News and Analysis

What Does (Local) Innovation Look Like in 2019? An Open Question

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More specifically, what will innovation look like going forward in local marketing and retail? How will it at once address the unignorable concerns about privacy and transparency that have reached a fever pitch of late and stay true to the best of the Silicon Valley spirit, namely, introduce something both new and necessary? How do local innovators move fast without breaking= things? Is that possible?

We at Street Fight want to hear from you, our readers, about the innovation you’re excited about in local in 2019 and your concerns about business practices in the industry in years to come. Drop me a line with your predictions, concerns, and hopes for Local in 2019 at [email protected].

Voice’s Impact on Local: The Knowledge Graph, SEO, Paid Search

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We know voice will play a major role in Local in 2019, as voice recognition software gets more sophisticated, “near me” searches skyrocket, and marketers wise up to where the voice-local opportunity really lies in the near future: smartphones. In this article, let’s get more specific. Voice will affect the fundamentals of local search: the Knowledge Graph, SEO, and paid search, for example. Drawing from Street Fight lead analyst Mike Boland’s 2018 white paper on voice, I break down those changes below.

These 5 AR Providers Are Changing the Beauty Space

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Augmented reality isn’t just for dog filters and Pokémon catching. A growing number of beauty brands are hopping on the AR bandwagon, hoping that virtual makeup try-ons with facial recognition will help spur e-commerce sales. Here’s a peek at how five AR technology providers are making their mark on the beauty and fashion industries.

Commentary

Understanding the Context of Local Advertising’s Supply and Demand

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The current election cycle, if nothing else, has demonstrated the importance of context in the supply and demand of local media. In this type of market, the early bird gets the worm. Consumer brands are learning this lesson the hard way and getting shut out of local opportunities that otherwise might have been available.

Is Uber Paving the Way Toward Verified Consumer Reviews?

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In an atmosphere where fake reviews are all too easy to create, we need tools that help distinguish real opinions from garbage. Moving beyond the limitations of data algorithms, fact-based approaches hold out the promise of grounding review services in observable truth.

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

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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.

Latest Posts

ironSource’s Cunningham: You Need Every Data Set at Your Disposal to Compete with Facebook and Google

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“In today’s ecosystem, there’s no fooling around anymore. You have some serious players taking 80 or 90 percent of the share, and the only way that you’re ever going to compete is with scale, targeting, a large user base, and product capabilities that can command real budgets,” said ironSource head of mobile and global brand partnerships Chris Cunningham about ad-tech consolidation.

LBMA Podcast: Ikea’s Twitter Vending Machines, Nomadic Uno’s CEO

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On the show: SmarTone Telecom complicates the KISS principle; SeeLight helps the blind cross the street; Area360 raises $3.5M; Yogrt rakes in $3M. Plus news from Mondelez Shopper Futures, Unacast and Coke, Walgreens, InMarket, Millennial Media, and AOL.

Street Fight Daily: Google Introduces Android Pay, Foursquare Wants to ‘Fake’ Beacon Tech

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Android Pay Is Finally Here (Huffington Post)… Dennis Crowley Explains Foursquare’s New ‘Magic Trick’ (Business Insider)… Uber’s Chinese Rival Quietly Backs Its U.S. Rival Lyft (Wall Street Journal)…

7 Tools SMBs Can Use to Track Leads

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When local merchants spend big on digital marketing, they expect to see results. Without using the appropriate tracking technology, however, it can be downright impossible to determine whether a marketing method is working. Here are seven options, each for a different type of business or marketing scenario.

Is Local a Specialist or a Full-Service Game?

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Local startups have reached a tipping point — go big, or go home. The fifth annual Street Fight Summit on Oct. 20th in NYC will explore the shifting local landscape. Conversations will look at the future of beacons, retail marketing, the changing programmatic landscape, and the nascent battle in mobile.

The Same, Only More So: Apple Introduces Comprehensive Refresh of Mobile, Wearables and TV

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If there is a specifically local business implication to the new products and services, it lies in this deeper level of integration with a more mobile world, where the nimbleness of apps (think computing lite) gives everyone the ability to customize and communicate on the fly.

Street Fight Daily: Analyzing Yesterday’s Apple Event, Square Plans Q4 IPO

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Same, Only More So: Apple Introduces Comprehensive Refresh of Mobile, Wearables, and TV (Street Fight)… Square Said to Seek Fourth-Quarter IPO as Twitter Decision Looms (Bloomberg)… It’s Not ‘Winner-Take-All’ for Uber or Lyft, Says the Only Investor in Both (Business Insider)…

Swipely CEO: We Want to Provide the Operating Platform That Restaurants Run On

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“If you’re not going to fundamentally improve the guest experience, then there’s really no motivation for either the consumer to change the way that they’re buying in the restaurant or for the merchant to replace the operating practices they have,” said Swipely CEO Angus Davis about mobile payments.

Street Culture: YP Hits ‘Refresh’ Button on Employee Connections

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Changing a deep-seated corporate culture takes time. Just ask YP, where renewed internal communications, education and community-building efforts have paid off in a big way.

Street Fight Daily: Google Will Test Grocery Delivery, How Facebook’s Pages Update Affects SMBs

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Becomes a Rival to Amazon to Deliver Your Fresh Fruits and Veggies (Mashable)… Facebook Update Means More Shopping Pages Are on the Way (Recode)… Amazon Launches a Food Delivery Service Via Prime Now, Starting in Seattle (TechCrunch)…