News and Analysis
Happy Returns Expands Into College Market
Startup Happy Returns, based in Santa Monica and founded by alums from HauteLook and NordstromRack.com, offers a way for shoppers to return e-commerce purchases at real-world kiosks. Beginning this fall, Happy Returns will be setting up kiosks—which it calls “Return Bars”—at five campuses around the country to capitalize on the returns generated by back-to-college online shopping.
Commentary
How to Maintain a Rational Social Marketing Strategy in a Confusing Landscape
Small business owners may find themselves perplexed by the variety of opportunities to engage socially with consumers. Of course, it would be premature to suggest that any SMB needs an Ello marketing strategy. But there’s an advantage to be gained in keeping your marketing strategy attuned to the groups actively pursuing interests relevant to your business…
Is Apple Pay Fixing a Problem Consumers Don’t Have?
Paying with a credit card isn’t broken. So mobile payments have to offer something greater than reducing my wallet by the atomic weight of a credit card. We’re talking tangible benefits like skipping store lines, saving time, or monetary rewards. Without these benefits, I don’t see how the masses will be compelled to change such an entrenched habit…
Selling to Small Businesses: Getting Your Pitch Past the Gatekeepers
Having better conversations with gatekeepers is one way to improve the sales process. Most inquiring sales reps tend to ask a gatekeeper when the decision maker will be available and then quickly end the sales call. This is a waste of a great opportunity to gather valuable intel. A gatekeeper can be your unwitting scout, giving you the information you need to better serve your prospective client…
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Tests Beacons, LivingSocial Cuts Losses
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Tests Bluetooth ‘Beacons’ to Feed Users Local Content (Wall Street Journal)… LivingSocial Cuts Its Q4 Loss But Revenue Down, Expenses Up (Washington Business Journal)… With a Few Bits of Data, Researchers Identify ‘Anonymous’ People (New York Times)…
Street Fight Daily: Yahoo’s Local Search Struggles, Facebook Doubles Mobile Revenue
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Has Yahoo! Just Given Up on Local/Mobile Search? (Screenwerk)… Facebook Doubles Mobile Ad Revenue, but Costs Also Rise (Recode)… Is 2015 the Year of the Regional Super Bowl Ad? (AdWeek)…
Here’s How Marketers Are Using Mobile This Super Bowl
In an age when marketers can reach a hundred million people each day by lunchtime, the draw of the Super Bowl’s 184 million viewers has lost some of its luster. But Madison Avenue is focusing on another number: $14.3 billion. That’s the amount that consumers plan to spend on food, beer and other goods for the big game…
How Hyperlocal Tech Is Reviving Brick-and-Mortar Sales
Retailers have a plethora of customer data and technologies at their disposal which can be effectively combined to personalize the brick-and-mortar shopping experience. By tapping into the rich analytics and capabilities of these cross-functional offerings, they can be well positioned to regain market share..
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Ditches Clicks, Village Voice On The Block
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Here’s How Facebook Plans to Help Brands Find Out When Their Ads Actually Worked (AdWeek)… Village Voice Parent Company Will Explore Sale Of Papers (Poynter)… Apple Maps Connect For Small Businesses Expands Beyond The U.S. (9to5Mac)…
As SMB Investment in Digital Increases, So Does the Need for Better Performance Metrics
With all the noise in local marketing, how can SMBs reliably answer the ROI question? How can they increase the signal-to-noise ratio in their marketing metrics even as they increase their investments in online marketing? A good place to start is by focusing on one metric, above all else: Lead Acquisition Cost…
Street Fight Daily: Beacons Retarget Ads, Mobile Wallets Eye Loyalty
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Now Advertisers Can Use Beacons To Make The Shoes You Were Looking At Inside A Physical Store Follow You Around The Internet (Business Insider)… The Next Step for the Mobile Wallet? Loyalty Programs (Wall Street Journal)… Let’s Stop Laughing At Groupon (Fortune)…
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