News and Analysis
What Will AR Mean for Consumer Brands?
What’s driving AR today? And what does it mean for big consumer brands? Our lead analyst Mike Boland tackles these questions in this week’s Road Map column, which delves into the tech giants’ investments in AR and what they mean for the future of XR-driven brand advertising.
5 Big Takeaways from Black Friday 2018
As Cyber Monday gets underway, another Black Friday looms behind us. Below are the highlights of brick-and-mortar retail’s big day as we prepare for the windfall expected from its digital counterpart.
5 Hot Retail Strategies in Play This Thanksgiving Weekend
Top retailers aren’t leaving anything up to chance. In one of the biggest pushes we’ve seen in years, retailers around the country are embracing interactive technology and social channels in a play to capture a greater share of consumer holiday spending. Read on to learn about five innovative strategies.
Commentary
How SMBs Can Respond to the ‘Uber Effect’
If the past 15 years have taught us anything, it’s the resilience of brick-and-mortar businesses. Effective enterprises sense and respond to change by incorporating new technology and business models while relying on their distinct advantages, such as face-to-face service and distinctive ambience.
INFOGRAPHIC: A Quick, Deep Dive Into Local Optometrists
Local optometrists in the U.S. number some 33,000 businesses and generate an estimated $15B in annual sales at an average of $450k per year. The industry is growing at 5% annually, but it’s under considerable pressure from the likes of Amazon and Warby Parker.
What Do the Death of Flash and the Rise of HTML5 Mean for SMB Advertisers?
HTML5 allows marketers to do more with online display ads than they were able to do before. They can add functionality and interactivity, filling their ads with content and creating something akin to a mini-website delivered across the web.
Latest Posts
7 Ways Local News Sites Can Grow Their Digital Audiences
“Creating a ‘sticky’ hyperlocal news site is certainly something that publishers need to work toward,” says Bryan Marovich, publisher of the Newport Dispatch. Here are seven strategies that hyperlocal publications are using to make their websites sticker, in the hopes of attracting and retaining a larger base of readers…
Street Fight Daily: Mondelez Warms to Retail Tech, SMBs Embrace the Cloud
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Mondelez Makes New Call to Startups for Retail Tech (AdAge)… Small Firms Shift Toward Cloud-Based Software (Wall Street Journal)… Uber CEO: “I’m Not Perfect and Neither is This Company.” (Mashable)…
Street Fight Daily: New Google Search Ads, Pinterest Adds Buy Button
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Search Ads Get A Lot Sexier With Sharp, Gorgeous Photos (Mashable)… Pinterest Launches the Buy Button (Recode)… Instagram to Open Its Photo Feed to Ads (New York Times)…
#SFSW15: How Partnerships are Driving the Next Generation of Delivery
During a session at Street Fight Summit West in San Francisco Tuesday, executives from grocery ordering firm Instacart, food delivery startup DoorDash, and local logistics play Postmates came together to discuss the future of delivery.
#SFSW15: Inside the Local Services Land Grab
The local service industry has exploded in recent years as investors pour billion into companies creating new ways for consumer to transact with plumbers, painters and other service professionals. But even today, service professionals still rely mostly on word of mouth to find leads and get new jobs.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Replaces Local TV, Small Retailers Ignore Search
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Pew Study: When It Comes to Political News, Facebook has Become Local TV for Millennials (Nieman Lab)… SMB Retailers Love Digital Media, But Have Disconnects With Paid Search (MediaPost)… Urbanspoon Folds Into Zomato Following Acquisition (TechCrunch)…
With New ‘Deep Linking’ Integration, You Can Now Order an Uber via Foursquare
Local recommendations platform Foursquare is debuting a fresh set of these so-called “deep links,” with an integration through smart-connection platform Button that will allow users that develop intent to visit a nearby venue to seamlessly order an Uber cab to take them there…
How to Assess Demand for a Hyperlocal Platform
Here are five examples of ways that hyperlocal vendors have assessed demand for their products or services and used that information to better refine the platforms they developed…



















































Why AI Describes Locations Differently