SeeClickFix Partners With HuffPo, Takes On Sandy
In the lead up to the storm, the New Haven-based company hooked up with the Huffington Post and NBC Washington to embed its interactive widget, which is already used by the Journal Register Company as well as smaller hyperlocal sites, into the sites’ storm-tracking coverage. Street Fight caught up with Ben Berkowitz, the co-founder and CEO of SeeClickFix, to talk about why “the crowd” is critical during major events…
Report Identifies ‘Avid Local Search Users,’ 50% of All Searches
Twenty-four percent of consumers who conduct “local” searches are highly tech-savvy early adopters who own multiple mobile devices, use mobile shopping apps, purchase daily deals and post reviews of businesses more than the average population, according to a new white paper. The report also notes that this group accounts for 50% of all local searches.
Marketers Adopting New Metrics Like ‘Footfall’ and ‘Deals Redeemed’
Not only has the world of mobile deals exploded, from Foursquare to Groupon, Dealfind and more. There has also been a shift in metrics for determining success. In the old days we would look at mobile ads and measure their effectiveness in terms of CPMs, click-throughs and such. But with the advent of location-based services, that’s simply not enough. Many businesses are turning to new metrics such as increases in footfall; deals redeemed; and the number of friends you share deals with. I refer to this as social magnification.
Street Fight Daily: Apple Exec Exits Over Maps, Village Voice Sues Yelp
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… An Apple Exit Over Maps (Wall Street Journal)… Village Voice Sues Yelp for Using “Best of” (PaidContent)… Could Sandy be Instagram’s Big Citizen Journalism Moment? (Pando Daily)…
Case Study: Pizza Chain Finds New Ways to Build Email Database
As the director of marketing at Stone Hearth Pizza in Boston, Alex Chamberlain is always on the lookout for ways to grow her email database. She’s found that the best way to acquire new email addresses is by requiring customers to input their contact information when redeeming limited-time deals and promotions…
Postmates CEO: Online and Offline Commerce Will ‘Melt Into One’
“We give our consumers what can be seen as a remote control that allows them to browse the inventory of a city, buy an item, and have that item delivered in under an hour,” says CEO Bastian Lehmann. “Whatever Fedex does on the global level, we want to be able to do that on a micro-urban level.”
Street Fight Poll: Word-of-Mouth Is Primary Driver of Local Business
A new Street Fight poll finds that even with a slew of new locally targeted marketing platforms at local merchants’ disposal, word-of-mouth is still a primary driver of local consumer behavior. The poll of 500 U.S. consumers found that 43% of consumers are most likely to shop or dine at a local business after a recommendation from a friend or colleague…
PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Placecast, Expion
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan reflect on the first 100 shows. Innovation finally strikes with ByteLight; the Green Giant makes his augmented reality debut; stories from Placecast, Klash and Facedeals; and a ton of acquisitions, our resource of the week from Shopify, and special guest Erica McClenney of Expion…
Village Soup Today: The Pot Is Full and Bubbling Again
Counting all his revenue streams — online and print subscriptions, paid business and nonprofit briefs, display ads and licensing for publishing software — Reade Brower says he has achieved, in a few months’ time, the sustainability that eluded former Village Soup owner Richard Anderson in 14 years. “Everything is very steady,” Brower said. “The money is good.”
Hyperlocal Retail Directories Go After ‘Shop Local’ Consumers
Two key reasons why consumers shop local is immediacy of purchase and physical confirmation of product, (i.e. making sure a shoe fits). Fab and Etsy can’t ship their products to you for delivery this afternoon — and it’s tedious for a consumer to filter product offerings based on retail location. That leaves room for hyperlocal retail directories like GatherLA.com , which curates designers in Los Angeles for discovery by local consumers…
Angie’s List Revenue Up 75%; Partners With Square to Integrate Payments
Angie’s List narrowly beat market expectations announcing stronger than expected earnings in Q3, bringing in $42 million in revenue on a $18.5 million loss. That’s a 75% jump in revenue year-over-year. While losses ticked up 6%, the reviews firm showed strong growth among its service provider segment with revenues nearly doubling on a quarter-over-quarter basis…
Yahoo Shouldn’t Be So Quick to Turn Away From Local
Local offers Yahoo one of the few great markets where no obvious winner has emerged. Yes, Google owns Maps, Android and local search. Meanwhile Apple is moving to lock up the mobile local search segment (including voice recognition with Siri). But neither has really owns local content yet…
Why a Renaissance in Local Delivery Points to a Resurgent Main Street
We’re seeing an explosion of activity in the logistics space with a handful of key startups expanding; Walmart piloting a same-day delivery option; and eBay opening its own delivery service, eBay Now. What’s driving the resurgence however, is not the e-commerce framework that sunk Kozmo and continues to hinder Amazon’s efforts. It’s a new push to improve connectivity, and transparency, within existing local marketplaces — not build new ones…
Guess Who Has a Hyperlocal Foothold in 156 Locations?
So what exactly is the CBS Local product for consumers, merchants and advertisers? “We are local media business that is focused on four areas: News, Sports, Music and Lifestyle content,” said CBS Local Digital Media president Ezra Kucharz in an email interview. “We reach consumers online, mobile and over-the-air. Merchants and advertisers work with us to reach consumers whether on a national or local level.”