News and Analysis
#SFSNYC: GroundTruth Turns On-the-Ground Data Into IRL Transactions
When consumers visit physical stores, the likelihood that they will complete a purchase shoots up, especially in comparison to the likelihood they will make a purchase after visiting a digital site. “Visits lead to sales,” was the message of Hongzhe Sun of GroundTruth, one of the sponsors of Street Fight Summit in New York Wednesday.
#SFSNYC: May AI Help You? The Marketing Opportunities in Intelligent Search
Artificial intelligence is the future of search engines. Increasingly conversational, intelligent, and visual, search engines are adapting to become the centerpiece of consumer engagement, as well as a virtually new tool for marketers. Purna Virji, senior manager for global engagement at Microsoft/Bing, broke down the AI revolution in search at Street Fight Summit Wednesday.
Commentary
How to Sell Hyperlocal Into Chambers of Commerce
After lots of research with local chambers, I’ve noticed that the chambers provide minimal resources to local businesses on how to navigate hyperlocal and which tools are the most valuable. In my opinion, that really should be a key responsibility of the Chambers. They should be vetting and approving the technology that will help their members to grow their businesses…
How a Big Agency Merger Could Benefit Local Ad Sellers
While I certainly believe that big data is our future, nuance at the local level is a part of accuracy when it comes to the providing of filters. This is an advantage that we have in local media, and we should not be shy about making that known to small and medium-sized businesses in the communities we serve.
How the GeoWeb Will Change Consumer and Business Behavior
Digital location-based technologies are now a transformative force for consumers and businesses, particularly when coupled with the rapid adoption of mobile and the growth of big data. I’m a big believer in the future for “GeoDisruption” — the potential for consumers and businesses to interact in fundamentally new ways to take advantage of increasingly precise location-based technologies…
Latest Posts
As Franchises Bounce Back, A Golden Market for Local Tech Surfaces
A booming franchise sector presents a unique opportunity for hyperlocal firms to blend the scale and reach implicit in the digital marketplace with the granularity and flexibility afforded by mobile, social and other locally-driven platforms. What’s more, the franchise industry — with its unique combination of scale and fragmentation — could help provide a critical stepping stone for vendors to reach the small business market…
Openings and New Hires at the LSA, GoLocalPDX, ElasticBox and UpSnap
Every two weeks, Search Influence’s 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, moves and new openings at the Local Media Association, PlaceIQ, Colony Logic, Sonata, Happenings Media, Ping4 and more…
LBMA Podcast: Mobiquity’s ‘Smart’ Malls, Bing Improves Mobile Targeting
Top stories of the week include: Tinder match-making for dogs; The Traces launches an app; Shazam releases their Resonate platform; The Ninja Sphere for your connected home; Westpac adds augmented reality to banking; Track Toronto tracks the lyrics of the city; Drop closes a small round; Timex has a new non-smartphone connected watch…
Street Fight Daily: Mobile Ad Revenue Hits $19B, Food Delivery Roll-Up
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… IAB: Search And Display Fuel $19.3B In Worldwide Mobile Ad Revenue (AdExchanger)… Delivery Hero Joins The $1B Valuation Club As It Gobbles Rival (TechCrunch)… Yahoo Dusts Off E-Commerce Service to Juice Revenue (Wall Street Journal)…
Report: Mobile Context and Location Services Market to Reach $43.3 Billion by 2019
The mobile context and location services market is set to reach $43.3 billion by 2019, according to a new report. That’s up from an estimated $12.2 billion in 2014. The report also found that by 2019, more than two-thirds of revenues will be driven through highly targeted and contextually aware ad-supported apps…
How Santa Barbara’s Noozhawk Zeroes In on News and Profits
In the increasingly tough world of community journalism — where both readers and advertisers can be fickle and local advertising markets like Santa Barbara are crowded with competitors — Noozhawk succeeds because it’s not in the news business, but “the business of news.” Here, founder Bill Macfadyen explains what that means…
Street Fight Daily: Pinterest Eyes Small Business, More Fuel For Taxi Wars
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Pinterest Expands Self-Serve Promoted Pins Platform To More Businesses (TechCrunch)… More Fuel for Taxi Wars: GetTaxi Raises $25 Million (Financial Times)… The Government’s Upping Its Phone-Tracking Game (Voice of San Diego)…
Study: Facebook Is Most Effective Social Media Site for Small Business
A new study from G/O Digital, the digital marketing wing of Gannett, finds that consumers tend to use Facebook for product research more than any other social media outlet. The study found that 68% of respondents prefer checking reviews of Facebook, compared to 11% on Twitter and 12% on Pinterest.
6 Real-World CRM Tools for Merchants
Retailers with brick-and-mortar stores are struggling to compete with e-commerce giants like Amazon, but the fight will never be fair as long as online-only outposts have access to superior tools for managing their customer relationships and offering personalized product recommendations. Here are six real-world CRM tools that retailers are using to level the playing field…
Street Fight Daily: Amazon Guns for Square, Uber and Lyft’s Street Fight
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Takes Shopping Offline With a New Mobile Credit Card Reader (Wired)… Accusations Fly Between Uber and Lyft (New York Times)… Yahoo Acquires ‘Pandora For Places’ App Zofari (TheNextWeb)…
The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation