News and Analysis
Street Fight Daily: Duopoly Dominance Declines, Macy’s Rolls Out AR & Mobile Checkout
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Duopoly’s Share of the Ad Market Could Decline for the First Time… Demonstrating Where Retailers Are Going, Macy’s Rolls Out Mobile Checkout & AR Feature… The Cambridge Analytica Scandal Won’t Stop Advertisers from Spending on Facebook..
Commentary
Ex-Patch EIC: Journatic Illustrates Cost/Quality Issue in Hyperlocal
If I were to prescribe Journatic a fix for this recent ailment (beyond, you know, not faking bylines anymore), it would be to show a real investment in journalism, in all senses of that word. We get that you’re “-atic” — cost savvy and operationally slick. How bout showing everyone you can also be “Journo”, and slow down and do some meaningful work? It might be money well spent…
Why Loyalty Programs Are Broken — And How to Fix Them
The customer loyalty vertical is red-hot. Startups from Silicon Valley to Chicago are working hard to innovate in this area, and, in so doing, are revolutionizing the way brick-and-mortar businesses do business. But startups need to look beyond the simple punch-card model and expand their loyalty products to include features that will effectively influence customer behavior…
The Five Fundamentals of Deals Success for Local Media Companies
Many local media companies have not structured their daily deals programs appropriately or put the necessary resources behind them. While there is no silver bullet to guaranteed deals success, we have used our experience working with more than 400 local media companies to develop a model that breaks down the five most important factors to creating a successful deals program…
Latest Posts
How Patch’s New Owners Can Reverse Its Fortunes
Patch doesn’t have to wind up in the “bone yard.” I believe the hyperlocal network recently unloaded by Aol can, within five years, be a seriously profitable venture. It will happen if the company’s new owners, Hale Global, go all out for engagement-worthy community journalism that’s responsibly budgeted. And it will happen if they adopt a revenue strategy that’s responsive to fast-evolving trends in ad spending…
Street Fight Daily: Stripe’s Big Round, Rabois Resigns From Yelp’s Board
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology.… Stripe Bolsters its Mobile Payments Cred With $80M Funding Round (GigaOm)… Icahn Says He Is Prepared for eBay Proxy Fight (Wall Street Journal)… Keith Rabois Resigns From Yelp’s Board (Recode)…
Why Ecommerce Companies Are Eyeing Brick-and-Mortar Retail
Over the past year, a string of ecommerce firms have invested in brick-and-mortar locations in an attempt to cash in on local markets that still account for over 90% of retail spending in the U.S. Manish Chandra, the founder the online fashion marketplace Poshmark, says physical locations will play an important part in ecommerce strategies moving forward…
5 Hyperlocal Scheduling Platforms for the Healthcare Industry
Hyperlocal vendors are changing the way consumers navigate the healthcare industry, offering tools for finding local providers who are covered by specific insurance plans. Not only do these platforms benefit patients by providing a streamlined way to secure appointments with qualified local physicians, but they also benefit healthcare professionals by filling empty appointment slots and decreasing the percentage of no-show patients…
Street Fight Daily: Icahn Calls For PayPal Split, Groupon Boosts Hotel Product
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology.… Could Square be Collateral Damage in Carl Icahn’s War on Ebay? (Quartz)… Groupon Adds 20,000 Properties To Its Hotel Feature (Skift)… Tokyo Launches Cab-Calling Mobile App (Wall Street Journal)…
Let’s Simplify and Strengthen Business Listing Verification
Verification is a great idea in theory and, once you navigate the tangled process, it even works well for most business owners in practice. However, there is very little consistency across publishers as to how the process should work or what the result should be, and there is plenty of evidence that the supposed lockdown of business data via owner verification doesn’t always operate as it should…
Case Study: Pizza Chain Uses Customer Data For Targeted Offers
At Patxi’s Pizza, a pizza chain with 12 locations in California and Colorado, marketing manager Jordana Heinke uses the purchasing data she gathers through her company’s mobile loyalty program to send highly-targeted offers to her most frequent customers. “We can immediately see changes happening with volume of interest and redemption if we change a reward,” Heinke says…
Street Fight Daily: Comcast Resurrects Everyblock, iOS in the Car
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology.… Hyperlocal Website EveryBlock to be Resurrected (Chicago Tribune)… Developer activates Apple’s upcoming iOS in the Car system, shows different interface (9to5Mac)… After Rebranding, YP Names Allison Checchi CMO (Adage)…
With Perfect Information, Does ‘Awareness’ Becomes Obsolete?
In a world in which information is finite and often inaccessible, the ability for a business to be top of mind — to carve out a little spot in a consumer’s memory — was a powerful competitive advantage, and one that drove the way businesses sold goods and services to local consumers. But thanks to the rapid adoptions of mobile devices by consumers and the emergence of inexpensive cloud-based operations software, that’s changing…
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