News and Analysis

How AR Will Fundamentally Change Search, Participating in an ‘Internet of Places’

Online-to-offline (O2O) commerce is one area where AR will find a home. Just think: Is there any better technology to unlock O2O commerce than one that literally melds physical and digital worlds? AR can shorten gaps in time and space that currently separate those interactions (e.g. search) from offline outcomes.

Street Fight Daily: Prime Day, Amazon’s Power, and Local; Google’s Mobile Speed Update and SMBs

BIG MOVES AND TOP TAKES IN LOCAL… Prime Day Showcases the Power of an E-Commerce Empire—And What It Means for Local… Why Google’s Mobile Speed Update Smells Like Trouble for Small Businesses… Simpli.fi Reaches Next Level in Precise Location Targeting…

Foursquare Announces New Chief Revenue Officer, Liz Ritzcovan

Ritzcovan’s mission will center on “client centricity.” She’ll be tasked with optimizing Foursquare’s relationships with its clients as the company seeks to make the case that its suite of resources for brands looking to connect the digital and physical worlds is both comprehensive and indispensable.

Commentary

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…

Are We Giving Google Too Much Information?

While certain groups complain about certain content on the Web, the real danger is always found in that which is not seen, hidden in plain sight within the language that builds that which we can see. Google is the absolute master of doing business where it’s not seen, and I’ve reached the point where I think it’s time we all said “enough.”

Why Intuition Fails Us in Mobile Advertising

When mobile was in its infancy, it was appropriate to use intuition and past experience as a guide for how to run mobile ad campaigns. However, the time has come for us as an industry to evolve and begin to use data and empirical evidence to guide our mobile advertising. We need to test and validate our intuitions with unique mobile data to optimize campaign performance…

Latest Posts

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 technologyPredicting 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)

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 technologyEBay 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…

Nimble Commerce to Power E-Commerce for Second Street

NimbleCommerce and Second Street have announced a partnership agreement where Nimble will become the e-commerce platform and network for Second Street’s media customers…

Street Fight Daily: Thumbtack Raises $100M, Uber Opens API

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyThumbtack, an Online Market for Services, Raises $100 Million (New York Times)… Uber Opens API in Bid to Be Everywhere (Recode)… GoDaddy Acquires MailChimp Competitor Mad Mimi To Beef Up Its Email Marketing Service (TechCrunch)…

Traditional Businesses Still Failing to Reach Online Consumers

An infographic from Marketecture offers a useful compendium of statistics pointing both to the great opportunity in local and the persistent gap between that opportunity and the actual practice of marketing by many small business owners…