News and Analysis
Street Fight Daily: Brands Bet on Dynamic Ads, Inside Uber’s Espionage Operation
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Brands Bet on Smarter Ads… The Tricks and Travails of Uber’s Spies… After Folding in Print, Self Finds Audience of Over 8 Million on Snapchat…
How Major Brands Are ‘Gamifying’ the Consumer Buying Experience
Although gamification itself is not a new marketing strategy, advancements in mobile apps and location technologies are providing brands with new opportunities to engage customers using these time-tested techniques. Here’s how six major brands are using gamification to change the consumer experience and promote loyalty.
Street Fight Daily: GoDaddy Acquires Main Street Hub, New York Times Leads Way on Loyalty
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… GoDaddy Is Acquiring Main Street Hub, Social Marketing Platform for SMBs… How the New York Times Uses Interactive Tools to Build Loyalty and Subscriptions… Here’s Why the Epidemic of Malicious Ads Grew So Much Worse Last Year…
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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.”
5 Tools to Track Conversions from Social Media to In-Store Traffic
The vast majority of SMBs have no idea whether the “fans” and “likes” they’ve generated via social media are actually translating into real-world sales. A number of hyperlocal vendors are stepping in to help solve this mystery. These companies have created digital platforms with tools that help business owners track the number of online fans they’ve managed to convert into actual customers. Here are five of those platforms…
Street Fight Daily: AT&T Sells Location Data, Square Partners With Apple Retail
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… AT&T Will Start Anonymously Selling Your Location Data To Marketers (Business Insider)…. Apple Retail, Square Partner To Sell iPad-based Square Stand (9To5 Mac)… LSA: 10.5 Billion Print + IYP ‘Refences’ in 2012 (Screenwerk)…
Village Voice Brings on a New Top Editor
Two months after the Village Voice’s editor and deputy editor walked out, Voice Media Group has tapped Tom Finkel, the editor of the Riverfront Times in St. Louis, to take the helm at the struggling alt-weekly.
Why SMB Marketing Services Won’t Save Newspapers’ Bottom Line
Most newspapers aren’t building new and innovative tools to provide SMB services. Instead they are white labeling offerings from other providers or are connecting their audiences to an existing service. Over time, SMB tools are going to become a commodity. When someone who is still in high school can offer exactly what you are offering, you’re in trouble. With the high cost structures and overhead that newspapers have, being in a commodity business (where margins get pushed lower and lower) won’t prove lucrative in the end…
Openings & New Hires at Square, Facebook, LocalVox and More
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. Moves this edition include a new product engineer at Square, an exiting publisher at DNAinfo, plus openings at Oracle, LinkedIn, WorldNow and more…
LBMA Podcast: The Mobile Payment Journey of the Future
In this week’s episode, Asif’s take on location based marketing in China; Twitter finally develops geo-targeted ads; Facebook helps get you (almost) free wifi; Google plans to launch thing-sharing service Mine, and Pandora quadruples its audience. Plus our resource of the week: The mobile payment journey of the future. And special guest Keller Rinaudo, co-founder of Romotive.
Street Fight Daily: Patch Editors Concerned, Apple Patents Waze Alternative
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… Patch Editor:’From What I See On The Ground, We Are On Our Last Legs’ (Romenesko)… Apple Details Waze-like Crowd-sourced Route Ratings For Real-Time Traffic Alerts in Maps (9to5 Mac)… Location Tracking App Glympse Links With Evernote To Let Users Archive Their Trails (TechCrunch)… Location Tracking App Glympse Links With Evernote To Let Users Archive Their Trails (TechCrunch)…
There’s a ‘Metropolitan Revolution,’ but Where’s Hyperlocal?
Community news sites don’t always have to invest in major staffing and other resources to enhance their editorial. In three recent cases, public and nonprofit agencies and other bodies supplied virtually all the information that would generate engagement-producing stories – the kind advertisers are supposed to like. All it would take is labor-efficient curating and copying and pasting…
Case Study: Switching to a Cloud-Based POS For Increased Reliability, Lower Costs
As a seasoned restaurateur, Steven Cook already knew that traditional hardware-based point-of-sale systems could be overly expensive and unreliable when he opened Federal Donuts — a shop that sells cake donuts and Korean style fried chicken — in late 2011. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that there were alternative options for quick-service restaurants…
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem