News and Analysis

ThriveHive Upgrades Grader Product with Conversational UI, Brings David Mihm Aboard

Just one month after ThriveHive released a product to help small business owners navigate the creation and maintenance of their Google My Business profiles, the company is making some substantial changes to its diagnostic solution.

Relevnt Aims to Integrate Local and Social Media on Community-Based Website

Local and social media, produced by individuals and news sites alike, have a new place to hang out, and it’s called Relevnt. Launched late last year, the app “is like Yelp meets Reddit for social media,” said Winder Hughes, the company’s CEO and founder.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Releases Attribution Tool, The Cutting Edge of E-Commerce: People-Based ID

TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Facebook Attribution Now Available to All Advertisers… Biggest Tech Trend for eCommerce in 2019: People-Based Identity… Privacy, Accuracy Hinder Voice Commands…

Commentary

Why Is the Local Market So Elusive for Tech Companies?

The constraints of cost, critical mass, and time spawn a vicious cycle that hinders innovative new technology adoption in the local market. The promise of hyperlocal technology is alive and well, but any new startup aiming to crack the hyperlocal code needs to keep these things in mind…

Why Brands and SMBs Need Each Other for Success in Local

Product brands commit more than $22 billion in online co-op advertising funds each year, but local businesses leave approximately $1 billion of these funds untouched. That’s a lot of money. The revenue brands stand to earn by introducing local businesses to the digital age is remarkable…

The Mobile Search Tipping Point: A Global Perspective

The smartphone by its nature is portable, location-based, and focused on immediacy. Whether local search is a major segment of consumer activity or not today in a given country, there’s little question that it will be, and soon…

Latest Posts

ARLnow Flips Bethesda Site, Expands Big Into Center of D.C.

The independent community news network that has been busy expanding in the shadow of the Washington Post – has just executed some eye-grabbing moves. It 1.) sold its Bethesda Now site in suburban Maryland, 2.) bought a dormant three-neighborhood site in the District of Columbia and 3,) will resurrect and expand its acquisition…

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Enters Local Travel, Facebook’s Coming Algo-Change

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Travel Launches New Brand, Amazon Destinations (Skift)… Facebook Is Making 3 Big Changes To Its Newsfeed Algorithm (Business Insider)… $47B Of Local Ads Programmatic By 2019 (NewNewsCheck)…

Sponsored Post: Brand and Agency Leaders Gather to Talk Media Buying for Mobile Media Summit Upfront @ Internet Week 2015

Mobile Media Summit, the largest mobile media and advertising conference in North America and Europe, is heading to New York City for the 6th annual Mobile Media Summit Upfront @ Internet Week, May 18 at the legendary IAC Building. With a who’s who of digital advertising in attendance, it’s the place to talk mobile during […]

MyTime Raises $9.25M More to Push Into Back-Office Software

In addition to funding, the San Francisco-based MyTime is announcing a deeper push into back-office software to compete with Booker, MindBody and others.

3 Principles Every Early Stage Startup Needs To Know

There are three things any startup needs to think about as they bring together their team and begin to build out a first version of their product or service…

Street Fight Daily: Groupon Sells TicketMonster Stake, Verve Hires New CEO

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Groupon Sells Controlling Stake in Korean Site Ticket Monster for $360 Million (Recode)… Verve Mobile Taps Acxiom’s Stirratt As CEO (MediaPost)… ‘Mobilegeddon’ Could Be Bad News For 40% of Top Websites (USA Today)…

Think Beyond Marketing: Embrace the Connected Local Economy

As a new generation of local technology companies approach the public markets, it’s critical for us to agree on what “local” actually means today — and how that differs from the its definition a decade ago. What’s emerging is a connected local economy.

DoorDash Sets Its Sights on GrubHub in the Battle for Local Delivery

Local delivery is a good space to be in right now — just ask DoorDash, an on-demand logistics company offering an ordering and delivery platform for dine-in restaurants without those services. DoorDash recently raised $40 million in venture capital and is expanding to new locations across the country to take on Grubhub and a host of other competitors…

Street Fight Daily: Google’s Coming Mobile-geddon, Yelp Wins in Court

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google is Making a Giant Change This Week That Could Crush Millions of Small Businesses (Business Insider)… Court Prevents Yelp from Turning Over User Data (Hill)… Foursquare Turns To Location Data For Revenue, Joining Crowded Field (Marketing Land)..

5 Ways Starbucks Turns a Global Business Into a Local Brand

When most people think of a local business, they imagine the neighborhood store or the mom-and-pop restaurant. But more and more today, global brands are positioned to use to digital tools to capture the relevancy and responsiveness that is at the heart of local businesses…