News and Analysis
Apple Takes Advantage of Facebook’s Foul Play to Make a Privacy Statement
Not only did Facebook’s “Research” app, which paid 13- to 35-year-old users $20/month to access their search history, emails, and private messages, set off every imaginable alarm on the this-will-look-bad-when-the-exposé-comes-out PR radar (one of the world’s most powerful corporations must be lacking one of those), but the app also blatantly violated the terms of Apple’s Enterprise Developer Program, which proscribes distributing apps to consumers. It probably didn’t help that Facebook was searching tweens’ data for dirt on its competitors.
Privacy, Poor Management, and Sex Scandals Can’t Touch the Duopoly’s Ad Growth—Yet
It will likely take a significant downturn in spending or overall economic well-being for Big Tech to feel some major financial pain. And while great for Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple, that’s got to be concerning for industry watchdogs wondering whether these businesses are too entrenched in digital search, advertising, and commerce to be challenged—because the past year was not hot for Silicon Valley, and yet the presses keep printing dollars.
Commentary
In Google/Facebook Duel, SMBs Are the Real Winners
With Google’s recent changes, Facebook may now offer small business advertisers a better way to reach low-funnel shoppers — those currently in-market for a product or service, not just those vaguely searching for the category. Google’s move could drive many businesses into Facebook’s arms.
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The Privatization of Local Search
Local search takes place across services that are proprietary and dedicated, even if indirectly, toward earning revenue for the companies that run them. But that doesn’t preclude us from thinking of local search as a kind of public utility whose objective is to provide accurate and consistent information. That means treating local listings primarily as a public good, not a business.
Street Fight Daily: Yelp’s Revenue Up 40%, Amazon to Launch Shopping Channel
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp Swings to Loss, But Revenue Jumps 40% (Wall Street Journal)… Amazon Brings Ecommerce to Fire TV and Prepares to Launch Its Own Shopping Channel (GeekWire)… New Mobile Search Startup Focuses on Apps (New York Times)…
Forget DIY, DIWM, and DIFM: ‘Do Nothing’ is the Best Approach to Capturing the SMB Market
The future of SMB marketing solutions isn’t do-it-yourself, do-it-for-me, or even do-it-with-me. Rather, it lies in a new go-to-market model called “do nothing” that combines context, content, software, and automation into solutions that are low-cost, have next to no barriers to entry, and require little in the way of learning or doing from customers.
DEBATE: The Marketing of SMB Marketing Solutions
Speculation over the best model for providing and marketing SMB solutions — do-it-yourself (DIY), do-it-for-me (DIFM), or the middle-ground option, do-it-with-me (DIFM) — has been swirling for years. Columns from two Street Fight contributors indicate that while technology is part of the current problem, it’s undoubtedly part of the solution as well.
SMBs and Self-Service: Are We There Yet?
The question of whether or when SMBs are going to self-provision online marketing has been a topic of intense debate for at least a decade. Signs now point to the emergence of solutions simple enough to make self-service viable within three to five years. Ultimately, rather than a do-it-yourself vs. do-it-for-me dichotomy, we’re likely to see an increasingly stratified local market that looks a lot like a three-cabin airplane seating chart.
Misalignment Between Brands and Local Affiliates May Be Wasting Massive Amounts of Co-op Funds
National brands rely on a complex web of local affiliates for representation, distribution, and channel marketing and sales. In these sometimes shaky partnerships, it turns out that massive resources in the form of co-op and market development fund (MDF) programs often go unused or get misdirected, largely due to misalignment between brands and their affiliates.
Case Study: Westport Restaurant Views Social Marketing as Digital Word-of-Mouth
Local merchants in every vertical are relying more on social media marketing for customer acquisition and retention, but restaurants in particular have become heavy users of social platforms. This year, 50 percent of casual dining and fine dining operators said they planned to devote even more resources to social media marketing. Hyperlocal vendors like Perch are providing business owners with a way to consolidate most social marketing tasks in one centralized app.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook’s Location-Centric Notifications Update, Etsy’s Same-Day Delivery
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… With Updated Notifications, Facebook Pulls People Down the Rabbit Hole (GigaOm)… Etsy ASAP Brings Same-Day Delivery to NYC (The Next Web)… Square Reports Another Loss as IPO Roadshow Approaches (Wall Street Journal)…
Getting Pushy with Notifications Can Pay Off with Millennials
With the volume and velocity of messaging in the digital economy increasing seemingly exponentially, brands everywhere need to weigh not only what information and content they share but also how much and the delivery channel they use. When it comes to highly connected millennials who use location-based apps, a new study indicates brands and retailers stand a good chance of cutting through the clutter with push notifications.
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