JiWire: ‘Massive Increase’ in Hyperlocal Ad Interest From National Brands
The company’s Q2 “Mobile Audience Insights Report” takes a deep dive into the ways in which specific segments of consumers are leveraging location – both in terms of utility and tagging content. Where hyperlocal advertising is concerned, according to JiWire’s director of marketing, Dee Dee Paeseler: “Brands know they want it, they’re just trying to figure out how to use it.”
With Patch Revenue Up 100% in Q2, Armstrong Hints at ‘Second Phase’
The hyperlocal network’s traffic is growing at “double-digit rates,” according to AOL’s second quarter earnings report. Patch is also gearing up for what AOL CEO Tim Armstrong calls, “phase two” of its product roadmap, which will focus on adding the ability for “high-level community involvement in a very precise way on the Patch platform.”
New Pontiflex Tool Uses Social Content to Generate Email Follow-Ups for SMBs
Mobile advertising company Pontiflex has launched a new Social FollowUp tool aimed at helping small businesses engage with new leads generated through its AdLeads platform. Social FollowUp pings newly acquired consumers with an auto-generated email that pulls recent content from a business’ existing social media accounts…
Street Fight Daily: Ebay Sees Mobile Surge, Bing Adds Foursquare
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… EBay’s John Donahoe Seeing a “Staggering Surge” in Mobile Shopping (All Things D)… LocalResponse Teams Up With ShopLocal For In-Store Mobile Ads (TechCrunch)…
Foursquare Adds ‘Updates’ Function for Local Merchants
The location-based app has rolled out a new tool this afternoon called Local Updates, which allows businesses to publish content (for free) to nearby users who have checked-in in the past. The updates will appear within users’ friends tabs, as well as in businesses’ listings under the explore tab…
Behind Constant Contact’s $100 Million Bet
SinglePlatform, a two-year-old startup in the listings business, was close to closing a $15 million funding round when it was snapped up by email marketer Constant Contact last month in a $100 million deal. Recently, SinglePlatform founder Wiley Cerilli and Constant Contact CEO Gail Goodman spoke with Street Fight’s Steven Jacobs about how their respective companies met at an intersection of services for SMBs. Read more on the motivations behind the deal.
Placecast Expands Geo-Marketing Platform to Mobile Wallets
Earlier this month, mobile advertising company Placecast hit 10 million active users on its ShopAlerts platform — a white-label service that helps advertisers like North Face and AT&T push geo-targeted offers to consumers who opt in. Now, the six-year-old company is expanding into the mobile wallet space with the launch of ShopAlerts Wallet this morning…
As Passive Loyalty Platforms Arise, Will Merchants Miss the Check-In?
What effect does asking less of the consumer have on the value proposition for the merchant? For companies like Foursquare whose product is built on user-generated data, a passive platform means less relevant and lower quality content. The check-in, for all its issues, created over two billion pieces of content in less than three years…
Constant Contact Snaps Up SinglePlatform for $65 Million
Constant Contact announced this morning that it has snapped up Single Platform, a service that allows businesses to manage their online presence, for $65 million in cash. The New York-based startup’s solution, which began primarily as a way for restaurants to digitize and publish menus, will be integrated into Constant Contact’s local marketing suite…
Yext Scores $27 Million in New Funding
The round comes two months after the company spun-off its original pay-per-call business and co-founder Brent Metz into an independent division called Felix — a move which, at the time, Yext CEO Howard Lerman told Street Fight was in response to the massive growth of the company’s PowerListings product and pressure from the board “to throw all of our weight behind it.”
Investment Newsletter Sees Data Loop Closing, M&A Levels up 186%
The June issue takes a look at content economics issues in hyperlocal on the heels of Tribune’s deal with Journatic; evaluates the rush to self-serve by giants like Google and Facebook; the point-of-sale heat; and unpacks the M&A and investment activity in the month of May. Read excerpts from the issue.
Street Fight Study: 33% Search Daily for Local Businesses via Mobile
Local search and discovery is quickly becoming one of the most routine and ubiquitous activities for the local consumer, according to a new “Consumer Insights Report” released by Street Fight and YP at Street Fight Summit West today. Nearly 90% of consumers surveyed reported searching for a local business on a PC, tablet, or mobile device within the last week — and over 30% said they do so on a daily basis…
Smallknot Founder: Crowdfunding Should Be a Local Phenomenon
The company, which is currently 3 months into the spring session of Techstars New York incubator program, enables locally-owned small businesses to raise capital from members of their community, and provide returns in kind instead of currency. Street Fight caught up with Smallknot founder Jay Lee recently to discuss the company, the JOBS Act and his move from Wall Street to Main Street…
Does the ‘Arms Race’ Over Mapping Tech Benefit the Local Consumer?
As the consumer’s relationship with local information has shifted from search to discovery, so has their relationship with maps. The question for Google and Apple is whether 3D mapping is an innovation built to sustain, or disrupt, the search-based local web that Google envisioned when it launched Maps in 2005…