News and Analysis

SMB OS Operators: Part II: Slice

Share this:

Having raised $15 million in funding just last year, Slice is a prime example of what we call SMB OS operators: companies helping SMBs compete in today’s digital economy with a full suite of solutions beyond core advertising and marketing.

Street Fight Daily: Google Monetizes Product Searches, Amazon’s Next Whole Foods Move

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Partners with Retail Giants to Monetize Online Product Searches… Amazon Accidentally Revealed Its Next Plan for Whole Foods in a Job Posting… 10% Own an AI Device, 32% Plan to Get One, 58% Don’t Want Any…

Street Culture: Invoca’s Lessons for Active, Engaged Growth

Share this:

Based a mile from the beach in Santa Barbara, Invoca aims to maintain a culture in which employees know their ideas are important. The company sponsors softball games and ocean-side volleyball and boasts its own band.

Commentary

Can Local Save Mobile Ads?

Share this:

Oversupply of ad inventory on mobile could lead to the kind of runaway commoditization of display ads that developed on desktop over the past decade. The result: tanking CPMs. So how do we avoid that in mobile?

Can Tech Innovations Bring Revenue for Hyperlocal Publishers?

Share this:

What innovations can help startup news sites earn money? How should hyperlocal publishers decide what technology to use? These are constant questions at the Journalism Accelerator, a website focused on crowdsourcing knowledge to help journalism find new, sustainable financial models. In a recent conversation Street Fight’s David Hirschman and CJR’s Michael Meyer talked with JA about some of these issues…

For Daily Deals Sites, It’s Evolve or Die

Share this:

Today’s daily deal sites are experimenting with every variation and vertical for their offerings — they know that not only is disruption on the horizon, but their own expiration date is as well. And it won’t be a new entrant into the deals space that ends them; instead it will likely be a very familiar brand entering local advertising: Google, PayPal, Square, or one of the other numerous payment services companies…

Latest Posts

5 Sales Practices Every Company Should Know

Share this:

The following sales best practices, inspired by Aaron Ross’ Predictable Revenue, can help companies close more sales in less time. Ross’s framework helped Salesforce.com, one of the most successful startups in history, increase recurring revenues by $100 million…

Street Fight Daily: Mobile Driving Yelp’s International Growth, Mobile Ads to Hit $18B

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology. Yelp’s Stoppelman Says Mobile Boom to Aid International Growth (Bloomberg)… Mobile Ad Market Spending To Hit $18BN In 2014, Rising To ~$42BN By 2017, Says Gartner (TechCrunch)… Bike-sharing Faces Bankruptcy: Cities Withhold Money as Bixi Struggles (GigaOm)…

7 Strategies For Local Merchants Using Big Data Services

Share this:

One of the biggest misconceptions about big data is that it’s only relevant for large businesses. In reality, big data services are often just as useful for local merchants on Main Street as they are for global retail chains and CPG brands. Here are seven strategies for local merchants looking to take better advantage of big data services…

Street Fight Daily: Retail Foot Traffic Slows, LivingSocial Reboots

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology.Stores Confront New World of Reduced Shopper Traffic (Wall Street Journal)… LivingSocial Board to Prioritize Management, Operations Experience in CEO Search (Washington Post)… Hyper-Local Opportunity: 100 Billion Monthly Ad Impressions (Marketing Land)…

The Patch Saga, and Its Implications for Local Media

Share this:

Aol’s decision to unload its struggling hyperlocal network earlier this week may not have been unexpected, but the distressed property’s fire sale does carry with it some broader questions, even as many local media companies have recently started to see signs of reinvestment…

Openings & New Hires at Kenshoo, GateHouse, Local Corp and Search Influence

Share this:

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 Daily Press, AOL, PAGE Cooperative, and more…

LBMA Podcast: YP, Digby, and Lawrence Coburn of DoubleDutch

Share this:

On the show: Chevrolet partners with Priceline to offer hotels on the go; Biz Stone releases Jelly. Our Mobile Minute with Chuck Martin looks at the car as the ultimate location commerce medium, and our resource of the week answers the question of what is your price to give up your location…

Street Fight Daily: Apple Positions For Payments, Mobile-Local Ad Revenue Grows

Share this:

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology.Don’t Count NFC Out of Apple’s Mobile Payment Plans Just Yet (GigaOm)… Location-Based Mobile Ads Forecast To Hit $10.8B In 2017 (MediaPost)… Shopkick Starts 100-Store iBeacon Trial For American Eagle, Biggest Apparel Rollout Yet (TechCrunch)…

Citi Global Head: NFC Will Win Out By End of 2014

Share this:

Near field communication (NFC), the much-maligned technology that once was held as the future of mobile payments, may not be dead yet. Richard Char, global head of digital networks and merchant Services at Citi, believes that two emerging trends will turn the tide for NFC, dissolving many of the infrastructural barriers that have mired its growth…

Borrell Report Details Legacy Media’s Struggles in the Digital World

Share this:

The good news is that “three-fourths of all advertising dollars this year will go to analog media – despite a decade of maligning by digiterati.” The bad news is that by 2018, pure plays “will sap all their growth.” In this Q&A, CEO Gordon Borrell explains the upside-down numbers…