News and Analysis
With Product Launches, Drift Moves Conversational Marketing Into Prime Time
By launching a Conversational Advertising product, Drift is looking to create a new category of online advertising—one that leads potential customers directly from digital ads to real conversations, without relying on the types of static landing pages and lead forms that tend to slow sales processes down.
Commentary
How Multi-Location Brands Can Dominate Local SEO
There have never been more ways to find a Starbucks. You can go to the store locator on the website: chances are, it will be the mobile version, because that’s how local search happens more often than not. Or you could use the Google Maps, Apple Maps, Bing Maps, or HERE Maps apps. Or you could […]
Latest Posts
6 Hyperlocal Services For Booking a Babysitter
Given the rise in on-demand marketplaces, it makes sense that the “Uber-ification” of everything would extend to babysitting services. Parents are using local marketplaces to find childcare providers in their neighborhoods — taking advantage of the ease of online scheduling and payments to make last minute bookings…
Street Fight Daily: GoDaddy Goes Public, ClassPass Struggles With Success
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… GoDaddy Shares Soar in Debut as Investors Buy Into Revamp (GoDaddy)… ClassPass: Deep Discounts, but Some Discontent (New York Times)… China’s Dianping Valued at $4 Billion (Wall Street Journal)…
Can Amazon Bring One-Click Purchasing to Home Services? Here’s What Experts Think
Earlier this week, Amazon launched its widely-anticipated Home Services marketplace where you can book plumbers, painters and other professionals. We caught up with a handful of small business experts to breakdown the news and handicap Amazon’s chances of transitioning its dominant position in ecommerce to a complex and scattered service landscape…
Street Fight Daily: Groupon Launches Stores, Starcom Measures TV
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Groupon Quietly Launches Groupon Stores, a Marketplace for Its $2 Billion Goods Business (Recode)… SMG Launches Addressable TV Measurement Tool (MediaPost)… Amazon Dash Aims to Be a Push-Button Substitute for the Supply Run (New York Times)…
TribLocal Branding Is Replaced by Pioneer Press in Many ChiTrib Communities
From its launch in 2007, TribLocal was the Chicago Tribune’s highly branded network of suburban news print inserts and e-sites covering sprawling Chicagoland. Now TribLocal has lost most of its branding and been replaced by the Tribune’s recently acquired Pioneer Press in many communities. We recently caught up with Bob Fleck, the Tribune’s recently appointed general manager and publisher of […]
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Likes Events, Square Becomes a Platform
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Is Making It Easier To Find Events You Want To Go To (Mashable)… How Groupon Not So Innocently Planned Its Most Popular Facebook Post Ever (AdWeek)… The Racists Next Door: Why Nextdoor’s Racial Profiling “problem” Isn’t The Company’s Fault — It’s Society’s (Pando)…
Conference Notebook: Brands Refining Their Local Approach
Multi-location brands that want to connect with local consumers have long been faced with a major conundrum of how much local marketing to trust to their local outlets. At BIA/Kelsey’s National event in Dallas last week, a number of brands and vendors weighed in on how their strategies are evolving…
Streets Ahead: Google Chat, and Instagram Reels