News and Analysis
Google Updates Search to Recommend Local Events Based on User Interests
Google is bringing the personalization zeitgeist to local event recommendations. The company reported on its blog Thursday that it is releasing a series of new features that will make it easier for users to find essential information about events of interest to them right on search engine result pages.
Raise Report: SessionM, Perch, Pointy Secure New Funding
Every two or three weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for Mention Me, Standard Cognition, Cogito, and Dialpad.
Hires and Openings at Blis, TruMeasure, and Adzuna
Every two or three weeks, Street Fight rounds up some of the latest hires and new openings in the hyperlocal marketing, tech, and media industries. This week’s edition includes moves and openings at Broadly, Cedato, Magisto, SiteSwan, and New York Magazine.
Commentary
As Digital Ascends, Is Legacy Media Becoming a ‘Sinkhole’ for Marketers?
One of the most insightful studies released this year by Boston Consulting Group found that the 23 million small businesses in the U.S. allocate only 3% of their advertising spend to digital. Larger companies spend more, but digital still comprises only 15% of their marketing budgets. Meanwhile, it’s clear that the effectiveness of digital media has surpassed that of legacy — and it’s no longer even close. So marketers are spending the vast majority of their budgets on media that consumers are no longer engaging with…
How Reviews and Ratings are Driving Local Search
Despite the tremendous amount of press we have seen on fake reviews, ongoing interest in reviews by consumers and local search providers make it clear that these services aren’t going away. As platforms give reviews more importance and improve their ability to filter out fake ones — and government officials crack down on dishonest practices — consumer trust and use of reviews can only be expected to grow. This trend will continue to increase the impact they have on local businesses…
Finding the Balance Between Relevance and Reach in SMB Content
It’s simple enough to say that creating great content or a great platform should be enough to bring users to your door; but if they have no idea you exist, getting the word out effectively is both a matter of reaching your intended user base and staying within the confines of an algorithmically defined concept of quality content. For small and medium-sized businesses, the challenge is to be present and available to customers and potential customers in multiple online venues in a way that conserves effort while remaining effective…
Latest Posts
Placed Brings Location Analytics to Programmatic
Placed has made its move into programmatic. The location analytics firm has announced a new partnership with Adelphic that will bring the company’s attribution and targeting data to the demand-side platform’s client base…
How One Gannett Paper Is Reacting After ‘Slow Slide’ From Cost Cutting
In August of this year, the entire editorial staff at the Asheville Citizen-Times was required to apply for re-employment in a reorganization with new job descriptions. Executive Editor Josh Awtry told readers: “It would have been easier to change nothing in the way we operate … but we weren’t ready to accept that fate.” Here, Awtry details for Street Fight his team’s major changes…
Street Fight Daily: ApplePay on the iPad, Groupon’s Chairman Opens Up
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…… Apple Pay Is Coming To The iPad (Business Insider)… Groupon Chairman Ted Leonsis: ‘I Kind Of Fell In Love With Company’s Challenges’ (Chicago Tribune)… Google Profit Will Depend on Wringing More From Mobile Ads (New York Times)…
Following Acquisition, Shopkick Posts Some Big Numbers
Last Month, the retail shopping app was acquired by Korea-based wireless company SK Planet for about $200 million. This morning, Shopkick announced it has driven more than a billion dollars in revenue to its retail partners — more than half of it in the last 12 months…
Raising Social Capital Is a Key to Small Business Marketing
One of the most tangible ways for small businesses, chambers, and trade organizations to build social capital is to raise funds for their community. Crowdfunding opens up a collaboration between the business community (the sponsors) and the nonprofits, by reframing the decision to contribute from management to the crowd…
Street Fight Daily: Uber Wars Thin Out, Jack Dorsey Denies Rumors
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Why A Taxi App With $100 Million In Funding Failed In The U.S. (Fortune)… Jack Dorsey On The Report That Square Is In Talks To Sell To PayPal — ‘FALSE’ (Business Insider)… Amazon and Rise of Mobile Challenge Google’s Search Position, Says Chairman (GigaOm)…
New Report Details Emerging Approach to Personalization on Mobile
A new white paper from Street Fight Insights offers a step-by-step introduction to the contextualization, an emerging technique aimed at merging the learnings of personalization on the web with mobility. The report, sponsored by Artisan Mobile, details the opportunities and implications of the technology for a range of industries from consumer packaged goods to brick-and-mortar retail…
Exit Interview: Thinknear Founder Eli Portnoy Leaves Telenav
Two years after Telenav acquired Thinknear, the startup’s founder Eli Portnoy has left the company. We caught up with Portnoy to talk about some of the surprises in the mobile advertising industry over the past few years, whether location merits its own sandbox, and how his views about the small businesses market have evolved…
Alignable Growing a Social Network for Small Businesses
Founded by the co-founders of Constant Contact and Invisalign, Alignable allows small businesses owners to share information, ask questions, and seek answers from other merchants nearby and business owners in similar industries across the country. Think Nextdoor — but with worried store owners instead of overbearing parents.
Street Fight Daily: Local’s SEO Bible, Google Eyes Delivery
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…… Local SEO Bible: The 2014 Local Search Ranking Factors (LocalSearchInsider)… Google Adopts Delivery-Service Model, Targets Amazon (Nasdaq)… Retailers Pin Hopes on Holidays After Sluggish Summer Sales (AdAge)…
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