A Decade Old, iBrattleboro Keeps Journalism First, Profits Second
For co-founders Chris Grotke and Lise LePage, the bottom line is not what’s found in the last entry on a profit-and-loss statement.. “Journalism is a little more important than money,” Grotke says. “If you’re doing [hyperlocal] to make money, I suggest you not do it in a small town. Go to a big city.”
Case Study: Cumberland Farms Partners With PayPal on Mobile App
In April 2012, Cumberland Farms teamed up with PayPal to launch a mobile payment application, which allows customers to pay for gas through their smartphones. In the 11 months since the app debuted, repeat usage statistics have been in the 88th percentile, a metric senior brand strategy manager Kate Ngo says shows how convenient a mobile payment platform can be…
Street Fight Daily: Location’s Dirty Secret, Yelp Explains Filter
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… The Dirty Little Secret About Location-Targeted Mobile Ads (Business Insider)… Yelp CEO Stoppelman Explains the Site’s Controversial ‘Review Filter’ (Screenwerk)… How to Make the Most of Mobile Local Search (Mashable)…
Hyperlocal Crowdfunding May Become a Reality — Here’s How to Prepare
Despite a recently missed deadline that would have given hyperlocal businesses an ability to raise capital through crowdfunding, backers of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) are optimistic that equity crowdfunding could become a reality by the end of the year. What can hyperlocal ventures do right now to get ready for equity crowdfunding?
Street Fight Daily: Location Gains in Mobile, TD Bank Gets Hyperlocal
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Real-Time Location Data Gets a Bigger Slice of Mobile Targeting (eMarketer)… TD Bank Breaks Social Marketing Mold and Invests in Google+ Local Content (AdAge)… The Next Big Thing in Local: Kids (PandoDaily)…
Openings & New Hires at YP, Facebook, PubMatic, CBS Local, and More…
YP brings on a heavyweight from AOL, Clear Channel and others to head up its national markets group. CBS Local poaches from CityGrid. There’s activity in the U.K. at Discount Vouchers and Shopitize. Plus there are openings at Yelp, Facebook, SinglePlatform, LivingSocial, Google, and more…
Street Fight Daily: Angie’s List Worth $1 Billion, Tiger Global Bets on Groupon
Street Fight Daily: Groupon Surges, Square Avoids Sales Hires
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Groupon Surges on Expected E-Commerce Expansion (Bloomberg)… Square Is Avoiding Hiring Salespeople (Business Insider)… QuickBooks Online For iPad Isn’t A Boring Accounting App – It’s A Simple CRM (TechCrunch)…
How to Create a Great Vertical Directory
It’s tough for a start-up to break into the top echelon of local search players and become a one-size-fits-all solution like Google or YP. The great opportunity that exists in the space lies in serving special interests or special use cases better than anyone has before. Foursquare and Yelp are highly visible examples of this, but other very successful, vertically oriented directories exist, flying mostly under our radar…
Mobile Coupons Gain Traction, But QR Codes Are Fading
The future of mobile coupons is nearly here and it looks bright, according to a recent study conducted by RadiumOne, which found that nearly half of women ages 35 to 54 would like to receive mobile coupons via SMS. Meanwhile, other methods of coupon delivery are rising in popularity as well…
Street Fight Daily: NextDoor Funding, Yahoo Looks to Local Discovery
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Neighborhood Network Nextdoor Raises $21.6 Million (Reuters)… With New Alike Mobile App Acquisition, Yahoo Pushes Into Local Discovery (AllThingsD)… Verve Mobile Raises $14M, Invests In Location-Based Tech (Media Post)…
What Do Google’s Enhanced Campaigns Mean for SMBs?
To wildly mixed reactions, Google last week announced a major redesign to its pervasive AdWords SEM platform. Known as Enhanced Campaigns, the redesign will force advertisers to run a single, converged — though conditionally governed — campaign across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices…
How Big Brands and SMBs Can Use Vine Videos to Reach Local Consumers
Vine has not only cracked the code on mobile video. It has created an entirely new medium. The question for brands and local businesses alike is how to leverage it as a marketing channel. Here are a few ideas about how to test the new app and what to look for as it matures…