News and Analysis

Street Fight Daily: Google Rolls Out Media Subscription Tool, Amazon Expands Delivery

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Rolls Out New Subscription Tool with McClatchy News Sites… Amazon Shows Its Drive for Efficient Ordering is Relentless, Delivering Straight to Cars… DoorDash Makes a Big Push into Grocery Delivery, Partnering with Walmart…

How Hopper Secures Bookings with Geotargeted Deals

For Hopper, a mobile app for flight and hotel booking, taking advantage of hyperlocal marketing technology means running more than 500 customized campaigns each day, tempting travelers with limited-time deals from their current locations.

Street Fight Daily: YouTube’s Brand Safety Woes Continue, Amazon’s Biggest Challenge

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Exclusive: YouTube Ran Ads from Hundreds of Brands on Extremist Channels… What Amazon’s Prime Numbers Don’t Show: The Battle to Grow in the U.S… ANA Urges Lawmakers to Hold Off on New Privacy Laws….

Commentary

Getting Location Analytics Up to Speed for the Mobile Ad Revolution

The inability to apply value to the key differentiator of mobile (location) is part of the reason why mobile CPMs are still at 20% of desktop CPMs. It’s critical that media buyers push mobile inventory sources to provide location analytics that enable them to make buying decisions based on the unique features associated with mobile…

How Mobile Is Transforming Local Marketing

By using mobile-location data and predictive analytics, advertisers can reach users with deals based upon where they work, live and socialize. If a relevant ad is delivered and the transaction can be completed in one-or-two clicks, mobile advertising will provide what local merchants are willing to pay for – real sales results…

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…

Latest Posts

What Obama’s 2012 Election Can Tell Us About Using Data to Build Communities

The campaign’s technology team, comprised mostly of political newcomers, used data analytics to rethink the way television ads were bought, and where its army of volunteers were sent. One of the big breakthroughs, says Carol Davidsen, was in using data to navigate the twisted world of local television, finding audiences in unsuspecting — and often far less expensive — places…

6 Strategies to Encourage SMBs to Offer Same-Day Delivery

Small businesses account for 54% of all sales in the U.S., and unlike their big box competitors, many SMBs don’t already have existing shipping networks or points of distribution. Here are six strategies for how same-day delivery vendors can successfully encourage local merchants to become a part of their programs…

Street Fight Daily: Apple Preps Mobile Payments, Starbucks Readies Order Ahead

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology.Apple Pushes Deeper Into Mobile Payments (Wall Street Journal)… Starbucks is Getting Ready to Let You Order Coffee Before You Get to the Store (Quartz)… Care.com, The ‘Amazon Of Caregiving Services’ Popped 43% On Its IPO Day (Business Insider)…

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…

LBMA Podcast: Nest Takes the Cash, WillCall Pays Your Tab

On the show: Juice Mobile acquired Gauge Mobile; WillCall adds your bar tab at the club. Our mobile minute with Chuck Martin highlights the NFC-TV from NRF. And our special guest is Paul Madsen of Ping Identity, talking about the Internet of Things…

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…