News and Analysis

Street Fight Daily: Sizmek Shutters Rocket Fuel Brand, Stitch Fix Prepares IPO in Amazon’s Shadow

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Sizmek Shuts Down the Rocket Fuel Brand to Focus on Ad Transparency… Stitch Fix Prepares an IPO in the Shadow of Amazon… Google AMP Update to Discourage Publishers from Using Teaser Pages…

Why Commercial Banks Are Turning to Proximity Technology

That location intelligence firms are able to use foot traffic patterns to predict the financial performance of businesses is nothing new. But a new report released shines a light on the ways commercial banks and investment companies are upping the ante by using location data to get the most out of the market.

How Thanksgiving Day Store Closures Impact Black Friday Sales

Shoppers say they don’t want retailers opening their doors on Thanksgiving Day, but research from Foursquare tells a different story. Analyzing proprietary foot traffic data at major retailers, Foursquare found that stores that open earlier on Thanksgiving Day drive more visits and steal share from their competitors.

Latest Posts

LocalVox Turns to SMB Seminars to Drive Leads in New Markets

New York-based LocalVox is expanding from New York and Boston to Washington D.C. The move is a small-but-significant step in the company’s grand plan to replace legacy players like ReachLocal as the marketing platform of choice for local businesses. LocalVox’s product allows small business to publish content across their own email, social, and web properties, as well as to a host of listing sites and other media properties from a single touchpoint…

Street Fight Daily: Samsung’s ‘Passbook’ App, PayPal Co-Founder’s Payments Play

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Samsung Takes a Page from Apple’s Passbook With New Wallet App (Verge)… PayPal Co-Founder Levchin Launches New Payments Startup, Affirm (AllThingsD)… Apple Patents Situational Awareness And Location Information Sharing For Mobile Devices (TechCrunch)…

Just Another Chat With a Frustrated Patch Editor

“We have had two conference calls in a row the last two weeks with the people at HQ excitedly talking about big ideas that are going to get us to profitability, but the ideas sound like bad ones, not to mention ones that they have already tried,” said this editor, a mix of frustration and exasperation in his voice. “They are getting farther away from the hyperlocal vision and really pushing generic SEO content to try and get unique visitors…”

How to Ensure That Your Geofence Is Sized Correctly

Location-based push campaigns have a lot of upside, from satisfied customers to higher ROI. But it can be a thin line that separates a successful campaign from one that leaves mobile users extremely annoyed — so really homing in on how to deliver the right geofence to optimize your campaign is crucial…

Street Fight Daily: Foursquare Expands Deals, Visa Teams with Samsung

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Foursquare Opens Up Check-In Deals to More Kinds of Plastic (AllThingsD)… Visa Teams Up With Samsung on Mobile Payments (New York Times)… With ClubLocal and New SaaS Tools, ReachLocal Wants to be the Amazon of Local services (PandoDaily)…

Voice Media Group Relaunches City Apps — Can Mobile Really Be Alt-Weeklies’ Salvation?

Voice Media Group, which acquired 11 alt-weeklies around the country back in October, is re-launching its various cities’ mobile apps, which it hopes will become go-to listings and reviews guides for their local markets. According to Tiffany Shackelford, the executive director at the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, many alt-weeklies, like VMG, are beginning to understand the importance of mobile…

5 Strategies for SMBs Using Social Gifting Apps

Translating Facebook fans and Twitter followers into actual sales is a challenge that even the largest brands are still working to overcome. To break through the clutter and get noticed, small businesses are increasingly using social gifting platforms to send gift cards and physical items to online fans. Here are five tips from the experts on what small businesses can do to ensure a high ROI on any social gifting promotions…

Street Fight Daily: Airbnb Eyeing Former Square COO, Nokia Opens ‘Here’

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Airbnb May Hire Former Square Exec Rabois as COO (Wall Street Journal)… Nokia Opens Up Here platform With an Eye to the Future (GigaOm)… Why Big Brands Fell Out of Love with Check-Ins (Digiday)…

Case Study: Restaurant Chain Uses Mobile Program to Target Nearby Customers

At 54th Street Grill & Bar, a regional chain with 19 locations in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and Texas, marketing director Kelly Reid used a mobile loyalty platform called Front Flip to send discounted offers to consumers who’d visited businesses within a five-mile-radius of any 54th Street locations without checking-in at one of her restaurants, and had managers ask those customers why they hadn’t come in before. Here’s more about what she learned….

5 Ways SMBs Can Find Success With Social Media Marketing

A debate has been brewing on Street Fight over whether small business owners should be spending money on social media, and its general overall importance as a marketing strategy. We figured it might be worth it to check in with a few social media marketing companies to get their latest and best tips and insights for SMB success in social media…