News and Analysis
Study: Challenges Persist with One-Partner Programmatic Strategy
84% of brands want to bring their programmatic ad spending in-house as a way to gain more control over what’s become an opaque process. The problem? A study by Visto shows that advertisers who use just one platform are losing out on opportunities to lower inventory costs and efficiently delivery on KPIs.
Commentary
Local Search Needs a Standard Business Listing
Search engines are the preferred medium for local search — Moz’s David Mihm estimated that about 7.5 billion searches a month have local intent — and business listing information is the foundation on which these local queries are served. Whether you’re a listing publisher, data aggregator, consumer or local business, a verifiable business listing that complies with a standard will help everyone win in local search…
Are We Giving Google Too Much Information?
While certain groups complain about certain content on the Web, the real danger is always found in that which is not seen, hidden in plain sight within the language that builds that which we can see. Google is the absolute master of doing business where it’s not seen, and I’ve reached the point where I think it’s time we all said “enough.”
Why Intuition Fails Us in Mobile Advertising
When mobile was in its infancy, it was appropriate to use intuition and past experience as a guide for how to run mobile ad campaigns. However, the time has come for us as an industry to evolve and begin to use data and empirical evidence to guide our mobile advertising. We need to test and validate our intuitions with unique mobile data to optimize campaign performance…
Latest Posts
LBMA Podcast: Google’s Local Ads, 7Eleven Rolls Out Belly
On the show: Sprooki rolls out beacons in Singapore malls; Philipp Schmitt’s location-based light painting project; Runkeeper partners with KIIP; PitneyBowes’ location start-up incubator in India; QR codes to help Alzheimer sufferers from getting lost. Special guest is Peter Cahill, founder of Life Line Response…
Booker Eyes New Markets, More Capital
Sixteen months ago, Bain Capital’s venture wing made a $27 million bet on Booker. Now, the company says its gearing up to raise another big round in order help propel it into a number of new appointment and class-based verticals and hold off a bevy of increasingly well-capitalized competitors…
Street Fight Daily: Comcast Reviving Everyblock, DeliveryHero Raises $350M
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Comcast Bets on Hyperlocal by Reviving EveryBlock (Washington Post)… Delivery Hero, Hungry For Growth, Orders Up Another $350M In Funding (TechCrunch)… Nokia Plans to Unfurl New Mobile Map App (Wall Street Journal)…
YP Hooks Up With Goodzer to Add Services Data to Search
YP has announced a new partnership with Goodzer that will populate the company’s local search product with information about service provider offerings from the startup. It’s the latest in a series of moves by the yellow pages carve-out to rejuvenate its local search product and draw users away from Yelp and Google, as pressure continues to mount on the listings model…
As IPOs Near, Tech Takes Another Crack at Small Business
A handful of upcoming IPOs will add fuel to an already-competitive small business marketing and technology industry. But the fundamental question is how these companies slow an already rapid rate of commoditization, and “build a moat” around their businesses to hold back the next wave of startups looking to grab market share in their wake…
Street Fight Daily: Baidu Bets on Local, Court Says Yelp Doesn’t Extort
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Baidu Boosts Location-based Platform With New Services, $10M Investment (Reuters)… Yelp Escapes Extortion Lawsuit Unscathed, Except For Its Reputation (Engadget)… Airbnb Under Fire for ‘Secret’ Plan to Release Users’ information (New York Post)…
How a Pivot and Rebrand Set Aussie Company Local Measure Back on Course
Nine months ago, the Australian-based Roamz ditched its consumer business, rebranding as Local Measure to focus on a social analytics product for brands. Within five weeks of its launch, the startup signed up more than 200 companies, including Australian airline Qantas. Street Fight caught up with Local Measure VP Americas Ian Michael Farkas to talk about the company’s new direction and the company’s plan to aggressively expand across the U.S…
AI Is Breaking Down Data Silos — Without Breaking Privacy