News and Analysis
What’s Visual Search, and How Will It Play Out in 2019?
While visual search isn’t exactly catching on like fire yet, its evolution is buttressed by powerful developments of late in the tech industry. Among these: smartphones are increasingly ubiquitous, more efficient, and we’re all more accustomed to using them; investment in AI from both big companies and startups is widespread, making machine vision more effective; and augmented reality (AR), a similar modality in which tech overlays graphics onto images captured via camera lens, is taking off. Below are a few ways visual search will play out in local and retail in 2019.
Voice’s Local Impact in 2018 and 2019
Street Fight’s Mike Boland explained in a white paper on voice this year that there’s a number of misconceptions regarding how the medium will play out in local search and commerce, and there’s plenty of research out there to illuminate where voice is really headed. I outline some key insights about voice as brands and SMBs alike make plans to tackle it in the months to come.
How Predictive Analytics Reshaped Decision-Making in 2018 and Will Evolve in 2019
In this Q&A, we dig into what Sriram Parthasarathy, senior director of product architecture and predictive analytics at Logi Analytics, envisions as the future of predictive analytics and what he believes still needs to happen before AI-enabled applications move into the mainstream.
Commentary
Do You Bing? If Not, It’s Time to Start
Microsoft recently announced that Bing turned its first profit since being launched in 2009. The company continues to extend its reach, grow its share of the search market, and add features that make it a stronger commerce tool. The question businesses should be asking is not whether Bing will catch up to Google, but whether they view Bing as a critical publisher to improve the reach of their location data.
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.
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.
Latest Posts
Panel: Different Kinds of SMBs Require Different Kinds of Marketing
At a panel discussion hosted by CoInvent last week in New York, SMB experts talked about a range of topics, including social media marketing, SEO strategy, and the importance of paying attention to online reviews.
Street Fight Daily: Google Tests Direct Hotel Booking, Yelp Sued By Delivery Drivers
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Tests Direct Hotel Booking (Search Engine Land)… Drivers Sue Yelp Over Unpaid Tips for Food Delivery Service Eat24 (Fortune)… Deep-Fried Crystal Ball: Seamless’s Recent Missteps Pave the Way for Competitors (Digiday)…
Why All SMBs Need an Ecommerce Strategy
While online research to offline purchase is the more common path-to-purchase, future-looking SMB retailers will holistically consider an ecommerce strategy as more and more consumers embrace online shopping.
Case Study: SMB Marketing Firm Uses Chat App to Convert Clicks to Leads
With the goal of retaining and converting more leads for his agency, Outlook Bench Group’s Nii Akwei went in search of a product he could use to connect with website visitors in real-time.
Street Fight Daily: Food Delivery Wars, Nokia’s Mapping Tech
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Billion Dollar Food Delivery Wars (TechCrunch)… Everybody Wants to Own Nokia’s Mapping Technology (Skift)… Mid-year Report: The Newspaper Industry’s Billion Dollar Challenge (Poynter)
Boston-Based Dispatch Retains a Startup Mentality as It Sets Its Sights on Big Growth
Dispatch grew from three employees to 25 in the past 10 months, and the company is on an upward trajectory. As it scales, the executive team is hoping to maintain the small-time ambiance of a startup while segmenting responsibilities.
Raise Report: New Funding for Yieldify, Zosi, Adored, and Airbnb
Every two weeks we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. In this edition, new investments include big votes of confidence for Onefinestay and UrbanClap.
LBMA Podcast: Beacons on Buses, Apple’s New Patents
On the show: Selfridges Tiffany & Co brings flagship store to augmented reality; Starbucks taps Lyft for free frappucino deliveries; Uber acquires mapping team from Microsoft; TCS acquires Loctronix. Special guest is Jeff White of Gravy.
Street Fight Daily: Google’s Plan for Mobile Search, Uber’s “Lead Generation” Defense
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Reinventing Google for a Mobile World (New York Times)… Uber: We’re Not a Taxi Service,“We’re a Lead Generation” App (Business Insider)… Location Is Everything: Talking Mobile Programmatic With Avazu’s Yi Shi (AdMonsters)…
McClatchy Says It’s a ‘Digital’ Company, but More Work Still Remains
There is no doubt that McClatchy is putting an enormous amount of energy and talent into digital — but will it be enough when print is shrinking so rapidly? Street fight spoke to the company’s VP of products, marketing and promotion, Christian Hendricks, about where McClatchy is in its digital evolution
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Why AI Describes Locations Differently