News and Analysis

With Product Launch, GroundTruth Helps CPG Brands Focus on ROI

GroundTruth’s new suite of solutions is being dubbed True Performance, and according to this morning’s announcement, it’s geared exclusively toward CPG brands looking for more efficient and accurate ways to measure their location-based marketing efforts.

Wellness Services Platform MINDBODY to Acquire Booker

MINDBODY, a wellness services platform facing both consumers and businesses, announced on Monday that it will acquire Booker, a management platform serving about 10,000 premium salons and spas.

Street Fight Daily: QSRs Innovative With Mobile Apps, MINDBODY to Acquire Booker

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Fast-Food Brands Are Making Slick Mobile Apps to Stay Ahead of the Competition… YouTube Debuts Search-Based Video Ad Targeting… American Online Shoppers Are More Impatient Than Ever, All Thanks to Amazon….

Commentary

Hyperlocals: ‘Use Facebook Like the Rest of the Planet’

Facebook, with its semi-walled set-up, is where it’s at for indie hyperlocal publishers like the Valley Independent Sentinel.
We’re in a market with two of the three largest newspapers in Connecticut. The two dailies are in no way ignoring the Web. It’s their top priority, from what they keep saying. Yet we have more followers on Facebook then one of the big fellas — and we’re not too far off from the other heavy hitter.

So here are a few Facebook tips that can help independent publishers rack up the “likes”:

Brownstoner: The End of the Open Thread

One of the biggest challenges facing any hyperlocal publisher is the development, maintenance, and growth of audience. If you are starting from scratch, one of your first challenges is to find that core audience — the rabid readers that will check back 10 or more times a day to see what you’ve got for them next. But as a site develops, and its audience becomes more established, the questions change.

Delivering Local Deals: It’s All About the Data

It’s become clear that the two hottest areas of digital media — deals and mobile — are colliding. Mobile payments (i.e. Google Wallet) are meanwhile closing the loop on decades-old deal redemption and tracking challenges. This has led to another important variable: Data. More specifically, mobile payment technologies open the door for more comprehensive consumer purchase data, which can fold back into the equation for more targeted deal delivery…

Latest Posts

LivingSocial CEO: Our Business Isn’t ‘Daily Deals,’ It’s Ad Dollars

“We realized with the asset base that we had that we should be able to do other things and leverage it into new areas,” said Tim O’Shaughnessy at Street Fight Summit on Thursday in New York. “How do we take the hundreds of thousands of merchants that we work with, the tens of millions of customers that we have, this big salesforce, and a technology team and figure out new ways to get customers through the doors of merchants.”

Street Fight Daily: Uber’s Regulator Fight Continues, Google’s New Take On Self-Service

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technologyWhy Is Uber Fighting a Regulatory Battle That It Already Won? (AllThingsD)… Google Updates Its Self-Service Offers Tool (TheNextWeb)… Square’s Credit Card Payments Are Great, But Here’s What The Company Actually Does Best (Business Insider)…

For Groupon, Resurgence Is In The Numbers

Even as investors interest in daily deals company has waned, the game is not over for Groupon, and others in the deals space. After a calamitous 2012 , the company has bounced backed in 2013 thanks, in part, to a rise in the number of merchants offering longer-running, recurring campaigns instead of one-off deals, according to Jim Moran, co-founder at Yipit, who gave the afternoon keynote at Street Fight Summit in New York on Thursday…

In Race to Go Local, Brands Push Ahead Cautiously

There’s been a quiet emigration in the local technology world away from the mom-and-pop market, with startups and existing players alike moving upstream to bigger brands with more. During a panel at Street Fight Summit in New York Thursday, executives from Groupon, YP, and the well-funded upstart Brand Networks sat down with AdAge’s Michael Learmonth to talk about the growing interest in local among brands, and the limitations that are holding them back…

Who’s The Future Of Local Search? The Consumer.

As more and more consumers look to buy, as well as find and discover local businesses, online, the industry has evolved. During a panel at Street Fight Summit in New York Thursday, panelists from Yelp, Bing, and Yext gathered to discuss the evolving role of commerce in the local search industries, and strategies for the industry to adapt…

What Brands Are Doing Wrong On Mobile

As consumers spend more time using mobile devices than browsing the web and even watching television, a mobile strategy isn’t an opportunity; it’s a matter of survival, says Urban Airship chief marketing officer Brent Hieggelke. During a keynote at Street Fight Summit in New York Thursday, Hieggelke argued that brands need to change the way they approach mobile, shifting from looking at the platform as yet another marketing channel to treating it as a central tool in creating a better consumer experience…

Riverhead Local Revenues Show Hyperlocal Display Ads Still Have Life

Some local media observers say display ads don’t work anymore. But don’t tell that to Riverhead Local’s Denise Civiletti. In this wide-ranging Q&A she talks about why display continues to be the major revenue source for her site, and why she still believes “local doesn’t scale.”

Street Fight Daily: Showrooming’s False Threat, Groupon ‘Designed’ For Mobile

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technologyShowrooming Is Not A Threat To Retailers’ Revenue (eConsultancy)… Groupon CEO: Our Deals Are ‘Designed For Mobile’ (CNBC)… OpenTable Is Hoping For A Second Helping (PandoDaily)…

Why Attribution Is the ‘New Black’ in Local Marketing

Advertising performance measurement has never been a simple process, but cross-platform consumer media usage, mobile, and advanced targeting technologies have made the process of linking ad engagement to a consumer purchase action even more challenging. The next generation of proper attribution has become essential for the ad tech industry and marketers looking to make ROI-driven advertising decisions…

Why It’s So Hard to Create Marketplaces for Local Commerce

Recognizing the success of Uber, startups and incumbents alike rushed to replicate the company’s model in other verticals, developing new products to help business and consumers buy and sell local services like car repair, house cleaning, and haircuts. MyTime, the 9-month old project launched by RedBeacon founder Ethan Anderson, is one of these and is staying the course. When I spoke with Anderson last week, he outlined a few key strategic decisions and clever hacks, which have helped the company get some early traction for its marketplace..