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

How Will Jeff Bezos Redefine the Newspaper?

Amazon has always been a virtual marketplace, where the location of the buyer has very little to do with a transaction. Bringing the Bezos vision to bear on a community-oriented portal could mean any number of things, but it certainly means the potential for services that bear some resemblance to traditional journalism but are remediated into a form that takes advantage of digital commerce and social media, while maintaining a sense of local community…

As Local Media Shed Staff, Personal Franchise Sites Could Fill the Void

The independent voice of the individual can make “the news” more personal, more compelling, and more exciting. The nuances of the trade can be taught, but people planted within the community with knowledge and perspective offer something that traditional media companies can’t or won’t. And linking local bloggers together is a viable concept…

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…

Latest Posts

6 Demand-Based Pricing Platforms for Restaurants

With the goal of maximizing revenue and keeping their tables filled throughout the day, restaurants are using hyperlocal marketing platforms to incentivize guest reservations during off-peak times. Here are six hyperlocal platforms that restaurants can use to implement demand-based pricing…

Amazon Getting Pieces in Place for Next-gen Payment System?

At first glance, many are seeing Amazon’s new card reader as a competitive move against the likes of Square and PayPal. But this is actually a tiny start to a bigger vision. Amazon’s vast reach can make its card reader matter in a variety of interesting ways…

Street Fight Daily: Google Tracks Calls Online, Yahoo Partners With Media Consortium

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyGoogle Lets Advertisers Track Phone Calls Generated From Websites (MarketingLand)… Local Media Consortium Partners With Yahoo (NetNewsCheck)… As Google Builds Out Own Content, Some Advertisers Feel Pushed Aside
 (Wall Street Journal)…

Dstillery CEO: ‘Dirty Data’ in Mobile Ads as Serious as Click Fraud

Reports suggest that more than half of the the available mobile inventory that includes location data is incorrect. Tom Phillips, chief executive at Dstillery and an early whistleblower of online advertising fraud, says false location data in the mobile advertising industry poses as great of a threat to marketers as fraudulent traffic on the web…

7 Strategies for Better Text Message Marketing

Thirty-eight percent of businesses use SMS/MMS for marketing, according to a 2013 survey by StrongMail, versus 20% that use mobile push notifications. Here are seven strategies that merchants can use to reinvigorate their text message marketing campaigns…

Productivity Solution: Free Wireless Internet On-the-Go

FreedomPop, the nation’s first 100% free internet service provider, offers a nationwide hotspots that provides free wireless internet wherever you are. Simply turn on a FreedomPop hotspot and instantly connect to the internet. There are no contracts or cancellations fees. Get a special offer now…

Street Fight Daily: Lay’s Uber Picnic, Google Buys Jetpac

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyLay’s Is Launching an Urban Picnic, Brought to You by Uber (AdAge)… Google Buys Jetpac To Give Context To Visual Searches (TechCrunch)… Amazon’s Square-Like Payment System Could Be Data Goldmine (AdAge)…

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…