News and Analysis

Drift Releases New Tech to Help B2B Marketers Convert Site Visitors Into Leads

It’s 2018, and if visitors to your site are slapped with forms that need to be filled out manually, those visitors are going to take their business elsewhere. That’s the state of affairs that conversational marketing and sales platform Drift is addressing this week with its new technology, Drift Intel.

Street Fight Daily: Apple’s Intertwined Futures in AR and Maps, Snapchat Is Shrinking

TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING… Will Apple Help Assemble the ‘Internet of Places’?… Snapchat’s User Base is Shrinking. Here’s Why… Social Is Getting More Difficult for Content Marketers…

Facebook Announces Slew of Changes to Boost Local Businesses

A couple of weeks after Google announced changes to local event discovery, Facebook is announcing a bevy of updates intended to make connecting with local businesses easier for its 2 billion users. Here’s everything you need to know.

Commentary

Why In-Store Messaging Needs Offline Measurement

Offline, in-store environments historically have had limited tools for measuring impact of any marketing effectiveness, reach, or exposure. But mobile location technologies with geofence capability measure shopper behavior and produce actionable data sets, opening new opportunities to quantify messaging impact. Measurement is not only possible, but actionable…

Location, Relevancy, and the Search for Personalization

Marketers today have access to an unprecedented amount of data about consumers and their environment that go well beyond location, ranging from their demographics and shopping behavior to the time of day and weather. However, local marketers continue to fail to leverage this throve of new data to create and deliver relevant, quality and personalized ads to consumers. And it’s a big missed opportunity…

As Google Updates Places, Could Some Merchants Find Their Listings Deleted?

Local SEO consultants and service providers offer businesses the peace of mind that comes with knowing someone is watching the forums and industry news in order to act on policy changes and new developments quickly. Given the complexity of local SEO and the fast pace of change, it’s unreasonable to place the onus for listing management solely on the small business owner…

Latest Posts

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

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

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

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

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

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’

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

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

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…

Street Fight Daily: Big Cuts at LivingSocial, Yahoo’s SMB Head Departs

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…LivingSocial Lays Off 400, Eyes Changes to Amazon Relationship (Recode)… Yahoo’s Small Business Head Amit Kumar Departs Company (Recode)… Sorry Apple Pay, Small Biz Just Not That Into You (CNBC)…

Is Location More Than a Feature in Mobile Advertising?

The rise of smartphones has created a wealth of location data that marketers on both the buy- and sell-side are desperate to capitalize on. But is location really more than just another targeting mechanism for mobile advertising? That was the question posed to a Street Fight Summit panel Tuesday…