News and Analysis
Street Fight Daily: ThriveHive Launches GMB Solution; Amazon Now #3 Ad Platform, May Open 3K Brick-and-Mortars
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… ThriveHive Launches Solution to Audit Google My Business Profiles… Amazon Is Now the #3 Digital Ad Platform in the US… Nucleus Claims It Now Has Throw Weight to Outperform Platforms on Ads…
ThriveHive Launches Solution to Audit Google My Business Profiles
The sheer volume of features that Google has added to Google My Business in the past year has made the platform overwhelming for many small business owners. It’s also opening up new opportunities for digital marketing vendors like ThriveHive.
Street Fight Daily: Google Cedes Some Control of AMP, How Important Are Online Reviews?
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Google Is Giving Up Some Control of the AMP Format… Heard on the Street, Episode 12: How Important Are Online Reviews?… After Amazon Storefronts, A Self-Service Suite of Ad Tools…
Commentary
How Digital Is Destroying the Mechanics of High-Margin Products
The Internet is positioned to transform companies that have been selling over-priced physical products whose absurdly high margins have been hidden from consumers by complicated purchase processes that look a lot like services…
Why Apple Maps Is Partnering With Local Search Companies
Last week, after I uncovered that Apple Maps had cut deals with at least ten new companies (including Yext, Location3, Yodle, et cetera) to provide business listings data, I got a few emails asking what the big deal was. Here’s what I see is going on…
A ‘Radical Transformation’ Is Brewing in SMB Phones
For local businesses that rely on the phone for inbound leads (which is nearly all of them), the functionality of copper lines pales in comparison to what call-tracking-enabled lines have done for years. Unfortunately for business owners, the VoIP packages being sold to them also fall far short of the level of functionality that call tracking provides…
Latest Posts
Factual CEO: Machine Learning Could Upend Local Search
We sat down with Gil Elbaz, the chief executive at Factual who made his name building the technology behind AdSense, to talk about the future of search, what role Yelp may play in it, and why he thinks we machine learning will create a game changing product in the next 18 months…
Why a Former Gawker Editor Is Pushing Local News to National Audiences
We recently caught up with Ratter founder A.J. Daulerio to talk about making local stories into national news, “building a tabloid about city while acknowledging the internet as the neighborhood,” and how he plans to avoid Patch’s missteps…
Street Fight Daily: Google Eyes Hotel Search, China’s New Ridesharing Monopoly
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Google’s Quiet Moves to Dominate Hotel Metasearch (Skift)… China Has A New Taxi App Monopolist – And It Isn’t Uber (Fortune)… How Do We Think about Location Once Location Is Everywhere? (Screenwerk)…
5 Steps for SMBs Looking to Dominate the Local Competition
SMBs’ natural advantages are being eroded by the techniques that social and mobile technologies make available to larger businesses. But they can gain back the advantages they’ve always had by operating differently. Here are five steps that can serve as the starting point for competing more effectively in the new social economy…
Street Fight Daily: Snapchat Tests Local, Yelp Sues Reputation Firm
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…… Snapchat Tries Our Stories For Locals Only (TechCrunch)… Yelp Sues Positive Review Provider Revleap (IT World)… Same-Day Delivery: Delivering Profits Or Just Parcels? (Forrester)..
Openings and New Hires at Goodzer, Foursquare and Street Fight
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 Amazon, Google, Where2GetIt and Street Fight…
LBMA Podcast: Factual Partners With Metadata, Thinknear Discusses Location Score Index
On the show: Indoo.rs partners with KLM; Capital Radio + Outdoor Plus bring music to billboards in real time; Alibaba tests drone delivery; Wheely’s Cafe sells modern coffee carts; Sportsman Tracker is funded; Yahoo! + Flickr = Wetter; TripAdvisor buys ZeTrip; and PayPal invests in Pulsate….
Street Fight Daily: Lyft Eyes Big New Round, Groupon Sells Beacons
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…… Ride-Hailing Service Lyft Is Said to Be in Talks to Raise $250 Million (New York Times)… Expedia Buying Orbitz for $1.6 Billion (Skift)… Online-To-Offline Metrics Increasingly Available, Important To Marketers (Search Engine Land)…
Groupon Plans to Start Selling Beacons to Merchants
The deals company announced solid fourth quarter earnings Thursday evening, finishing the year with gains in both revenue and gross billings. During the earnings call, CEO Eric Lefkofsky announced its latest project: a redemption system that uses beacons to allow merchants to track and communicate with Groupon customers in their stores…
Florists Hate Valentine’s Day — BloomNation Thinks It Can Change Their Mind
Americans will spend $18.9 billion on flowers, candy and more for the holiday — but the spike in demand typically does not translate into big profits for small flower shops…
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AI Won’t Fix Advertising – It May Scale Its Chaotic Nature