News and Analysis

OOH Emerges as Strong Digital Channel for CPGs

Consumer-packaged goods shoppers trust out-of-home advertisements more than those delivered on any other channel, a new report on CPGs and advertising from Vistar Media and MFour indicates. Fifty-three percent of consumers say they trust the content in OOH ads, more than any other single medium.

B2B Video Marketing Grows Up, Getting Briefer and Garnering More Attention

The standards for B2B video marketing are rising as marketers get the hang of the hottest, no longer so new medium. Marketers are learning to keep things short and sweet, decreasing the average video length from six to four minutes from 2017 to 2018, and audiences are tuning in longer, Vidyard reports in its annual video in business report.

TRUSTX Takes Aim at Opaque Programmatic Trading Practices

The lack of transparency in the programmatic space has finally reached a tipping point. According to a survey on the state of programmatic media buying, conducted by Digiday, 27% of media buyers say the greatest concern they have with programmatic advertising is the lack of transparency. While many players in the space are claiming that their hands are tied, and agencies continue to push back against audits, upstart technology firms are carving out niches as leaders in the push to bring trust into programmatic advertising.

Commentary

Why Brands Need to Master Prompted Search

When a business launches a new product, or, say, the latest Harry Potter adaptation hits the market, retailers are often challenged to update their location pages in a timely manner to show the availability of the product for consumers who rely on local search to find what they want nearby.

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.

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)…