News and Analysis

Motista Report Indicates What Brands Can Do to Spark Emotional Engagement

Share this:

The report’s results suggest that brands seeking a strong emotional bond with customers today must offer consistent experiences across a variety of channels and specifically seek out emotional connections through distinct strategies tailored to that purpose.

Street Culture: Synup Culture in the Chaos of Super-Fast Scale

Share this:

Kevin Clark is pulled in a lot of different directions these days: having joined digital knowledge SaaS company Synup less than a year ago, he’s trying to hire lots of new employees, he’s in charge of business logistics on which he’s not necessarily an expert, and his boss might call him at any moment.

Street Fight Daily: The (Walmart) Empire Strikes Back, How Brands Forge Emotional Connections

Share this:

TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING… Inside Walmart’s Rise as a Legitimate E-Commerce Player… Motista Report Indicates What Brands Can Do to Spark Emotional Engagement… Did Ad Blocking Just Flip from Protection Racket to Mobile Marketing Savior…

Commentary

Mobile Local Apps: To Bundle or Not to Bundle

Share this:

Facebook last week made the contentious move to force its iPhone and Android app users to “fast switch” to the Messenger app for all future messaging. The outcome will be worth watching for anyone developing mobile apps. Local media players are increasingly faced with decisions about app functionality. That includes whether to unbundle features to specialized apps (think gas prices), or to federate within one…

The Impact of Google’s Local Update Is Still a Developing Story

Share this:

Google seems to be experimenting with driving more traffic to its local competition, meaning that it’s more important than ever for a business to secure its presence across a broad base of directories. The value proposition of local SEO does not change in a fundamental way, given that Google has long used citation consistency as a prominent local ranking signal…

How Customer Retention Plays a Key Role in SMB Marketing

Share this:

Approximately 60% of SMBs spend the majority of their annual marketing budgets on customer retention, because it delivers such a strong return on investment. Within customer retention, email marketing is considered the most effective digital marketing tactic, followed by social media and content marketing…

Latest Posts

Lowe’s-Backed Porch Raises $65 Million to Target Angie’s List

Share this:

With the second largest home improvement retailer in its corner, the Seattle-based startup has raised a $65 million round of funding to beat out a set of cash-rich startups vying to help people manage their next kitchen remodeling…

Why Chilean Hyperlocal Network Mi Voz Succeeds Where Patch Failed

Share this:

Over the past decade, the Chilean community news network Mi Voz has transformed the way news is produced, consumed, and sustained in the often neglected small cities and towns outside of the country’s capital, Santiago. In the process, it has also proven that a local news network can be profitable…

Street Fight Daily: Twitter Buys ZipDial, Porch Nabs $65 Million

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Twitter Buys Indian Mobile Marketing Startup (Time)… SoftBank Emerges As The Biggest Challenger To Uber (TechCrunch)… Marketers Claim to Be More Mobile Than We Might Think (MediaPost)…

The Importance of Responsive Web Design for SMB Sites

Share this:

It’s critical for local businesses to have a beautiful site that doesn’t just scale down to low resolutions, but also looks great on all devices — from a 27” desktop display to a “smart” refrigerator, and every tablet, phablet, and phone in between. That’s why for the majority of local businesses, responsive design is the best mobile strategy…

Street Fight Daily: Google Eyes Softcard, Lyft Seeks Mega-Funding

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyGoogle Is In Talks With Mobile Payments Company Softcard (TechCrunch)… Lyft Seeking New Mega-Funding to Battle Uber (Recode)… Are Facebook And Yelp Losing The Support Of Small Businesses? (Pando)…

Openings and New Hires at UberMedia, Yext, Google and Dex Media

Share this:

Every two weeks, Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s edition, new jobs and hires at Groupon, MenuPages, Square, Skyhook Wireless, and more…

How to Get to 5 Years of Success in Hyperlocal Publishing

Share this:

This month Scott Brodbeck is celebrating the fifth anniversary of ARLnow, which has expanded into a mini-network of four sites in metro Washington D.C. We caught up with Brodbeck recently to see how he’s made a journalistic and business success out of community news and where ARLnow is headed in 2015…

LBMA Podcast: TapSense for Apple Watch, Canopy Labs Founder

Share this:

On the show: WiFi Aware; The RealTalk app; GM’s At Your Service; Robots invade Lowe’s; Jawbone wants corporations to move more; VoucherPages launches an app; Yummly + Instacart = 1 hour ingredient delivery; Skyhook partners with FiLIP Technologies; 3D maps of ski hills…

Street Fight Daily: Bud Light On-Demand, Google Adds Events

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyAB InBev Launches App For One-hour Home Delivery Of Beer (MarketWatch)… Google Makes It Easier To Buy Tickets For Live Events, Straight From Search Results And Maps (The Next Web)… With The Booking Now App, Booking.com (aka Goliath) Just Arrived To The Last-Minute Hotel Game (Pando)…

Thinknear Founder Eli Portnoy Launches New Startup Sense360

Share this:

Two months after exiting Telenav, Eli Portnoy has raised $2.75 million from a handful of investors for a new project, Sense360. The startup is developing software to analyze the data from sensors such as light readers or accelerometers…