News and Analysis
Street Fight Daily: Google Helps Brands Close Path to Purchase, Placed Expands to TV
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Gives Brands Ads, Data to Compete on Price, Local Inventory… Facebook Will Ban Sellers of Shoddy Products… How Viacom Uses AI to Predict the Success of Its Social Campaigns…
Street Fight Daily: Google Expands Into Fresh Food Marketing, Snap Expands Commerce for Brands
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Enters Deal with Carrefour to Sell Food Online in France… Snap Expands Commerce for Brands Within Stories… Report: Social Attracting Most Widespread Investment from Advertisers, Topping Search…
Commentary
Local Search for Events: The Great Missed Opportunity
My jumping off point for this week’s column is a recent post from Greg Sterling, where he observes that despite all the impressive innovation around local search in recent years, no one has launched a truly useful local events service. I have had this feeling for years and wasn’t sure if it was just me. But if Greg doesn’t know about a local events service that truly works, I think it’s fair to say one doesn’t exist. So pay attention, developers and entrepreneurs: local events need a killer app…
How Consumer Messaging Is Going From ‘Push’ to ‘Pull’
The biggest battle coming in the world of marketing is a 180-degree shift in the routing of commerce-related messages. Today, we call them “advertisements,” one-directional messages FROM somebody with something to sell TO somebody who may potentially be a buyer. Tomorrow, the messages will come FROM those wishing to buy TO those with something to sell…
The Local Marketer’s Guide to Facebook
What steps should local marketers take to maximize the value of their Facebook presence? First, marketers should claim location pages and optimize their presence for Graph Search. Second devise a complementary content strategy for corporate brand pages. Local marketers should also consider using Facebook ads to supplement organic pages content…
Latest Posts
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 Daily: Priceline Buys OpenTable, Pinterest Expands Place Search
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Priceline Agrees to Buy OpenTable for $2.6 Billion (Wall Street Journal)… With 1 Billion+ Travel Pins, Pinterest Gives Place Search An Upgrade (SearchEngineLand)… Location Sharing Startup Glympse Raises $12M As It Looks For More Device Integration (TechCrunch)…
To Wait or Wait Not: The Changing Dynamics of Eating Out
In New York, a growing number of the city’s most popular eateries have decided to eschew reservations, in yet another example of how local technology is affecting the restaurant industry. Now startup NoWait has developed an app to improve the waitlist experience for both restaurants and diners…
LBMA Podcast: Mobile News at Apple’s WWDC, Thinknear’s Location Score
Top stories of the week include Brian Eno’s new acid trip, Hoxton Analytics profiles based on the shoes you wear, Prexter’s location-based app marketplace, AT&T tracks overseas customers, Floow2 Uber-fies farm equipment, Coca-Cola brings college students together, Yext raises $50M, Uber raises $1.2B and Verizon’s Run…
Street Fight Daily: Mobile Soars in Q1, Nokia’s Shopping Spree Continues
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Nearly $12B In Q1 Ad Revs, Mobile Likely Above 20 Percent (MarketingLand)… Nokia’s Here Buys Medio Systems To Push More Personalised Location Services (TechCrunch)… GoDaddy Financial Metrics Flatter Ahead of IPO (Financial Times)…
Attention and Timing Are the New ‘Clicks,’ Chartbeat Says
The analytics firm digs deep into how users behave at their computer, smartphone, and tablet. Then it flows the data points (including visitor frequency, top pages, referrers, and traffic sources) to the client’s dashboard, where editors, in real time, can see how their users are behaving and take steps to increase traffic and engagement…
Street Fight Daily: Google Simplifies SMB Tools, Handbook Raises $30M
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Streamlines Its Tools for Small Businesses (New York Times)… On-Demand Home Services Startup Handybook Raises $30M From Steve Case’s Revolution Growth (TechCrunch)… CBS to Sell CBS Outdoor Stake, Paving Way for Expansion at Outdoor Company (AdAge)…
















































Why Restaurant PR Matters for Local Growth