News and Analysis

Patch’s Leader Says the Network Today Is Proof That Local Can Scale

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Warren St. John, who has led Hale Global’s Patch since its 2015 takeover from Aol., says the network has evolved into a workable model for scaled local news — editorially, financially and as a community asset. In this Q & A, he presents his case.

Street Fight Daily: Brands Benefit from Voice Revolution, Placed Unveils New Attribution Tool

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… As Voice Has Its Moment, Tech Giants Give Brands a Way Into the Conversation (AdWeek) Voice is having its moment. People are talking, devices are listening and brands are attempting to insert themselves into the conversation, using Amazon Alexa voice skills and Google […]

SMB Index: Local Stocks Make Gains in September

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After a flat month in August, the SCP SMB Index gained 2.1%, consistent with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones. Xero led the gainers, up 17.7% in the month of September, while GrubHub led the list of losers down 7.8% during September.

Latest Posts

#SFSNYC VIDEOS: Panels and Presentations From Our Recent NYC Summit

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It’s been a couple of weeks since we gathered hundreds of hyperlocal industry execs in New York at the Street Fight Summit, but we’re still sifting through a lot of the ideas and inspiration that emerged from those few days. We’ve uploaded video clips of nearly all the onstage presentations and panels and are happy to share them with you…

6 Indoor Navigation Platforms for Retailers

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Nearly three-quarters of consumers with smartphones say they would rather use their mobile devices inside a store than ask an associate for help. Here are six platforms that merchants of all sizes can use to help customers find products on store shelves and perhaps complete more transactions…

Street Fight Daily: Abraham Leaves eBay, Opentable Acquires Foodspotting

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.eBay Loses Head of Local Jack Abraham (Fortune)… OpenTable to Acquire Foodspotting for $10 Million (The New York Times)… Why the Future of Local-Mobile Advertising Is Not What You May Think (Screenwerk)…

What Multilocation Brands Need to Do to Prepare for Facebook’s Graph Search

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National brands have invested nearly all their Facebook resources in building and supporting brand pages for the purpose of publishing content and managing customer relationships at the corporate level. But these brands don’t do business at the corporate level.They do business at the local level through large, brick-and-mortar networks. When it comes to Graph Search, these physical locations and their corresponding local Facebook pages are what really matter…

Bringing SMB Point-of-Sale Systems to the Cloud

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The introduction of SaaS POS has broad implications, not only for payment firms like Square, but also a host of other loyalty and lead generation start-ups that have worked to tie into the point of sale over the past 18 months. It brings scalable access to real-time data on nearly every inch of local retailers’ operations, not only accelerating existing sectors like loyalty and rewards but opening new opportunities for key services like live inventory search…

Street Fight Daily: Group Commerce Layoffs, Mayer Talks Location

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Group Commerce Has Laid Off 28% Of Its Staff (Business Insider)… Is Foursquare on Marissa Mayer’s Silicon Alley Shopping List? (BetaBeat)… Keith Rabois Talks About Sexual Harassment Claim, Becoming a “Distraction” at Square and What’s Next (AllThingsD)…

Can Foursquare Get Its Mojo Back by Embracing ‘Passive’ Check-Ins?

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Does Foursquare need to be “fun” anymore? I’d say no. “Fun” means fighting an ever-diminishing battle over consumer mindshare on mobile — a fight Foursquare is losing. It’s also contrary to what Foursquare is trying to build with its Explore functionality…

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Lumi Mobile

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In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan look at Google’s moves with Zavers and Fieldtrip. They also touch on payments companies PayPal and GoBank and examine RedStripe’s latest local initiative. Plus special guest Dan Foreman of Lumi Mobile talks the death of surveys…

Street Fight Daily: Square COO Departs, Hyperlocal Investment in 2013

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Square COO Keith Rabois Departs Company (AllThingsD)… Mobile, Local & Search: 5 Sources of Innovation & Investment in 2013 (Search Engine Watch)… Why the Department Store Experience Needs a Serious Upgrade, Too (Venture Beat)…

The Big Implications for Local in Facebook’s New Graph Search

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Given that Facebook is using multiple individualized cues to return search results that are customized for you, traditional SEO — already threatened by Google’s moves toward personalization — will be close to meaningless in the new context of Graph Search…