When Will The Last Yellow Pages Book be Printed?
With the rise of local search sites, social media, and mobile directories, the physical Yellow Pages books delivered to consumers’ doors — long a staple of local marketing — are quickly becoming obsolete. We asked a few folks from around the industry what date they would envision for the directories’ final print run…
Street Fight Daily: Newspaper Revenues Sink, Why ZocDoc is Winning
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Newspaper Ad Sales Skid for Seventh Straight Year (Newosaur)… Why ZocDoc is Winning: Dissenting Employees, Unlimited Vacation, & Diet Coke (VentureBeat)… Brands Buy Real-Time Mobile Ads Based on the Weather (AdWeek)…
Street Fight Daily: HopStop Channels Waze, Should Groupon Buy Foursquare?
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… HopStop Live Brings Real-Time Crowdsourced Transit Information to the iPhone (Verge)… Check In, Flame Out: How To Save Foursquare (TechCrunch)… Patent filing Suggests Apple is Working on ‘Street View’ mMapping Technology (Apple Insider)…
PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Beergram
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan discuss the Singapore government’s plan to roll out location-based services; Google’s Niantic Labs gets into book publishing; Locu uses big data to track Pabst Blue Ribbon consumption (and identify the Hipster density). Plus special guest Andrea Sanchez, founder of Beergram.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Home’s Local Angle, Why Yelp Needs Help
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Facebook Home: The Local Angle (Screenwerk)… After Ditching The Groupon Model, Zozi Lands $10M To Build Out Its Marketplace For Celebrity-Guided Adventures (TechCrunch)… Why Yelp Needs Help (PCMag)…
How Partnerships Can Help Hyperlocal Sites Expand Their Reach
There’s a saying that’s echoing more insistently today in hyperlocal publishing: “Don’t compete – collaborate.” Editor and publisher Susan Mernit puts that saying into practice at Oakland Local, partnering with other media and non-profits to juice content, build visibility, and generate revenue…
Report: Local Mobile Ad Revenue to Hit $9 Billion by 2017
Local mobile advertising is set to generate $9 billion in revenue by 2017, but it will take a smaller portion of total mobile ad spend than previously expected, according to a new study by BIA/Kelsey. The research firm revised its earlier estimates for local-mobile spends share from 44% to 38% of total mobile ad dollars in 2012 to account for slower than expected adoption of local strategies among national advertisers and an increase in mobile advertising as a whole.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Nearby Now “Local Search,” Mobile Shift Threatens Google
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Facebook Nearby Is Now Facebook “Local Search” (InsideFacebook)… As Web Search Goes Mobile, Competitors Chip at Google’s Lead (New York Times)… Arthur Frommer Gets His Brand Name Back from Google (Skift)…
Street Fight Daily: Google Upgrades Places, PlaceIQ Tracks In-Store Visits
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Google Upgrades Its Google Places Dashboard With Google+ Local Integration (Search Engine Land)… SMG to Track How Mobile Ads Lead to In-store Visits (AdAge)… Local.com Launches Premium National-Local Ad Network (Screenwerk)…
In Lead-Up to Expansion, SinglePlatform Adds Yelp to Publisher Network
SinglePlatform has added Yelp (and its 100 million unique users) to the network of local publishers across which the company distributes business and product information — namely, menus — from its base of local merchants. The partnership is a coup for Constant Contact, which snapped up SinglePlatform for $100 million last summer, as it looks to begin the process of introducing the product to its existing customer base over the next few months…
Study: National Brands Miss 86% of Local Feedback
National brands miss 86% of the local consumer feedback published through social networks, according to a new study by VenueLabs, which provides local analytics for large companies. The numbers reflect the marked growth in consumer interaction with national brands at a local level, and the increasing opportunity for hyperlocal companies to build services to help enterprise access the opportunity…
6 Marketplace Platforms for Local Buyers
Limited-time promotions are an effective way to generate immediate customer demand, but what happens once the hype is over and the deal is complete? To counteract their one-and-done reputations and give merchants a way to extend their promotions, a number of hyperlocal companies are developing local marketplace platforms with more opportunities for long-tail marketing…
Openings & New Hires at Groupon, Street Fight, PaperG, AOL & more
More folks on the move: PaperG hires Brooke Frederick away from Bizo; Weather Channel poaches from Digital Broadcasting Group; SoundCloud brings on a Nokia executive and the job openings abound, including a plum sales position at Street Fight. Also: good opportunities for product managers and sales execs at Groupon, AOL, Oracle, Signpost and more. Plus: juicy insider tips on who’s looking to make the jump!…
Study: 82% of SMBs Use Facebook for Marketing, 25% Use Twitter
“Facebook remains the dominant platform because it simply has more active users than any other social network,” Mark Schmulen, general manager of social media at Constant Contact, told Street Fight. “It effectively offers marketers the biggest potential reach to engage with customers. In addition, Facebook is a more mature marketing platform, offering marketers highly targeted advertising products and customizable brand pages that enable them to run promotions like sweepstakes, coupons, and user-generated contests.”
PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — PubNub
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan discuss whether Foursquare can make the switch from check-ins to discovery; Apple is awarded a patent for augmented reality on top of live video; Volkswagon makes driving more social; and Microsoft is testing yet another option for mobile payments. Plus special guest, Todd Greene, co-founder and CEO of PubNub on the emergence of real-time apps.
Street Fight Daily: Google Expands Local Delivery, Hiring in Hyperlocal
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Google Starts Testing Google Shopping Express In SF, With Free Delivery From Target, Walgreens, Staples And More (TechCrunch)… Apple Hiring ‘Ground Truth’ Managers To Improve Maps (Search Engine Land)… Did Poor Collaboration Lead To The Termination Of NYU’s Blog With The New York Times? (NYU Local)…
Can Local Media Find New Opportunities by Catering to Brands?
“Journalism is Dead, Long Live Journalism” is the theme of a conference I’ll be attending this week in Denver. And the name isn’t a surprising one — there’s been a lot of angst lately about the emerging business models for digital journalism. Futility can be difficult, but it also can bring sea change. With that in mind, here are a few of the ideas I’ll likely be discussing with folks at the conference.