Street Fight Daily: Thumbtack Raises $100M, Uber Opens API
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Thumbtack, an Online Market for Services, Raises $100 Million (New York Times)… Uber Opens API in Bid to Be Everywhere (Recode)… GoDaddy Acquires MailChimp Competitor Mad Mimi To Beef Up Its Email Marketing Service (TechCrunch)…
First Data, a Payment Processing Giant, Looks Beyond the Swipe
The largest payment processing company in the U.S. is officially in the marketing business. Last week, First Data Ventures, the payment processing giant’s venture wing, announced a partnership and strategic investment with social marketing platform LocalVox — the latest in a string of investments meant to help the payment processing giant enter new markets…
Street Fight Daily: Uber’s Delivery Service, Square Expands Cash Advances
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… With New Delivery Service, Uber Declares War on Google and Amazon (Wired)… Square Expands Its Cash Advance Service (New York Times)… Google Tests A New Local Knowledge Graph Interface (SearchEngineLand)…
6 Demand-Based Pricing Platforms for Restaurants
With the goal of maximizing revenue and keeping their tables filled throughout the day, restaurants are using hyperlocal marketing platforms to incentivize guest reservations during off-peak times. Here are six hyperlocal platforms that restaurants can use to implement demand-based pricing…
Street Fight Daily: Google Tracks Calls Online, Yahoo Partners With Media Consortium
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Lets Advertisers Track Phone Calls Generated From Websites (MarketingLand)… Local Media Consortium Partners With Yahoo (NetNewsCheck)… As Google Builds Out Own Content, Some Advertisers Feel Pushed Aside
(Wall Street Journal)…
Dstillery CEO: ‘Dirty Data’ in Mobile Ads as Serious as Click Fraud
Reports suggest that more than half of the the available mobile inventory that includes location data is incorrect. Tom Phillips, chief executive at Dstillery and an early whistleblower of online advertising fraud, says false location data in the mobile advertising industry poses as great of a threat to marketers as fraudulent traffic on the web…
Productivity Solution: Free Wireless Internet On-the-Go
FreedomPop, the nation’s first 100% free internet service provider, offers a nationwide hotspots that provides free wireless internet wherever you are. Simply turn on a FreedomPop hotspot and instantly connect to the internet. There are no contracts or cancellations fees. Get a special offer now…
Street Fight Daily: Lay’s Uber Picnic, Google Buys Jetpac
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Lay’s Is Launching an Urban Picnic, Brought to You by Uber (AdAge)… Google Buys Jetpac To Give Context To Visual Searches (TechCrunch)… Amazon’s Square-Like Payment System Could Be Data Goldmine (AdAge)…
As Franchises Bounce Back, A Golden Market for Local Tech Surfaces
A booming franchise sector presents a unique opportunity for hyperlocal firms to blend the scale and reach implicit in the digital marketplace with the granularity and flexibility afforded by mobile, social and other locally-driven platforms. What’s more, the franchise industry — with its unique combination of scale and fragmentation — could help provide a critical stepping stone for vendors to reach the small business market…
Openings and New Hires at the LSA, GoLocalPDX, ElasticBox and UpSnap
Every two weeks, Search Influence’s Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s edition, moves and new openings at the Local Media Association, PlaceIQ, Colony Logic, Sonata, Happenings Media, Ping4 and more…
LBMA Podcast: Mobiquity’s ‘Smart’ Malls, Bing Improves Mobile Targeting
Top stories of the week include: Tinder match-making for dogs; The Traces launches an app; Shazam releases their Resonate platform; The Ninja Sphere for your connected home; Westpac adds augmented reality to banking; Track Toronto tracks the lyrics of the city; Drop closes a small round; Timex has a new non-smartphone connected watch…
Street Fight Daily: Mobile Ad Revenue Hits $19B, Food Delivery Roll-Up
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… IAB: Search And Display Fuel $19.3B In Worldwide Mobile Ad Revenue (AdExchanger)… Delivery Hero Joins The $1B Valuation Club As It Gobbles Rival (TechCrunch)… Yahoo Dusts Off E-Commerce Service to Juice Revenue (Wall Street Journal)…
Report: Mobile Context and Location Services Market to Reach $43.3 Billion by 2019
The mobile context and location services market is set to reach $43.3 billion by 2019, according to a new report. That’s up from an estimated $12.2 billion in 2014. The report also found that by 2019, more than two-thirds of revenues will be driven through highly targeted and contextually aware ad-supported apps…
How Santa Barbara’s Noozhawk Zeroes In on News and Profits
In the increasingly tough world of community journalism — where both readers and advertisers can be fickle and local advertising markets like Santa Barbara are crowded with competitors — Noozhawk succeeds because it’s not in the news business, but “the business of news.” Here, founder Bill Macfadyen explains what that means…
Street Fight Daily: Pinterest Eyes Small Business, More Fuel For Taxi Wars
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Pinterest Expands Self-Serve Promoted Pins Platform To More Businesses (TechCrunch)… More Fuel for Taxi Wars: GetTaxi Raises $25 Million (Financial Times)… The Government’s Upping Its Phone-Tracking Game (Voice of San Diego)…
Study: Facebook Is Most Effective Social Media Site for Small Business
A new study from G/O Digital, the digital marketing wing of Gannett, finds that consumers tend to use Facebook for product research more than any other social media outlet. The study found that 68% of respondents prefer checking reviews of Facebook, compared to 11% on Twitter and 12% on Pinterest.
Amazon Getting Pieces in Place for Next-gen Payment System?
At first glance, many are seeing Amazon’s new card reader as a competitive move against the likes of Square and PayPal. But this is actually a tiny start to a bigger vision. Amazon’s vast reach can make its card reader matter in a variety of interesting ways…