News and Analysis

Street Fight Daily: Adobe Buys Magento, Inside Google’s Rise to Digital Ad Dominance

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Adobe Buys Magento to Become Digital Ad Design Powerhouse… How Did Google Get So Big?… Some Companies Shrug Off GDPR…

Macaroni Kid Leverages Local Influencers to Connect Brands to Consumers

“Our secret sauce is our ability to connect brands with consumers on a local level, via authentic local influencers,” says Macaroni Kid co-founder Eric Cohen. “Other media outlets can plug into an algorithm to target an audience. We have local moms telling other local moms the scoop as they hand out samples.”

Street Fight Daily: Square Embraces Sales and Moves Beyond SMBs, The Staying Power of Email

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… As It Grows, Square Deploys Sales Force to Acquire SMB Customers & Bigger Brands… Selling to Multi-Location Brands: Building on Omnipresent Email… Microsoft Acquires AI Company to Make Cortana and Bots Sound More Human…

Commentary

Why the Future of SMB-Focused Applications Is Mobile

Although most SMB-focused applications are now web-based, the rising adoption of the smartphone as the de facto dashboard for small business owners will drive a wave of mobile applications customized for them…

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

Street Fight Daily: Yodle Plans IPO, Uber Tests Courier Service

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyOnline Advertising Company Yodle Planning IPO This Year (Wall Street Journal)… Uber Expands Into Courier Service With Manhattan-Only Pilot (Bloomberg Businessweek)… Facebook Wants to Turn 25 Million Small Businesses Into Advertisers (AdAge)…

GrubHub(s) vs. Uber(s) vs. Yelp(s): Making Sense of the Mayhem in Local Commerce

Last week, ride-sharing service Lyft announced that it had closed a $250 million round of funding to compete with Uber in what will likely become a capital-intensive — and noisy — race around the world. But the battle over transportation is just one example of a wider push by tech companies to reinvent traditionally offline industries by developing lightweight marketplaces…

Payment Technology: If it Ain’t Broke… Start an Entire Industry to Fix it.

Mobile payments is an exciting area of cultural and technological disruption, and at the same time a solution in search of a problem. Somewhere in all the excitement, we seem to have forgotten that paying for things with cash or credit card ain’t broke. We’ve been covering mobile payments closely on this blog and many […]

Street Fight Daily: Square Secures Credit, GrubHub Shares Soar

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologySquare Secures Credit in ‘Low Hundreds of Millions’ (CNBC)… GrubHub Shares Surge in Debut (Wall Street Journal)… TPG Said Close to Airbnb Investment After Snags Resolved (Bloomberg)…

Assess Your Clients’ Local Search Competition in Three Quick Steps

Local SearchCongratulations! You’ve just signed that hard-to-land client that’s been in your sales pipeline for months. Now the hard (or, I think, the fun) work begins. Where can you deliver the most value for this hard-earned client, right from Day One?

LBMA Podcast: Facebook and Oculus, PayPal and Placed

Top stories of the week include Iconeme’s talking mannequins; Shyp shipped; Adtile’s kinetic ads for smart watches; AT&T shutting down its Alerts program; Pepsi’s unbelievable bus shelter; and Spacified’s matching service for pop-up store space.

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Tests Local Commerce, GrubHub Raises Pricing

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyReport: Amazon to Expand Into Real-World Payments With New Amazon Local Commerce Business(Fierce Wireless)… GrubHub IPO Pricing Tops Estimate(Bloomberg)… Online Services Go Offline in China(Wall Street Journal)…

Case Study: Heineken Uses Foursquare Partnership to Reach Target Demo

Size matters for Heineken, which is why the global beverage brand took a close look at Foursquare’s 40 million users and 3.6 million check-ins at bars, restaurants, and nightlife venues when deciding whether to partner with the vendor on its 2014 mobile campaign. “As a brand, we are always investigating new and innovative ways to bring our programs to life,” Heineken brand manager Bram Reukers told Street Fight…

Alternative Press Expands Hyperlocal Network Into Suburban Philly

Mike Shapiro began his hyperlocal news network The Alternative Press in three suburban New Jersey communities — including his hometown of New Providence — in 2008. TAP has now expanded to 30 communities in the state and Shapiro has decided to cross over into Pennsylvania with a site in Lower Providence, in suburban Philadelphia’s Montgomery County….

Street Fight Daily: Just Eat Orders IPO, Lyft Raises $250M

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technologyJust Eat Joins Parade of London Tech IPOs, with $2.44-Billion Market Cap (Wall Street Journal)… Lyft Raises $250 Million From Alibaba, Third Point and OthersNew York Times)… Jim Brady will leave Digital First Media(Poynter)…