News and Analysis
Facebook Brings Users to Local Sites — But the Rest Is Up to the Sites
The verdict is in: local news publishers do need Facebook, Google and other giant distribution platforms. But only to get the first part of the job done. Whether you’re a self-funded entrepreneurial pure-play publisher or a corporate chain of daily newspapers, you can’t, on your own, generate all the traffic that the platforms deliver to your site.
5 Retailers Tapping Voice-Controlled Assistants for Frictionless Shopping
According to a survey by Linc and BrandGarage, one-in-five retailers already believes voice will be an important channel within two years, and 44% of retailers that are increasing their use of AI say they’re doing so through conversational commerce interfaces, Here’s how five major retailers are harnessing the technology.
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Local Media Companies Need to Evolve — And Do It Fast
Local media’s traditional big-man-on-campus chest-thumping doesn’t mean the same thing in digital that it does in the analog world. In fact, it’s downright laughable. So what do we do when we hit the wall, when we regularly miss revenue targets, when long term projections keep slipping more and more? So what do we do when we keep hiring more ad reps, only to discover that our revenue-per-rep begins to fall, when the evidence is undeniable that we’ve hit that wall? Here are five recommendations.
Case Study: For NYC Nightlife Group, Adding Restrictions Increases Deal Profitability
As the marketing director for The Lure Group, Kelly Bruce isn’t afraid to try new digital platforms on for size. Over the years, she’s worked with dozens of hyperlocal vendors, including Foursquare, Yelp, Gilt City, Grouper, Scoutmob, and HowAboutWe. “We’re doing all these different experience packages to bring in a new audience who might not be familiar with the venues,” said Bruce. “Every couple of weeks, we reach new people.”
Street Fight Daily: Tribune To Split Publishing, Google Improves Maps
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… Tribune to Split Publishing, Broadcast Businesses (Wall Street Journal)… A Better Google Maps App for Apple and Android Devices (New York Times)… Instacart: Crowdsourcing Your Grocery Shopping (Businessweek)…
Yelp Presses Into Commerce With New Local Delivery Product
Yelp launched a new product Tuesday that will allow customers to order food from participating merchants directly through its site or its mobile app. The move marks a seminal point in the company’s history, as the local discovery firm transitions from an information provider to an integrated local commerce service…
Bolstered By Bulls In North America, Global Mobile Ad Spend Jumps 82%
A new report from the IAB finds that global mobile advertising revenue jumped 82% in 2012, growing from $4.84 billion in 2011 to nearly $9 billion last year as smartphone adoption ramps and blue-chip marketers shift budget to mobile media. The bullish numbers, which are in line with other estimates, were bolstered by exceptional growth in the North American market…
Street Fight Daily: Google Retires Latitude, Life360 Raises $10M
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology….Google Is Retiring Its Latitude Location-Sharing Service (TheNextWeb)… Family App Life360 Raises $10 million Series B Round For Growth, International Expansion (GigaOm)… Belo Is Now Worth More Than Gannett Is Paying (Bloomberg)…
With New Products, Factual Aims to Make ‘Big Data’ Smaller
After five years of ingesting, cleaning and packaging the world’s information, the startup is focusing exclusively on local, improving its geo-fencing product and moving up the data stack to build out a location analytics business. The company announced this morning that it has launched a new line of services aimed at helping mobile developers, publishers, and marketers make sense of the reams of location data collected from consumers…
6 Reasons to Opt for Card-Linked Loyalty Programs
Customer analytics have become an integral part of the local merchant’s marketing toolbox, and digital loyalty providers are increasingly leveraging their own data to help clients make more informed business decisions. Hyperlocal vendors with loyalty programs that are linked to credit cards or debit cards are especially well positioned to take advantage of this trend. Here are six reasons why loyalty providers should consider structuring their programs to connect with customer’s credit or debit cards…
Street Fight Daily: TaskRabbit Confirms Layoffs, Charting A Future for Local News
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… TaskRabbit Confirms Layoffs As It Realigns To Focus On Mobile And Enterprise (TechCrunch)… Charting a Locally Owned, For-Profit Future for Community News (Nieman Journalism Lab)… Why Investors Who Got Burned By Groupon Might Still Snap Up An IPO From RetailMeNot (Quartz)…
Which Hyperlocal Startup Will Be Next to IPO?
“[The markets] are probably as, or in many cases, more open to [hyperlocal companies] today, largely because they’re seeing some early success in other models,” said First Analysis’ Todd Van Fleet. “They know it can be done; it’s just a question of having the right model. Whereas Groupon may have created a disconcerting tone across the space, you have had the success of Angie’s List, Yelp and even mobile payments players like Square prove that a portion of the [local business marketplace] can be won.”
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