Commentary
Why SMB Marketing Services Won’t Save Newspapers’ Bottom Line
Most newspapers aren’t building new and innovative tools to provide SMB services. Instead they are white labeling offerings from other providers or are connecting their audiences to an existing service. Over time, SMB tools are going to become a commodity. When someone who is still in high school can offer exactly what you are offering, you’re in trouble. With the high cost structures and overhead that newspapers have, being in a commodity business (where margins get pushed lower and lower) won’t prove lucrative in the end…
Why Hyperlocal Is Naturally Suited for Investigative Reporting
A new study by local media research/consulting firm AR&D and Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) reveals that investigative reporting is a big draw for consumers when it comes to media choice. Sixty-two precent said it was reason enough to follow a particular news organization, and it ranked only behind weather (54% preference) in terms of interest — and that interest is growing. Investigative reporting is plain old reporting. Period. And it begins with getting off the lazy and easy commodity news bandwagon and growing a reportorial spine…
When It Comes to Mobile Local Search and SMBs: Mind the Gap
Mobile is inherently local and thus conducive to location-based, high-intent user engagement, all of which appeals to many SMBs. B ut mobile also exacerbates their paradox of choice. That’s why there is a big opportunity for third parties to help SMBs get there. That can be marketing or SEO consultants, but the real opportunity is for the local media organizations with deep roots and existing relationships with SMBs…
Latest Posts
ReachLocal CEO: Company Got ‘Distracted By Shiny Things’
After a turbulent twelve months, which saw two founders depart and its stock price plummet, ReachLocal appears to be working on a comeback. Sharon Rowlands, the turn-around expert who took the helm as chief executive four months ago, remains as critical as anyone, but she believes that the company is on track to get things moving in the right direction in 2015…
Services Join Products in Goodzer’s Local Marketing Platform
Goodzer has been making it easy for consumers to find products in local stores since launching in 2011. Soon the company will be doing the same with services. Last month Goodzer announced that it is adding “enhanced local services content” to its database of more than 2.5 billion products. The addition expands the company’s number of locations from 500,000 to 2.5 million…
Street Fight Daily: Square Adds Booking Service, Lyft Drives Uber Competition
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Square Continues to Diversify With Launch of Booking Service (Fortune)… Lyft Drives Uber Competition With False-Order Allegations (Bloomberg)… Online Meal Delivery Firm Foodpanda Raises $60 Million (Recode)…
It’s Official: The Newspaper Industry Has Given Up on Newspapers
In the past couple of weeks, three of the major legacy media companies announced they were splitting their companies into separate-but-unequal broadcast and print ventures. The decisions by Gannett, E.W. Scripps and Tribune to divide their once “synergistic business models” into separate and very distinct businesses indicate that we are now at the beginning of the end-of-the-end for this industry…
6 Marketing Strategies for National Retailers Managing Local Outlets
National retailers have access to expertise, money, and boatloads of data-driven marketing tools, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve got it all figured out when it comes to local marketing. One-quarter of national brands say they’re unable to track ROI at the local level, and 33.8% aren’t even investing in local marketing. Here are six strategies that national brands should consider…
Street Fight Daily: BuzzFeed Raises $50M, Senator Warns of Wearables
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… 50 Million New Reasons BuzzFeed Wants to Take Its Content Far Beyond Lists (New York Times)… Senator Warns Fitbit Is A ‘Privacy Nightmare’ And Could Be ‘Tracking’ Your Movements (Business Insider)… Apple iPhone Privacy Changes Lead to Layoffs at Retail Tracking Startup Nomi (Recode)…
How Innovation in Payments Can Drive Local Marketing
The changes in payments that Seth Priebatsch foresaw three years ago are certainly underway, but it remains more of a revolution than an evolution. Street Fight caught up with the LevelUp CEO recently to talk about why he thinks transaction data is the foundation of the next big wave of innovation in the marketing industry…
Street Fight Daily: Twitter Eyes SMBs, 7-Eleven Creates Venture Arm
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Twitter Learns From Facebook by Revamping Its Advertising Fees for Small Business (Wall Street Journal)… Oh Thank Heaven, Even 7-Eleven Has a Venture Capital Arm (Recode)… What Foursquare’s Looming Data Mean to Advertisers (AdAge)….
How Seattle’s South King Media Grew From Hobby Into Profitable Mini-Net
Southend was long dominated by “legacy” Robinson Newspapers, which last year was forced to consolidate its Southend print weeklies into one subscription product because of what it called “market forces,” but kept its individual community websites. Meanwhile, Scoot Schafer’s independent “pure-play” South King Media is profitable and growing. Street Fight caught up with Schaefer recently to talk about the different elements involved in successful hyperlocal publishing projects…
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