Commentary
What Reviews Sites Need to Do to Prepare for Facebook’s Graph Search
It’s well known that reviews, ratings, and recommendations are a major factor in driving consumer decisions. Sourcing friends or people you know to provide advice holds even more weight when it comes to personalization and has an added benefit of trust. This is what makes the concept of Facebook’s new Graph Search so powerful…
Efficiently Selling to SMBs: Finding Paths of Less Resistance
We’re entering a more fertile environment for what I’ll call the SMB advertising “Trojan Horse.” Local companies start by targeting SMBs’ CRM systems, payroll, back office management, reputation management and payment processing. From there, local advertising can be unveiled as a “one-stop-shop” upsell…
Why the Commoditization of Local Information Is an Opportunity for Journalism
Some have seen the shift of local information — from something that was unique to newspapers to a commodity that is available from a variety of sources — as the end to local news. But I actually think it presents a great opportunity for journalists to do what they do best: put information into context and tell us why it matters…
Latest Posts
Why ‘Google My Business’ Helps, But Doesn’t Fix, Local for SMBs
The company’s redesign of its SMB portal replaces both the old Google Places for Business interface and the equivalent within Google+, and consolidates several features into a friendlier interface. The features for the most part are not new, but the update does a good job of tying together the claiming and profile management process with Google+ sharing…
Street Fight Daily: Amazon’s ‘Showrooming’ Phone, Is Uber Worth $17 Billion?
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon’s Fire Phone Introduces Firefly, A Feature That Lets You Identify (And Buy!) Things You See In The Real World (TechCrunch)… Uber Isn’t Worth $17 Billion (FiveThiryEight)… How Pinterest Tapped World Cup Enthusiasm with Place Pins (Fast Company)…
When the ‘Popup’ Store Sticks Around
Retailers from art galleries to apparel manufacturers have started to rethink their sprawling storefronts. Instead, companies have turned to smaller, more specialized locations that that can adapt to declining store revenues while addressing some new opportunities in selling to a connected consumer…
A Local Business Network Puts the Community First
The expanding public consciousness around movements for civic sustainability, green tech and social enterprise have spawned a new way of looking a local business communities as ecosystems that should work for the community good. Their unique challenge is coordinating hundreds of local advocates to collectively market and promote each others’ programs and campaigns…
Street Fight Daily: Oracle Eyes Micros, Yelp Adds Messaging
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Oracle Said to Near Deal to Buy Micros Systems (Bloomberg)… Yelp Gives Customers The Ability To Send Messages To Businesses (MarketingLand)… Microsoft Shuttering Bing Ads Express (SearchEngineLand)…
At Tesla, a Peek Into Retail On-Demand
The company has developed a retail and marketing strategy aimed at getting people into one of its three fully electric models regardless of whether they can afford, or even are interested in buying, a luxury car. The model draws on some of the work of the legendary Apple’s Ron Johnsonas well as the emerging phenomenon of on-demand technologies such as Uber….
6 Waitlist Management Tools for Restaurants
Eager to eliminate the organizational challenges and financial liabilities that go along with traditional reservation systems, restaurants are increasingly turning toward digital platforms that allow diners to stay at home, or shop at nearby businesses, until their tables are ready. Here are six platforms that restaurants can use to manage their waitlists…
Street Fight Daily: Delivery Service Raises $44M, Uber Partners With ‘Transformers’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Investors Pour $44 Million Into Instacart as Google Is Forced to Take Notice (Recode)… Paramount Turns to Uber for ‘Transformers’ Promotion Pick Up (Variety)… In New Jersey, With $2 million From Knight, the Local News Lab Launches to Seek Revenue Models (Nieman Journalism Lab)…
Investing in the Future of Shopping
A few months ago, I predicted in Street Fight that “2014 would be the year that hyperlocal goes indoors,” and “the battle will turn to reaching the shopper walking in the mall and right in front of the shelf.” Simon Venture Group is looking to invest $250,000 to $5 million per company in up to 50 companies over the next 5 years to do precisely that…
6 Innovative Ways to Implement Beacons for Marketing
Brick-and-mortar merchants know they need to step it up to compete against e-commerce retailers, and they know that proximity marketing with indoor positioning technology can be an effective mechanism for driving customer acquisition and retention. Here are six examples of innovative ways that businesses are implementing beacon technology right now…
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Authentic Storytelling: Real-Life Scenarios Showcase Brand Values and Build Trust