News and Analysis
Customers Who Hop Onto Digital Trends Earliest Less Engaged With Advertisements
Marketers look to trendsetters as “influencers,” but can the influencer be influenced herself? A study recently published in the journal “Marketing Science” suggests that, in fact, early propagators of trends tend to respond less to advertising than latecomers.
How The Weather Company Turns Forecast Data Into Game-Changing Retailer Insights
Using live weather conditions from radar and satellites, along with road-specific forecasts, high-resolution traffic feeds, and user-reported traffic conditions, companies are harnessing weather data to inform nearly every aspect of their businesses.
Street Fight Daily: Target Aims to Lead on Customer Experience, GDPR’s Impact on Facebook
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Target Is Trying to Become America’s Easiest Place to Shop. Here’s How… GDPR Is What Facebook Advertisers Should Really Worry About… Consumers Want Voice Services Beyond Basics…
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
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…
5 Sales Practices Every Company Should Know
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
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
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
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
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
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…
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Why Restaurant PR Matters for Local Growth