News and Analysis
Street Fight Daily: AMP Sends Pubs More Traffic, New York Times Launches Ad Analytics Team
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Is Replacing Facebook’s Traffic to Publishers… New York Times Adapts Data Science Tools for Advertisers… Why Your Grocery Store Wants to Be Like a Startup…
From DNAinfo’s Ashes, Three News Vets Are Launching Their Phoenix in Chicago
The site’s non-billionaire founders aim to succeed with a radically different revenue strategy from their DNAinfo alma mater — their plan for domination does not include advertising. In this Q & A, director of strategy Jen Sabella tells how she and her partners are mapping a new way to make local news work.
Street Fight Daily: How to Spark Engagement on Instagram, DNAinfo Vets Launch New Pub
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… The Guardian’s Instagram Strategy is Winning New Readers… Ad Agencies Expect to Stand By Facebook As It Loses Younger Users… Snap Finally Gives Influencers Data on Their Followers’ Engagement…
Commentary
P-U! (That’s PatchU to You, Kid)
When we started our journalism career in the late 1980s we slugged it out with other hungry coeds for the few slots open at the local paper. A better time was never had – headlong into the Romantic World of Newspapering, we were. Assigned lightweight stories, we tried to turn into much more than they were in hopes of getting attention and even a Page 1 position. (We should also mention this was when we first used a modem to transmit text of the college paper to the print shop – a sort of magical event in those days). FF a couple decades and the print side of the news business is the same: filling holes around ever-fewer ads. And they are still looking for free(ish), energetic college kids to not only pick up the scraps but also learn to create a better future of journalism. Enter stage center in a puff of magic smoke: PatchU from Patch.com…
Latest Posts
LBMA Podcast: Ubimo and Belly Funded, Foursquare’s Pro-active Recs
On the show: Foursquare’s proactive recommendations; McDonalds’ NFC Happy Table; JDS Uniphase launches Location Insight Services; 7Eleven invests in Belly with Andreessen Horowitz. Plus our featured app is CO Everywhere, our mobile minute with Chuck Martin looks at the biggest threat to your mobile strategy, and our special guest is journalist and author Nora Young…
Street Fight Daily: PayPal Redesigns App, Braintree’s on the Block
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… PayPal Refreshes Mobile App to Woo Shoppers and Fight Off Rivals (New York Times)… Braintree Is On The Block, Had Acquisition Talks With Square (TechCrunch)… Last-Minute Deal App HotelTonight Raises $45 Million (Wall Street Journal)…
GoDaddy Cleans Up Marketing and Simplifies Product to Woo VSBs
The internet services company announced a major rebrand this morning, chucking the racy ads and convoluted site for a cleaner product and entrepreneur-focused pitch aimed at repositioning GoDaddy as a small business marketing firm. The rebranding includes a new marketing campaign as well as a redesign of both the company’s site and its flagship website-building product…
Is ‘The Road’ a Community News Model That Can Go the Distance?
What to make of the ambitious “The Road” project that C-Ville Weekly in Charlottesville, Va., presented last week on its website? Is this multimedia extravaganza a promising way for community sites to go in their Holy Grail-like quest for a news model that will engage users and attract advertisers — and make for a better community, to boot? Keep in mind that “The Road” consumed more than 300 hours of editorial and production time, but didn’t produce a single dollar of revenue…
How to Find Great Salespeople for Your Hyperlocal Business
Finding the right salespeople is one of the keys to success for any hyperlocal startup with plans to sell to local merchants, but identifying and hiring professionals with the right skillsets isn’t always as easy as it sounds. In an effort to bring some clarity to the issue, we checked in with five hyperlocal executives and asked about their strategies for finding salespeople who can effectively sell to local merchants. Here is their advice…
Here’s What A Good Lead Looks Like in Local
Radius uses the core technology developed at Fwix — a system for aggregating and structuring the billion of references to places across the web — to track the activity of local businesses, and then packages the information in a business intelligence product for firms looking to sell to local businesses. Street Fight recently caught up with Darian Shirazi, the company’s founder, to discuss the digital traits of a great prospect and who’s winning (and losing) in the local marketplace…
Geo-Intent: Going to Where the Puck Will Be
So what can make a business geo-disruptive? Beyond location awareness, it is far more important to know where a person is headed and his needs and wants at the destination. Let’s call this “geo-intent.” For the geo and mobile world to move towards its promise, web designers should be focusing more on creating engaged, opt-in behavior, and gaining robust information on geointent. With better information on geo-intent, solutions can be well targeted, and privacy concerns are more likely to fade…
Street Fight Daily: Dow Jones Sells Local Media Group, ReachLocal CEO Resigns
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… Dow Jones Sells Local Media Group (Poynter)… ReachLocal CEO Gordon Resigns, Chairman Steps In As Interim (MediaPost)… Making Its First Acquisitions, Eventbrite Buys Ticketing Service Eventioz And Event Data Company Lanyrd (GigaOm)…
Legacy Media’s ‘Agency’ Business: Just More Brand Extension?
When we clear aside all the hype, legacy companies with “agency” offerings are just creating clutter in the marketplace without offering anything of substantial new value for merchants. Media companies are far too busy playing defense to consider offense, and defense always includes copying what the other guy across town is doing…
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