Small Businesses Rate Social, SEO, Email as Most Effective Marketing Tools
Small businesses continue to be in love with social media. In the first in a series of surveys Street Fight will be conducting with Alignable, we asked approximately 100 small business owners to rate their most effective marketing tools and tactics among a list of a dozen. Two-thirds of respondents selected social media as one of their top three. SEO and email rounded out the list of leading techniques.
Report: Getting the Most out of Hyperlocal Social Media Marketing
A new report from Street Fight Insights found that many local businesses don’t feel they’re getting return on their social media efforts. That’s in spite of the fact that two-thirds of them are using social media for marketing, and many plan to increase their efforts. Companies in the connected local economy value chain looking to best serve merchants should supply them with tools and services to measure the impact and efficiency of their social media marketing programs.
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.
Report: Breaking into the Inbox with Successful Pitches to Local Merchants
A new report from Street Fight Insights found that when being pitched a new product or service, local merchants want information on costs, a clear explanation — backed up by case studies — of how the product or service will benefit their business, and all their questions or concerns addressed.
6 Ways Local Merchants Can Compete in Organic Search Results
Type in a generic search term for nearly any local service and you’re likely to see listings for national brands and retail chains. Local businesses have largely been pushed out of the first page. So local merchants have to make a change in their SEO strategies.
Case Study: Georgia Candy Shop Manages Off-Site Sales with Mobile Tools
Having a product as small and portable as chocolate candy gives M Chocolat’s owners the freedom to sell outside their brick-and-mortar store. The sisters often use food festivals, local races, wine shops, and gourmet specialty stores to find new customers.
Facebook’s Ad Platform for SMBs Has Come a Long Way, But Still Has Room to Grow
More and more local businesses are turning to Facebook to launch hyperlocal ad campaigns. And for good reason — the company has greatly enhanced its SMB ad offerings in the past year. As a relatively young ad medium, though, Facebook hasn’t really mastered the game yet.
INFOGRAPHIC: The Complex SMB Marketing Ecosystem
As the head of digital strategy for a broadcaster operating local TV stations, I’ve been challenged to clearly understand the digital marketing space from an SMB perspective. So I’ve developed a chart, both to enhance my understanding and to assist SMBs in identifying potential suppliers.
Case Study: Bubble Tea Shops Use Boosted Facebook Posts for Customer Acquisition
Like many merchants, the team behind Boba Guys relies primarily on unpaid marketing campaigns for customer retention, using organic tactics like posting exclusives and inside news on social media. Ten percent of Boba Guys’ marketing is aimed at customer acquisition.
Why Online Marketplaces Will Continue to Beat Word-of-Mouth Platforms in the Battle for Local Business
People seek the opinions of their friends. They care what they think, and they trust them to make recommendations on everything from a good meal to a good mechanic. It’s word of mouth marketing — the most prized of its kind since the Stone Age. And its staying power undeniably supports the rationale for a […]
7 Ways For SMBs to Maximize the Benefits of Online Scheduling
Before adding new platforms to the marketing mix, merchants should fully utilize the scheduling systems they’ve already implemented at their businesses. Here are seven examples of ways that merchants can maximize the benefits of online booking tools.
Case Study: Restaurant Group Integrates Data for Targeted Customer Marketing
Fig & Olive’s guest management system has been set up to match reservations to POS data, which allows marketer Matthew Joseph to track the dining habits and visit frequency of guests. This information is then used to run automated marketing campaigns.
Sponsored Content: 6 Strategies for Success in Social Media
Business owners should be developing comprehensive social marketing strategies. Those merchants who haven’t taken the first step by creating Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for their businesses are losing out on customer loyalty, as well as new opportunities for growth.
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.
Sponsored Content: What to Know About SEO
In order to start seeing a positive ROI on their websites, businesses of all sizes need to find ways to drive traffic to their digital properties beyond online listings and digital offers. In most cases, that means relying on search engines to bring in the crowds.
8 Things SMBs Should Consider Before Adopting Mobile Payments
With 22.6 million people in the U.S. expected to make at least one mobile payment in 2015, merchants of all sizes are feeling the push to start accepting mobile payments. But whether every local business should jump on board is still a matter of debate within the hyperlocal community.
10 Local Digital Agencies You Should Know About
Although nearly half (49%) of franchise SMBs have been partnered with a digital agency for two or more years, independent merchants are just getting in on the action. Here are 10 digital agencies that businesses are using right now.
Courting SMBs, Facebook Integrates Its Ad Platform With Wix Email Marketing
Facebook and Wix announced a new integration this morning that will allow businesses using Wix’s email marketing app to creating a Facebook ad within the platform, automatically taking the email’s content and images and translating them into Facebook’s format.
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.
Report: Executive Survey on Hyperlocal Tech and Tactics
What’s on the mind of technology and marketing suppliers targeting the connected local economy? They’re keen on mobile — perhaps too keen — but struggling with their own companies’ brand awareness. The dichotomy between small businesses and national chains that sell locally is profound, and presents difficult challenges in scaling to support either, let alone both, according to Street Fight Insights analysis.