Commentary
After Boom and Bust, How Will the Discount Economy Evolve?
The discount industry experienced 2012 as a major turning point. In the past 12 months, the deal provider landscape shook out even more, with the consolidation of many deals sites and the decline of some industry giants. Given the changed landscape, here are a few predictions about where the local offer and voucher space is heading…
Big Data and Local Search: The Netflix Precedent
We’ve entered an era when product decisions can be made not by analysis of demographics or user testing but by extremely fine-tuned measurements of current user activities. For local search, the question becomes just how many of our passive online activities can be converted into data points to be examined for purposes of marketing and product development?
Why Mom-and-Pops Will No Longer Pay for ‘Social Media Management’
The social media hype bubble has burst, and most very small businesses have not realized their ROI in social media. They’re not willing to pay my company — or anyone else — hundreds of dollars a month to market their company on Facebook or Twitter. Instead they are diverting those dollars to pay per click options, SEO, optimizing their websites for conversion and mobile, or targeted local media advertising…
Latest Posts
Openings and New Hires at Mono Solutions, Google, Connectivity & Cxense
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, new hires and jobs at Haystak Digital Marketing, Angie’s List, Local Yokel Media, Mediative and hibu…
Street Fight Daily: Intuit Makes Another Acquisition, Square Rival Raises $50M
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyIntuit Buys Lettuce Apps For $30M To Add Inventory And Order Management To Quickbooks (TechCrunch)… Square Rival iZettle Receives Capital Injection From Group of Investors (Wall Street Journal)… Months Before CEO Shakeup, Leaf Investor Took Control of Startup (Xconomy)…
Case Study: Golf Club Brings Back Deal Buyers With Rewards Program
In her role as manager at Southern Pines Golf Club, Elaine Millar is responsible for the digital marketing strategy for the 18-hole course. Millar uses her rewards program as a promotional tool to keep the customers she gains through local deal sites coming back for future visits after their promotions have been redeemed…
Street Fight Daily: Square’s Alleged Saboteur, Google Buys Website Builder
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Sequoia’s $12B Man Says Someone With ‘Axe to Grind’ is After Square (Upstart)… Google Gobbles Up Restaurant Startup (Wall Street Journal)… Uber Launches uberFAMILY, a Pilot Service in NYC That Uses Cars With Child Seats (TheNextWeb)…
What’s in a Swarm? Making Sense of Foursquare’s Split
It’s hard to envision now, but it could be that a decoupled discovery and recommendation service will be just what Foursquare needs to scale its dataset beyond entertainment and to encourage users to improve the quality and accuracy of venue information. These developments would turn Foursquare into a viable competitor to data aggregators like Infogroup and possibly to Google Maps itself…
Street Fight Daily: Google Maps Adds Uber, Square Expands Partnerships
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Maps On Mobile Gets Uber Integration And More (TechCrunch)… Square Partners With Inventory Tracking Service Stitch Labs (Fortune)… New Google Now Feature Aims at Amazon (Wall Street Journal)…
Two Years After Private Equity Carve-Out, What’s Next for YP?
Two years ago, AT&T shed its local marketing business, selling a majority stake in its print and digital yellow pages assets to Cerberus Capital for $950 million in cash and debt. During a conversation with Street Fight, the company’s CEO David Krantz said the company is well-ahead of where its private equity parent expected it would be, and discussed how YP planned reprise its role as a leading consumer brand…
Finding the Right Point of Contact At: A Retail Chain
For hyperlocal vendors grappling with expansion, a national retail chain can represent the big whale. With the potential to have their platforms adopted at hundreds of locations throughout the country with just single sale, it’s no wonder hyperlocal startups are willing to devote so many resources to developing partnerships with big-name clients. Here are five strategies for finding the right person to pitch at a retail chain…
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The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation