Commentary
How Important Is an Exit Strategy for Hyperlocal News Startups?
“I don’t know a single startup business outside the indie news space that doesn’t articulate its exit strategy up front,” said Rusty Coats, who has created curricula for community news trainings in the Block by Block and Investigative News Network (INN) communities. “That sets the path for growth and helps set benchmarks for success.”
Can Businesses Use Hyperlocal to Leverage Customers’ Politics?
There has been significant coverage about the differences in Democrats and Republicans, but to date there hasn’t been any analysis on real world activities associated with political affiliation. From grocery stores to restaurants, from retailers to gas stations, voting Democrat or Republican plays a part in which establishments we step foot in and which ones we don’t…
A Quick Guide to SMB Success on Mobile
Less than 5 percent of local businesses have a website optimized for mobile devices. In some cases, a company’s site isn’t even “findable” through searches on mobile devices. Worse, consumers, when they do find the local business’s website, can only see a desktop-specific version. Here are a few tips to help demystify mobile for business owners and help them get started right away…
Latest Posts
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)…
Study: 80% of Mobile Searches Result in a Purchase
Brand marketers have started to catch up with consumers on mobile, but small businesses still remain far behind — and it may be starting to affect their bottom line. A new study finds that consumers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices to search for local businesses when they are ready to buy, but the information they want is often inaccurate, incomplete, or non-existent.
Will Mobile Ad Tech Consolidate? Not Yet, Says Verve CEO
There’s a debate, particularly within mobile advertising technology, over whether location is a feature or a sector unto itself. Street Fight recently caught up with Tom MacIsaac, chief executive at Verve Mobile, one of the earliest mobile-local advertising technologies to the market, to discuss the prospect of consolidation, the data quality problem in mobile, and what the endgame might be for location ad tech…
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Scaling Seasonal SEO Across Locations With AI Insights