News and Analysis
With Help of Magisto, Small Businesses Reach Customers with Video
AI technology is finding its footing in the small business market, years after it reached critical mass among big brands. A new app from Magisto is using AI to streamline video creation and help small businesses more effectively engage audiences on social media.
Crack-of-Dawn Black Friday Lines Are Already a Thing of the Past, Data Shows
How is the increasing appeal of e-commerce and other digital options such as BOPIS—buy online, pick up in-store—affecting retail’s biggest day of the year? One consequence, data from Reveal Mobile indicates, is the end of the notoriously colossal lines that used to mark the beginning of Black Friday.
What Will AR Mean for Consumer Brands?
What’s driving AR today? And what does it mean for big consumer brands? Our lead analyst Mike Boland tackles these questions in this week’s Road Map column, which delves into the tech giants’ investments in AR and what they mean for the future of XR-driven brand advertising.
Commentary
The Future of Retail: ‘In-Store Mode’ and In-Aisle Payments
Wouldn’t it stand to reason that higher receptivity to promotional messaging comes when consumers are truly in buying mode. And wouldn’t the probability of that mode be greatest when someone is in-store, as opposed to browsing Instagram on their couch?
Why the Contractor-Employee Conundrum Isn’t a Fatal Liability for the On-Demand Economy
The recent California Labor Commission ruling, classifying one Uber driver as an employee has led to a lot of chatter about cracks in the business model underlying the “on-demand economy.”
So How Do We Define a ‘Small Business’ Anyway?
Small businesses pack a big punch when it comes to the economy. A working definition that most people and corporations can agree on would aid market interpretations, statistical analyses, and, of course, make it simpler for advertisers to reach the right audience.
Latest Posts
#SFSW15: How Pinterest, Twitter and Nextdoor Think About SMBs
A new generation of social media giants are betting big on Main Street. During the morning session of Street Fight Summit West in San Francisco, representatives from Twitter, Pinterest, and Nextdoor discussed programs designed to engage small businesses within local communities for future generations of the web.
Why Cross-Device Matching Will Transform the Mobile Advertising Industry
Soon, the mobile ad industry will face one of the realities of maturity: integrating with the rest of the digital advertising world. One of the drivers leading that convergence is cross-device matching where a company can identify multiple devices own by a single person.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Replaces Local TV, Small Retailers Ignore Search
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Pew Study: When It Comes to Political News, Facebook has Become Local TV for Millennials (Nieman Lab)… SMB Retailers Love Digital Media, But Have Disconnects With Paid Search (MediaPost)… Urbanspoon Folds Into Zomato Following Acquisition (TechCrunch)…
With New ‘Deep Linking’ Integration, You Can Now Order an Uber via Foursquare
Local recommendations platform Foursquare is debuting a fresh set of these so-called “deep links,” with an integration through smart-connection platform Button that will allow users that develop intent to visit a nearby venue to seamlessly order an Uber cab to take them there…
How to Assess Demand for a Hyperlocal Platform
Here are five examples of ways that hyperlocal vendors have assessed demand for their products or services and used that information to better refine the platforms they developed…
Street Fight Daily: Apple’s Mystery Mapping Vans, Google’s Other Payment Play
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Mystery Solved: Apple Vans gathering Next-Gen Maps Data, Grabbing Street View Storefronts and 3D images (9to5 Mac)… Google’s Other Mobile Payments Service: Hands Free at McDonald’s (Wall Street Journal)… Dave Morin Sells Path’s Social Networking And Messaging Services To Prevent The Rest Of The Path Ship From Sinking (Pando)…
Studies Find More SMBs Want to Manage Their Own Social Media
There is compelling evidence that SMBs’ understanding and aptitude for social media is growing. More importantly, it seems that a significant number of SMBs want and may be ready to take the reins of their social media marketing.
How Worldnow Plans to Rev Up Revenue for the Local Media Consortium
The newspapers and broadcasters in the Local Media Consortium are betting their digital future on a five-way ad strategy. A big part of the strategy is new LMC member Worldnow, which sells advertising across 450 media sites reaching 81% of U.S. households…
Street Fight Daily: Google Unveils New Ad Targeting Tools and Mobile Upgrades
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Debuts New AdMob Tools For Ad Targeting, Native Ads, Scaling Apps And More (TechCrunch)… Here’s What Marketers Need to Know About Google’s Mobile Upgrades (AdWeek)… Are Wearables the Next In-Store Shopping Buddies? (eMarketer)…
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