Case Study: Ads on Hyperlocal Blogs Reach Local Customers

Share this:

As the owner of Urban Ashes, a home furnishings company in Michigan that uses salvaged wood from local yards, parks and urban areas, Paul Hickman believes strongly in supporting local businesses and causes. This carries over to the way he markets his business: Hickman regularly advertises on hyperlocal news sites like The Ann Arbor Chronicle to connect with residents who are well-educated and want to support local enterprises like his.

Street Fight Daily: 08.04.11

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

Location-based media company JiWire reports seeing increases in the sharing of and the demand for local deals, like those offered by Groupon, LivingSocial and others, since last quarter. According to data from a recent survey, sharing of deals has increased by 21% and demand is up 20% from Q1 2011. (ReadWriteWeb)…

LivingSocial’s Groupon Now-killer, LivingSocial Instant, appears to now have an ad unit that promotes specific deals. This adds a new layer to how daily deals can be promoted or sold. (Business Insider)…

Brownstoner: The End of the Open Thread

Share this:

One of the biggest challenges facing any hyperlocal publisher is the development, maintenance, and growth of audience. If you are starting from scratch, one of your first challenges is to find that core audience — the rabid readers that will check back 10 or more times a day to see what you’ve got for them next. But as a site develops, and its audience becomes more established, the questions change.

Neighborland Helps Citizens Share Ideas and Shape Their Community

Share this:

What if people could easily share ideas for improving their neighborhoods? That’s the simple, and in some cases disruptive, question posed by the team behind Neighborland, a beautifully designed hyperlocal tool that launched earlier this year. The site makes you feel good about where you live (if you live in New Orleans that is — the only city the site covers currently) and want to get involved in making what’s around you even better.

Street Fight Daily: 08.03.11

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

Foursquare has launched an update that allows anyone to sign up for a brand page that can push tips and check-ins to followers on Foursquare, as well as to Facebook and Twitter. Users had already been able to add new locations to the service, but, until yesterday, there was no good way for most places to actively reach out to users. (ReadWriteWeb)…

Despite the regular carping from pundits on the sidelines, LivingSocial believes it can show that daily deals are a good deal for businesses, and thus a sustainable long term industry. The company has released the results of a recent survey to bolster its argument. (Business Insider)…

LocalUp: Building Online Ordering Hubs for Restaurateurs

Share this:

LocalUp Solutions, a platform provider for online restaurant advertising and food ordering, has licensees and company-supported account managers in 30 markets around the country. The company provides groups of restaurants in small cities with an aggregated online presence and ordering capability that expands their marketing footprint.. .

Case Study: Dentist Finds the Key to Daily Deal Success

Share this:

Houston dentist Dr. Heather Wilmore has plenty of experience with daily deal companies, having run offers with a handful in just the past year. She’s learned to structure her deals in a way that increases the chances that new patients will continue returning for follow up appointments long after their coupons have been redeemed…

Street Fight Daily: 08.02.11

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

Google has snapped up The Dealmap, an aggregator of nearby shopping deals, in an acquisition that furthers its Google Offers ambitions. The purchase, whose price was not disclosed, shows that Google is proceeding even without its unsuccessful $6 billion bid for Groupon last year. (GigaOm)…

The original Yankee Stadium was demolished in 2010, but some of the seats have survived and are now being used in a novel Facebook Places campaign for MasterCard that uses QR codes to establish location. (Mashable)…

Delivering Local Deals: It’s All About the Data

Share this:

It’s become clear that the two hottest areas of digital media — deals and mobile — are colliding. Mobile payments (i.e. Google Wallet) are meanwhile closing the loop on decades-old deal redemption and tracking challenges. This has led to another important variable: Data. More specifically, mobile payment technologies open the door for more comprehensive consumer purchase data, which can fold back into the equation for more targeted deal delivery…

Using LBS to Help Merchants Manage Inventory

Share this:

As mobile becomes a more and more important element in the daily deals equation, it’s becoming clear that there are more potential elements to a location-based deal than your classic Groupon — and more ways for merchants to optimize those deals. Location-based deals platform ThinkNear is one such response to the challenge and opportunity presented by mobile…

Street Fight Daily: 08.01.11

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

Foursquare is looking to cash in on all those check-ins. The company is nearing a decision to start charging the 500,000 registered merchants which access a suite of Foursquare services that are now free, but won’t be forever, the company said. (New York Post)…

More than 91 million US consumers will use the internet through a mobile device at least monthly by the end of this year, and research shows that the increase in on-the-go web usage goes hand in hand with more search activity for local content. (eMarketer)…