News and Analysis
GMB App Adds Support for Service-Area Businesses
As of late last week, Google is offering an update to the Google My Business app that adds support for service-area businesses. Earlier in November, a Local Search Forum blog post indicated that Google would be adding features to help such businesses with local customers.
Starbucks Partners with Uber to Launch On-Demand Delivery at 2,000 Locations
Starbucks announced on Friday that it’s partnering with Uber to launch on-demand delivery at 2,000 locations. The partnership is a sign of the “near me” local search era for retail, one in which proximity and convenience have become paramount, outweighing even loyalty.
Efficacy of Google Posts Drops Following Relegation to Bottom of Knowledge Panel
Following a seemingly arbitrary choice on Google’s part to move Posts to the bottom of the Knowledge Panel, their efficacy in boosting businesses’ local search presence seems to be dropping.
Commentary
Online Reviews Providing Insights That Help Brands Compete
The evidence is in. Reviews on social media have a material impact on the capital investments made by nationwide brands. The key is strength in numbers: A national brand will be more likely to have the critical mass of reviews required in order to move beyond anecdotal evidence and glean statistically significant results.
Editor’s Take: The Perils of Uberization for the Local Economy
On-demand is a convenient rubric for speaking about a certain type of currently faddish platform, but not every underlying service or product is the same. Transportation is not the same as home services or restaurants. By extension, not everything Uber does will work equally well outside of its particular niche. Demand-based pricing is a prime example.
Connecting the Local-Mobile Economy, One Step at a Time
Hyperlocal, mobile, on-demand contextual commerce enabled by buy buttons within mobile apps — that’s the new string of buzzwords making the rounds at industry conferences. The market reality: It’s going to take a while for this string to play out in the connected local economy. A key reason is that even as mobile disrupts search, most marketers and merchants can’t expect to get their own app on a majority of users’ home screens.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Buy Buttons’ Impact, 7-Eleven Launches One-Hour Delivery
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… New, Simple ‘Buy’ Buttons Aim to Entice Mobile Shoppers (New York Times)… Twitter Introduces New Audience Insights for Brands (Twitter)… 7-Eleven Launches One-Hour Delivery in US (RetailWeek)…
Street Fight Daily: Yelp Sale Stalls, Twitter’s New Ads Button
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp Sale Process to Stall as Founder Decides to Wait (Bloomberg)… Twitter Pushes Ads With A New Button Atop Mobile Users’ Profiles (TechCrunch)… An Argument that Newspapers are Missing Out on Reaching Loyal, Local Digital Audiences (NiemanLab)…
Square Launches Payroll, Expanding Suite of Services for Small Businesses
As part of its push to become a comprehensive platform for small businesses, Square has launched a new payroll management service. The product is targeted particularly at SMBs that pay employees on an hourly basis, but it can also be used for those that have salaried staff.
Openings & New Hires at Lyft, Yext, Twitter, Uber, Invoca & more
In this week’s column, Twitter sees more high-level departures; Yext brings on a CMO from Salesforce; Lyft acquihires; Uber gets Bing employees; Invoca names a new CEO; and more. Find out what’s behind the moves…
LBMA Podcast: PayPal and Uber, Foursquare’s Mayor Mea Culpa
On the show: tools, services and technologies that will make your summer vacation better – no babysitting included. Stories about: Google Photos; the KeepTrax app; Google’s Sidewalk Labs; Trending places on Instagram; Samsung’s safety truck; and the Space Case 1
Street Fight Daily: PayPal Acquires Xoom, ReachLocal Could Extend Yahoo Partnership
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… ReachLocal In Talks To Extend Yahoo Partnership Into Gemini Native Ads (Search Marketing Daily)… Zozi Raises $30 Million in Financing (New York Times)… Google Highlights Low Prices, Mimicking Amazon (Wall Street Journal)…
Labor Issues Aren’t the Only Hazard in Uber’s Business Model
Uber-for-X innovators and investors be warned: several elements of Uber’s market inoculated it against three hazards associated with the single service model: Trigger Infrequency, Customer Loyalty, and Market Density.
Street Fight’s 10 Most Popular Stories From the First Half of 2015
In the local space, the first six months of 2015 brought a deeper emphasis on local commerce and the connected local economy, new partnerships, and consolidation and restructuring at legacy players. Here’s a look back at the top Street Fight stories (at least in terms of traffic) so far this year.
Street Fight Daily: Pinterest Launches Buyable Pins, Bing Now ‘Self-Sustaining’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Airbnb Is Helping Make Android Apps More Like The Web (ReadWrite)… Pinterest Takes E-Commerce To Next Level With Launch Of Buyable Pins On iPads & iPhones (Marketing Land)… Microsoft’s Bing Isn’t Such a Failure After All (Mashable)…
6 Tools for Linking Digital Marketing Efforts to Offline Sales
Only 18% of marketers currently say they feel “very confident” in their ability to measure mobile ad ROI. In order for that number to increase, marketers will need to partner with hyperlocal vendors that provide online-to-offline ad attribution. Here are six examples of vendors that they could work with…
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