News and Analysis
Street Culture: Sitter.me CEO on Owning Mistakes and Terrible-but-Fun Team Building
“How we view mistakes is you admit it, you learn very quickly, and then turn it around,” says Sitter.me CEO and co-founder Kristen Stiles. After quoting a client a wrong price, Stiles owned up to the error, and the company develop a new procedure to ensure similar stakes would not be made again.
Street Fight Daily: Google & Apple Boost Local AR, Foursquare’s New Location-Based Creative
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Report: Smartphones, Developer Kits Drive Local AR and Visual Search… Foursquare’s New In-House Agency Will Pump Out Location-Based Creative… Marketers Still Shy Away from Venturing Too Deep into Ad Tech…
Commentary
Local TV Stations: The Sleeping Beasts in Hyperlocal News
Resting on the laurels of legacy profits only gets you so far. Just ask newspaper publishers. When you really take a good look at the local television business, it’s clear this is an industry waiting to be disrupted — and when that happens, outlets that haven’t invested sufficiently in digital won’t have much to hold onto…
How SMBs Can Take Advantage of Apple’s Passbook
Apple’s most recent app innovation, Passbook, allows users to aggregate coupons, gift card information, special offers and purchased deals in one convenient location. The app’s promise to drive retail business is so strong that more than 40 major brands and retailers including Macy’s, Barnes & Noble, LivingSocial, Fandango, and Starbucks have either launched or integrated their app with Passbook. But how can local businesses use this new marketing tool?
Latest Posts
6 Strategies for Maximizing the Effects of Pay-Per-Call Campaigns
Pay-per-call campaigns may not be sexy, but they have proven to be extremely effective for both small businesses and large multi-location organizations. Particularly in “high-value categories” like professional services, home services, travel, insurance, and automotive, phone leads can be more valuable than online clicks or impressions. Here are six strategies that merchants should utilize to maximize the effects of their pay-per-call campaigns…
Street Fight Daily: Google Tracks Offline Purchases, Alibaba Buys Mapping Firm
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Tests a Way to Follow You to the Mall (Wall Street Journal)…. Alibaba to Acquire Chinese Mapping Firm as Buying Spree Continues (New York Times)… Digital First Names David J. Butler Its Editor-in-Chief (Poynter)…
Openings and New Hires at ReachLocal, Main Street Hub, Digital First
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 Hulu, Company Town, Angie’s List, Factual, Search Influence, and Facebook…
Why UrbanSitter Raised $15M to Simplify Booking Babysitters
With Facebook Connect, UrbanSitter shows parents which sitters are hired and recommended by others in their community, and allows real-time updates and interaction when the sitters are on the job. Street Fight recently caught up with UrbanSitter founder and CEO Lynn Perkins to talk about the challenges in building trust and how her company thrives in the “flexible work economy” facilitated by mobile apps.
LBMA Podcast: Xapp, Mobiquity, and Beacons at the Ballpark
Top stories of the week include voice recognition ads from Xapp + NPR; Mobiquity’s BLE beacon SDK; Minified’s Telescope Cards + Foursquare; Coke’s Radar for Good campaign in Romania; the launch of TheGoodData; and funding news from Alignable and Lyft. Special guest is Rafi Haladjian, founder of Sense…
Street Fight Daily: Ebay Settles Proxy Dispute, Gowalla Founder’s Second Take
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… EBay, Carl Icahn Settle Heated PayPal Dispute (Wall Street Journal)… Gowalla Founder Josh Williams Raises $2.1 Million To Have Another Go At Local Mobile Discovery Apps (TechCrunch)… Bezos Confirms AmazonFresh Expansion Plans, Says Drones Are for Real (Recode)…
Case Study: Texas Pharmacy Leverages Beacons for In-Store Offers
Rather than going it alone and creating a targeted marketing platform from the ground up, Tarrytown Pharmacy owner Mark Newberry opted to work with a hyperlocal startup that was looking for businesses to test out its platform. The company, Shelfbucks, offers personalized deals to people shopping in store using iBeacons…
Mobile Ad Revenues Growing Faster Than Previously Expected
A new study from BIA/Kelsey finds that mobile advertising revenues may be picking up at a faster clip than previously thought. In the U.S. Local Media Forecast, the research firm projects that mobile ad spending in the U.S. will rise from $7.22 billion in 2013 to $25.47 billion in 2017, a 20% increase from what the company projected last year. Meanwhile, the share of mobile ad spending spent on locally-targeted ads continues to grow as well — albeit at slightly slower rate than previously expected…
Street Fight Daily: GoDaddy Moves Ahead With IPO, Mapquest Reboots
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… MapQuest Aims For Reboot With New Content, Partners, UI (SearchEngineLand)… Go Daddy Said to Pick Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan for I.P.O. (New York Times)… Yelp’s Deal With Yahoo Has Small Businesses Crying Foul (Wall Street Journal)…
Beyond Likes: Win Hearts with Emotional Marketing