic. Clearly their AI assistant effort is central and it seems that AI is table stakes for the coming battles.”
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Google’s 3D Mapping Coming to Smartphones, Apple’s Potential Impact on Search
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Tangoes with Lenovo to Bring 3D Mapping to Smartphones (Wall Street Journal)… How Apple Could Play Spoiler for the Search Ad Business (Search Engine Land)… 50% of Consumers in Mature Markets To Use Phones, Smartwatches for Mobile Payments by 2018 (BizReport)…
‘Indie’ Local News Now Finds Profitability in Affluent-but-Challenging D.C. Market
2015 was a big year for independent community news publisher Scott Brodbeck and his Local News Now sites in metro Washington, D.C. We checked in with Brodbeck recently to see what makes him succeed in the tough business of community news, and as a self-financed independent, no less…
5 Self-Service Predictive Analytics Platforms
Vendors with business intelligence software are introducing more self-service platforms. Many of these platforms include predictive analytics capabilities that business owners can utilize to make smarter marketing and operations decisions. Here are five examples…
Street Fight Daily: Yahoo Faces Major Layoffs, Inside Uber’s ‘God Mode’ Privacy Battles
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yahoo Is Prepping to Lay Off 10% or More of Its Workforce (Business Insider)… Uber Settles with New York Attorney General Over ‘God View’ Tracking Program (BuzzFeed)… GoButler, the Messaging-Based Personal Assistant, ‘Pauses’ Operations in Germany to Focus on U.S. (TechCrunch)…
Facebook Continues to Experiment in Local — But Its Focus Is Long-Term
The company isn’t trying to build a unified local search portal at all. Instead, they’re launching trial balloons, turning developers loose to experiment with the company’s local data in order to surface features and nuances that might eventually be useful as subtle additions to the Newsfeed…
How the Rise of ‘Mobility as a Service’ Will Impact Local Marketing
Autonomous vehicles will put pressure on all kinds of players. The pressure will be felt not only by car manufacturers but all kinds of other industries including auto dealers, insurance companies and transit systems…
Street Fight Daily: Learning from Target’s Digital Turnaround, AT&T’s Google-Like Plans
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… How Target’s Bet on Digital Helped Its Turnaround (Digiday)… Inside AT&T’s Plans to Be Everywhere You Are (AdAge)… Ad Tech Growth Hits Speed Bump (Wall Street Journal)…
How Top Marketers Are Curating the In-Store Mobile Experience
With consumer behavior in place, and solutions making technology like beacons as simple as a media buy, mobile proximity is poised to become the fasting growing piece of mobile advertising in 2016. The brands that have tested and learned early on are in great position to scale up and reach their audiences this year.
5 Tools App Marketers Can Use to Drive Mobile ROI
Whether they’re looking to monetize local news, social channels, or virtual marketplaces, app marketers are finding that the key to generating revenue from mobile freemium apps has to do with personalized messaging and automation with real-time data.
Street Fight Daily: The Relationship Between Mobile Messaging and Commerce, GM Invests in Lyft
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Future of Mobile Chatting: Commerce (Wall Street Journal)… General Motors, Gazing at Future, Invests $500 Million in Lyft (New York Times)… For Sensors Focused on Local Commerce and Loyalty, Privacy, Battery Life, and Location Accuracy Are Top Concerns (GeoMarketing)…
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