News and Analysis
Heard on the Street, Episode 4: Growing the SMB Pie with Ilir Sela
What are the nuances and tactical imperatives of selling pizza locally? For one, it compels a highly verticalized approach: It’s all about focus and specialization on the sector’s unique operational challenges, according to Slice Founder and CEO Ilir Sela, our latest guest on Heard on the Street.
How Savvy Restaurateurs Make the Most of Online Ordering
“What increasingly separates top-performing restaurants from the pack is their ability to transform insights from data into strategies to grow,” says Liam Oliver, director of products for Valassis Local Solutions. “Savvy restaurateurs drive incremental revenue by designing promotions that raise the average order value.”
Street Fight Daily: Google to Follow IAB’s GDPR Approach, How Restaurants Can Crush Digital
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… In Significant Move for Publishers, Google Plans to Commit to IAB’s GDPR Approach… How Savvy Restaurateurs Make the Most of Online Ordering… Banned from Amazon: The Shoppers Who Make Too Many Returns…
Commentary
Facebook Nearby and the Mobilization of Local
At long last, Facebook has made a serious move in the local space, and Nearby now recommends local businesses based on your friends’ likes and check-ins as well as your proximity to general business listings. I can’t think of a better or a more timely summation of what’s happened in local search during the past year…
Is Facebook Local’s Waking Giant?
“Google is the best advertising product in the history of the world… because it’s like advertising at a store,” Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget said recently. “Facebook, meanwhile, is like advertising at a party.” But despite Google’s user-side advantages here, Facebook could have an edge in SMB engagement…
How Press Association Ad Networks Can Help Newspapers Compete Online
One would think that the Internet would help ad networks from state press and newspaper associations operate with even greater efficiency, but these groups are only in the early stages online. Still they are well-positioned to help increase CPMs and provide a way for newspapers to ensure that their ad inventory is always sold at a set value…
Latest Posts
Facebook’s Levy: ‘No Singular Event’ Triggered Decline in Businesses’ Organic Reach
According to multiple reports, the social networking company has “slashed organic page reach,” reducing the number of users which can see a business’s photos, posts, and updates. In a wide ranging interview with Street Fight, Dan Levy, director of small business at Facebook, talks about the decline organic reach for businesses, the evolving relationship between marketer and consumer, and the company’s unique challenge of managing 25 million business clients…
7 Tools for Re-activating Dormant Customers
The cost of acquiring a new customer is five times higher than the cost to keep an existing one, which is one of the reasons why businesses of all sizes are beefing up their loyalty programs and using social media to keep fans engaged. But what about customers who’ve fallen off the bandwagon — those whose accounts have gone dormant after not coming in for a period of weeks or months?
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Eyes Mobile Payments, Microsoft Supports Passbook
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Moves Deeper Into Mobile Payments (Financial Times)… Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8.1 Update Supports Apple Passbook Passes (TechCrunch)… A Silicon Valley Disater: A 21-Year-Old Stanford Kid Got $30 Million, Then Everything Blew Up (Business Insider) …
The New Patch: One Site’s ‘Entrepreneurial’ Editor on the First 60 Days
Patch, under its new owner Hale Global, is experimenting with new approaches for structuring and operating hyperlocal news sites, which, in general, have a reputation for losing money. One experiment is creating entrepreneurial editor-publishers for sites in the strongest markets. Sixty days into the experiment, longtime reporter Susan Petroni, explains her new dual role at the Framingham, Mass., Patch…
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.
Using Data to Ignite Growth
DataBeat — VentureBeat’s second annual big data conference on May 19-20 in San Francisco — is laser-focused on helping companies increase profitability through smart analytics and big data tools…
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…
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AI Won’t Fix Advertising – It May Scale Its Chaotic Nature