News and Analysis
Restaurant Management Platform Toast Raises a Whopping $115 Million
Restaurant management platform Toast is announcing a $115 million Series D this morning. Courtesy of T. Rowe Price Associates, the round values Toast at $1.4 billion.
Simpli.fi Reaches Next Level in Precise Location Targeting
As of this morning, advertisers using Simpli.fi’s programmatic advertising platform will have access to Addressable Geo-Fencing, a solution that Simpli.fi’s vice president of marketing Ryan Horn says is the next logical step in the localization and personalization of programmatic advertising.
Prime Day Showcases the Power of an E-Commerce Empire—And What It Means for Local
Prime Day underscores Amazon’s power in the retail market because it compels the over 100 million consumers who pay for that service to make the most of their investment by purchasing directly from Amazon. Local businesses are hardly in a position to compete.
Commentary
Stuck in the Middle: Why Should ‘Local’ Mean ‘San Francisco?’
I’m pretty well immersed in Dallas’ start-up community, and I’ve noticed a sea change in the last couple years. We may not have the flashy, high-profile buzz-making scene that you’ll find in Silicon Valley (or Alley), but investments are happening. I think that’s partly because we’ve had to make it without the mutli-million dollar seed rounds and gut through on wits and angel investment…
6 Strategies for Patching Up Patch
To meet the promise he made to shareholders, AOL’s chief executive Tim Armstrong is in the process of cutting staff and other costs at Patch in the hopes that his network of hyperlocal sites will be profitable by the end of 2013. But just making short-term cuts to hit profitability might not be the optimum choice. Patch also has to plant seedlings for mid- and long-term benefits that the company can reap 6-12 months from now…
Local Search Needs a Standard Business Listing
Search engines are the preferred medium for local search — Moz’s David Mihm estimated that about 7.5 billion searches a month have local intent — and business listing information is the foundation on which these local queries are served. Whether you’re a listing publisher, data aggregator, consumer or local business, a verifiable business listing that complies with a standard will help everyone win in local search…
Latest Posts
Hyperlocal Chat App Yik Yak Bets Big On Anonymity
Atlanta-based Yik Yak finds itself at the center of one of the quickest growing and most divisive trends in social media: anonymity. The company, which raised $10 million in June, has developed an app that serves as a local chat room where users can post whatever they want anonymously…
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Moves Against Click Bait, Location Tracking Widespread
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Takes Steps Against ‘Click Bait’ Articles (New York Times)… For Sale: Systems That Can Secretly Track Where Cellphone Users Go Around The Globe (WashingtonPost)… Uber CEO Pounces on DUI Arrest of California Lawmaker (Wall Street Journal)…
How Marketers Can Use Mobile to Shape a Back-to-School Strategy
It’s that time of year again — time to get ready for school. This presents marketers with a huge opportunity to implement a back-to-school strategy, especially when it comes to mobile. According to a new report from Thinknear, 40% of customers spend at least an hour planning for back-to-school shopping on mobile…
The Art of Local Marketing: Becoming Selfie-Aware
The jury is still out on the new Foursquare’s scalability and I’ve grown to like it. But it’s no Yelp killer. For one thing, Yelp has 1000+ local ad sales reps — one of its biggest and most underrated assets. I’ve long been bullish on Yelp for that and other reasons. And in the past month, a few things have shed more light on Yelp’s potential direction…
Street Fight Daily: Amazon’s Local Ambition, The On-Demand Obsession
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Predicting Amazon’s Secret Plans in Physical Retail (Recode)… On-Demand Beauty Apps Are on the Rise (Wall Street Journal)… Airbnb To Reveal Names Of 124 Hosts To New York’s Attorney General (Fortune)
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Case Study: QSR Chain Drives Revenue With Hyperlocal Tools
When it comes to selecting which hyperlocal platforms he’ll adopt at Mixt Greens, co-founder David Silverglide is clear on what he’s looking for: “It needs to be driving incremental revenue. It can’t just be trying to siphon off our existing customer base in a different way, or shifting them to a new platform…”
LBMA Podcast: Amazon’s Local Register, Dealmaker Media’s CEO
On the show: Verve Mobile’s programmatic direct platform; VMBeacon brings mannequins to life; Cucalu confounds; Yahoo buys it’s 31st mobile company, Zofari; Glympse works on your wrist; and Gilbarco-Vedder Root teams with Verifone at the gas pump…
Street Fight Daily: Ebay Considers Paypal Spinoff, Square Launches Analytics
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… EBay Considering PayPal Spinoff (Reuters)… Square Goes After Small Businesses With New Suite of Analytics Tools (Mashable)… Majority Of Digital Media Consumption Now Takes Place In Mobile Apps (TechCrunch)…
These Local Tech Founders Cashed In — Here’s Where They Are Now
Golden handcuffs hurt less than real ones, but most entrepreneurs flee an acquirer as soon as the oft-required two year stint runs out. Street Fight took a look at some of the local tech entrepreneurs who sold out in recent years to see where they are now…
Happenings Media Makes Lifestyle Content Pay — In Audience and Revenue
Sisters Tina Paparone and Angela Giovine are the founders of Happenings Media, which, in five years, has developed into an impressive network of digital lifestyle magazines. Street Fight recently caught up with Paparone to talk about how the duo bootstrapped their operation into a growing network of 23 magazines across the country…
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem