News and Analysis

Black Monday: Tronc Axes Half the New York Daily News Staff

Share this:

It is capturing cynical headlines across the media landscape: Tronc, the widely trashed name for the media company formerly known as Tribune Publishing, has sacked half the staff of the New York Daily News.

Street Fight Daily: Mobile Coupons On Verge of Overtaking Paper, Smart Speakers Capture Media’s Attention

Share this:

TODAY IN DIGITAL MARKETING… Mobile Coupons Are About to Overtake Paper—Here’s How Retailers Can Capitalize on That… For News Publishers, Smart Speakers Are the Hot New Platform… Ohio Car Dealership Sees Early Success with Location-Targeted Mobile Ads…

5 Online-to-Offline Attribution Platforms for Local Marketers

Share this:

Online-to-offline attribution isn’t a challenge without a solution. A number of vendors are serving the local market with platforms designed to help local marketers at big brands and multi-location retailers assign the correct value to each point of touch in their multi-touch campaigns. Here are five vendors to which retail brands can turn.

Commentary

Phone Leads for Local Businesses: The Unsexy Cousin of the Click

Share this:

We’re seeing tech and media worlds finally come around to what we’ve been saying for years: phone calls are what businesses want. That’s especially true in high-value categories like professional services, autos, travel and insurance. Clicks and impressions, despite a sexier image, aren’t as valued in lots of cases…

Is Newspapers’ Falling Knife Finally Starting to Rise?

Share this:

Wall Street thinks the long-term decline of newspaper revenues may be near bottom as print losses are close to being outweighed by consumer and digital revenue increases. With Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos buying into the industry as a long-term play, the broader financial markets are following suit. The newspaper industry is getting some of its most positive signs in years…

Google’s Local Social Conundrum

Share this:

Google’s attempt at ushering in the Facebook-ization of search, local and otherwise, depends on a major shift in perception and engagement. It may be difficult to bring about such a shift with a “build it and they will come” approach — given the current volume of content, the emphasis on social turns Google’s rich local result set into a desert.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Redesigns Places, Local News Searching for Answers

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyFacebook Takes a Big Step Toward Competing in Local Search (Local Search Insider)… Is There Hope for Local News? (Atlantic)… Groupon Kicks Off First Analyst Day Amid Pivot to E-Commerce Site (AdAge)…

StockUp Presents the Latest Take on the Local Inventory Dilemma

Share this:

The three month-old startup has spent a year in stealth building a community around an app that allows users to scan barcodes and add product and pricing information manually to its database. Andy Ellwood, a former Gowalla and Waze executive who joined as chief revenue officer in January, says the company now has information about over half a million products in its database…

The Local Service Layer: How National-to-Local Succeeds

Share this:

In developing a national-to-local strategy, brands need to consider these two key resources: people and data. Employees, affiliates and other local evangelists offer an immense resource for promoting a brand to local consumers. At the same time, a deluge of local information is now available to allow brands to tailor messaging programmatically. In the first of a series sponsored by Surefire Social, we delve into the emergence of a way to harness data and empower agents on the ground…

5 Tips for the Aspiring Hyperlocal Publisher

Share this:

Although the business — and consumption — of journalism continues to evolve, its health certainly seems much more robust than it was five years ago. This is particularly true at a hyperlocal level. Yet at the same time some constants remain. In particular, issues around funding — and sustainability — continue to remain one of the sector’s biggest challenges…

Street Fight Daily: Revel Raises $100M, Groupon Splits App

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Revel Lands A Whopping $100m To Put Another Nail In Cash Registers’ Coffins (VentureBeat)… Groupon, Too, Turns to Multiple Apps (New York Times)… Small Business Lending Platform On Deck Files For IPO Valued At Up To $150 Million (Fox Business)…

The Clever Solution Behind Path’s Place Messaging Service

Share this:

In late September, the company added a feature to its messaging app called Places that allows users to text local businesses with questions, and, often within minutes, receive an answer. The experience is simple and habitual for both merchant and consumer, yet the infrastructure inside is a patchwork blend of technology and people that demonstrates a remarkable empathy for the realities of the market today…

5 Hyperlocal Platforms With Acquisition-Based Pricing

Share this:

Local merchants are looking for immediate results with their hyperlocal marketing programs, and most aren’t willing to pay up front for the online clicks of a customer who may or may not actually show up. As vendors search for better ways to serve the small business market, the focus is shifting away from website clicks, and toward customer acquisition…

Street Fight Daily: Uber’s Billion Dollar Round, Local’s ‘Moral Imperative’

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyUber Said in Early Talks to Raise Another $1 Billion (Recode)… The ‘Moral Imperative’ Behind Small Business Marketing (Screenwerk)… YC Alum Fivestars Sees Explosive Growth In La, Fights For The Loyalty Of Consumers And Local Merchants (Pando)…

Openings and New Hires at Belly, UBL, WorldNow, and FreshLime

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 Fathom Voice, Hearst, PlaceIQ, Sonata and more…

LBMA Podcast: Nomi’s Acquisition and Swirl’s Ad Exchange

Share this:

On the show: Neiman Marcus wants you to snap, find and shop; Appy Pie’s new API; Mogl funded; Facebook relaunches Atlas; iHeartRadio vending machine with Instagram; TouchTunes partners with Kinetic Active Exchange; and a resource of the week from Esri…