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.
Editor’s Take: The Apps vs. Browser Debate Is a Distraction
The venerable apps vs. mobile web debate continues to rage on but it is largely a distraction for local merchants. Business owners do need to understand the changing media landscape to make the most effective possible use of their limited marketing budgets, but their time and their dollars are better spent on marketing fundamentals rather than investing in the increasingly difficult and crowded race to acquire, retain, and monetize app users.
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.
Executive Survey: What’s Hot and What’s Not in the Connected Local Economy
Preliminary results from our forthcoming executive survey suggest that industry players are investing the most in mobile, followed by data and analytics. Respondents indicated that mobile marketing and managing company websites were the biggest challenges for local merchants, along with SEO and listings management. More complete survey results will be revealed at our upcoming Street Fight Summit in New York City.
Report: What Local Merchants Are Missing With Social Media
Two-thirds of small local businesses are using social media for marketing. Yet despite this broad adoption, and an overall good perception of digital marketing effectiveness, results with social have been disappointing.
What Questions Do You Have About the State of Local Marketing?
Earlier this month we released the third edition of The Local Merchant Report. With expert analysis of survey responses from over 500 local merchants highlighted in charts and graphs, it’s a really deep dive. Here are some of the questions we asked…
Report: Local Merchants Embrace Digital, but Need Plenty of Help
In the connected local economy, digital techniques will be the primary means of navigation for the customer journey everyone talks about. At the same time, physical-world commerce infrastructure is about to be seriously outdated. The 2015 Local Merchant Report, a survey of 500+ SMBs and VSBs, helps suppliers better understand merchants’ usage of and attitudes toward digital marketing and e-commerce…