News and Analysis

The Numbers on Mobile’s Role in Holiday Shopping This Season

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The results of a survey released just last week by mobile ad firm AdColony go beyond the already stale proclamation that the mobile revolution has taken over retail, pointing instead to granular details about just how consumers are using mobile today. We provide the highlights.

Google Reviews Hit with Massive Spam Attempt

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Google reviews, increasingly essential to the online search presence of brand and SMB brick-and-mortars alike, were hit by a massive spam attempt last week. At least 2 million fraudulent reviews were posted, according to ReviewFraud.org.

Kroger Pushes Boundaries with Mobile Holiday Strategies

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Feeling the pinch from online-only grocers, many brick-and-mortar supermarkets are beginning to dip their toes into mobile marketing this holiday season. Kroger, on the other hand, is jumping all the way in.

Commentary

How Top Marketers Are Curating the In-Store Mobile Experience

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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.

In 2016, the Local Economy Is No Longer Local

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Yes, we still shop at local stores, but the Walmart in the nearby shopping plaza isn’t the only competitor the local store needs to keep an eye on. Increasingly, it’s a host of online vendors and the growing crop of on-demand startups that have become an indelible feature of the local business landscape — both enablers and usurpers of their merchant partners.

Street Fight’s Predictions for 2016: Part Two

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With 2015 drawing to a close, it’s time again to look ahead to what we can expect in the hyperlocal space in 2016. We asked Street Fight staffers and weekly columnists what they thought would be the biggest story (or stories) in local in 2016. We ran the first installment yesterday — now here are the rest.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Might Crowdsource Delivery, Square Introduces Apple Watch App

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Flex Could Be a New Way to Get Your Packages, Report Says (Mashable)… Square Cash for the Apple Watch Lets You Send Money From Your Wrist (The Next Web)… Here’s How the Post Office is Taking On UPS, FedEx, and Amazon (Fortune)…

Why Online Marketplaces Will Continue to Beat Word-of-Mouth Platforms in the Battle for Local Business

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People seek the opinions of their friends. They care what they think, and they trust them to make recommendations on everything from a good meal to a good mechanic. It’s word of mouth marketing — the most prized of its kind since the Stone Age. And its staying power undeniably supports the rationale for a […]

7 Ways For SMBs to Maximize the Benefits of Online Scheduling

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Before adding new platforms to the marketing mix, merchants should fully utilize the scheduling systems they’ve already implemented at their businesses. Here are seven examples of ways that merchants can maximize the benefits of online booking tools.

Street Fight Daily: Uber Launches Food Delivery, Facebook’s Ad Tech Strategy

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… UberEats Comes to San Francisco, Where Food Delivery Is Hot (Recode)… With Retooled Atlas Under the Hood, Facebook Closes in on Linking Ads to Sales Across Devices (AdAge)… Retail Tech Meets Consumer Reality: Cracking the Consumer Path to Purchase Code (PYMNTS.com)…

What Local Marketers Can Learn From the Trials of Google Plus

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With Google’s recent announcement that Google Plus will be decoupled from YouTube and other services, industry watchers are predicting that this may be the beginning of the end for the social network. Here are a few lessons a local marketer might learn from the social network’s challenges.

Case Study: Restaurant Group Integrates Data for Targeted Customer Marketing

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Fig & Olive’s guest management system has been set up to match reservations to POS data, which allows marketer Matthew Joseph to track the dining habits and visit frequency of guests. This information is then used to run automated marketing campaigns.

Street Fight Daily: An Inside Look at Amazon, Can Facebook Finally Conquer E-Commerce?

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace (New York Times)… Facebook’s Last Push Into E-Commerce was a Disaster, but It’s Gearing Up to Try Again (Business Insider)… Location Inaccuracy is a Bigger Problem Than Fraud (AdExchanger)…

Openings and New Hires at 4Info, Matchcraft, Foursquare and Yieldbot

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Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s column, Triangle Business Journal gets a new president, Verve Mobile staffs up, and the Daily Voice hires a new publisher.

LBMA Podcast: Forbes Partners With Tinder, Proxbook’s Thomas Walle Jensen

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On the show: Peaceful walking by Walkonomics; Blind French hikers trek 80km without a guide; AwareCar helps you avoid parking tickets; Embarcadero Technologies launches BeaconFence.