News and Analysis

Local Marketing on Alexa? The Real Estate Industry Gives It a Shot

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There are almost 40 real estate “skills” currently listed in Alexa’s directory. This is greater than those related to lawyers/attorneys, doctors/dentists, and a host of other SMB categories, and overall there doesn’t yet appear to be much adoption of voice technology at the local business level.

JCPenney’s Outgoing Mobile Chief: Digital Integration Vital for Retail Brands

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“The most exhilarating thing about being in mobile is that it’s ever-changing. The traditional way of doing retail is dying; you have to reinvent yourself to stay relevant,” James Meeks, former head of mobile at JCPenney, told Street Fight.

Street Fight Daily: Yelp Fights Companies Soliciting Reviews, Snap Reckons with Post-IPO Disaster

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp Increasingly Cracking Down on ‘Review Solicitation’… Snapchat Is Having a Crisis of Confidence. So Are Investors… Postmates Launches Grocery Service, Scheduled Deliveries, and Revamped App…

Latest Posts

When Will The Last Yellow Pages Book be Printed?

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With the rise of local search sites, social media, and mobile directories, the physical Yellow Pages books delivered to consumers’ doors — long a staple of local marketing — are quickly becoming obsolete. We asked a few folks from around the industry what date they would envision for the directories’ final print run…

Street Fight Daily: Newspaper Revenues Sink, Why ZocDoc is Winning

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Newspaper Ad Sales Skid for Seventh Straight Year (Newosaur)… Why ZocDoc is Winning: Dissenting Employees, Unlimited Vacation, & Diet Coke (VentureBeat)… Brands Buy Real-Time Mobile Ads Based on the Weather (AdWeek)…

Efficiently Selling to SMBs: Finding Paths of Less Resistance

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We’re entering a more fertile environment for what I’ll call the SMB advertising “Trojan Horse.” Local companies start by targeting SMBs’ CRM systems, payroll, back office management, reputation management and payment processing. From there, local advertising can be unveiled as a “one-stop-shop” upsell…

Layar Shifts Focus From AR to Print, But Has Hopes for Geo-Located Future

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When Layar launched in 2010, a lot of excitement about the Dutch company stemmed from its augmented reality browser. But while the concept was very cool to local-focused techies, it didn’t quite catch on with regular users the way that it needed to…

Street Fight Daily: HopStop Channels Waze, Should Groupon Buy Foursquare?

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.HopStop Live Brings Real-Time Crowdsourced Transit Information to the iPhone (Verge)… Check In, Flame Out: How To Save Foursquare (TechCrunch)… Patent filing Suggests Apple is Working on ‘Street View’ mMapping Technology (Apple Insider)…

Why the Commoditization of Local Information Is an Opportunity for Journalism

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Some have seen the shift of local information — from something that was unique to newspapers to a commodity that is available from a variety of sources — as the end to local news. But I actually think it presents a great opportunity for journalists to do what they do best: put information into context and tell us why it matters…

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Beergram

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In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan discuss the Singapore government’s plan to roll out location-based services; Google’s Niantic Labs gets into book publishing; Locu uses big data to track Pabst Blue Ribbon consumption (and identify the Hipster density). Plus special guest Andrea Sanchez, founder of Beergram.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Home’s Local Angle, Why Yelp Needs Help

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Facebook Home: The Local Angle (Screenwerk)… After Ditching The Groupon Model, Zozi Lands $10M To Build Out Its Marketplace For Celebrity-Guided Adventures (TechCrunch)… Why Yelp Needs Help (PCMag)…

How Partnerships Can Help Hyperlocal Sites Expand Their Reach

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There’s a saying that’s echoing more insistently today in hyperlocal publishing: “Don’t compete – collaborate.” Editor and publisher Susan Mernit puts that saying into practice at Oakland Local, partnering with other media and non-profits to juice content, build visibility, and generate revenue…

Case Study: Nonprofit Uses Hyperlocal Content to Reach Families

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What started out as an online cookie sale in 2008 turned into much more for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, when the pediatric cancer research nonprofit formed a partnership with hyperlocal content network Macaroni Kid to promote its local bake sales across the country in 2010…