News and Analysis

#SFSW18: The Local Ecosystem in Flux

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“Small businesses are people who are gutting it out,” said Andrew Morbitzer, VP of corporate development at GoDaddy. “They’re here to do a service or provide a product. They’re not here to use software. [Our job is] removing the decision to take on another capability.”

Out of Its Rocky Recent Past, Philly.com Seeks to Be ‘Indispensable’

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Philadelphia Media Network is building its future around a reorganized and united news operation that aims to produce more engaging editorial content with fewer editors and reporters and sell the package to readers of Philly.com for $2.99 a week after 10 free views. We recently caught up with PMN Editor and VP Gabriel Escobar to discuss this strategy.

Street Fight Daily: Mobile/Social/Video Dominate Ad Spending, Facebook’s Missing Video Metrics

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Trifecta of Mobile, Social, and Video Thrives While Print Declines… How Do We Measure Facebook’s Video Biz? It Still Hasn’t Told Us… For Third Oldest American Retailer, More Data and Business Hasn’t Meant More Advertising…

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BlockAvenue Pivots From Utility to Media, Becomes CO Everywhere

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Tony Longo and Dan Adams, the founders of Block Avenue, are doubling down on media. Two years after launching the service as a tool to rate locations, the company has rebranded as Co Everywhere, and released a mobile app to help people explore the world around them. Users can pick a featured place, or outline a geography on a map, and peruse content from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Foursquare and a other sources that come from within the area…

Street Fight Daily: Yelp-Google Rivalry Heats Up, A Hard Sell Gone South

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technologyGoogle’s Local Business Is “Really Struggling,” in “Constant Chaos,” Yelp CEO Tells Charlie Rose (AllThingsD)… When the Hard Sell Goes South (Blumenthals)… Navigating The App-Data Explosion: Localytics’ Raj Aggarwal (ReadWrite)…

What’s Apple’s Mapping Shopping Spree Really About?

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Moreso than the features, Apple’s post-Mapgate acquisitions are all about what’s behind the scenes in this age of big data. This goes back to what a lot of people don’t realize about Apple Maps: it’s is actually a pretty slick mapping tool. But what it has in dazzle, it lacks data; things like place listings, navigation and public transit…

6 Tools for Targeting Brand Influencer Look-Alikes

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The type of word-of-mouth marketing that once took place inside coffee shops and around water coolers has moved online, as “brand influencers” — social media users with a significant reach — play an increasingly important role for companies of all sizes. Here are six tools that companies can use to identify and target “look-alike” consumers…

Street Fight Daily: Facebook’s Bet On Gift Cards, Foursquare’s Data Appeal

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technologyFacebook Ditches Physical Gifts To Double-Down On Digital Codes And Its Own Brick-&-Mortar Gift Card (TechCrunch)…. Why Yahoo and Apple Want Foursquare’s Data (Fast Company)…

Without Seamless, Fewer Customers and Higher Margins (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Why Your Consumer-Oriented Hyperlocal Startup Is Going to Fail

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I’m sorry to say it, but if your hyperlocal, consumer-focused start-up’s business model is driven by local business sales and marketing dollars, it’s most likely going to fail. I know this because I have spent the past several years dissecting and analyzing every consumer-focused, hyperlocal app imaginable. In an effort to build my own “awesome” hyperlocal app, UPlanMe, I was not only figuring out our own business model, but I was analyzing all of the potential competitors and their business models’ around us…

DataSphere’s Cowan: Still A Big Opportunity In Coupons For SMBs

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The online coupon space would seem tired, over-saturated, and too fragmented. Yet DataSphere is making a big push into the local-business coupon space, launching a consumer-facing site, LocalSaver. Gary Cowan, SVP or product and marketing at DataSphere, talks about the company’s plans to become “the RetailMeNot of local business coupons” and drive customers through local companies’ doors…

LBMA Podcast: Millenial/JumpTap, Placed, and Siamese Systems

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On the show: Google launches Carousel visual search; Renew London smart recycling bins are sniffing your MAC address; Millennial scoops up JumpTap; Tour Sicily with the San Pellegrino robot; Placed trying to morph into the ComScore of the real world; Riding the payment waves without batteries; Special guest Alex Kottoor of Siamese Systems talks mobile CSI…

Street Fight Daily: Apple Acquires Embark, Uber’s Huge Valuation

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technologyApple Acquires Embark, Another Mapping App With Transit Information (TechCrunch)… Uber’s Breathtaking Valuation: Is It Really Different This Time? (Forbes)… Yelp CEO Insists The Site’s Reviews Are Accurate (Forbes)…

Survey: 52% of SMBs Still Don’t Have a Website

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Yodle has released the findings from its first Small Business Sentiment Survey, which recently asked 306 small business owners nationwide for their perspectives on a variety of topics, and found some interesting results when it comes to SMBs and technology. According to the survey, “many small business owners are still not adopting modern technology and marketing approaches.”