News and Analysis

Case Study: How an Unusual, Soft-Sell Sponsored Post Turned Readers Into Customers

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“I tried to think about everything I hated about sponsored posts and do the opposite,” says Aaron Seyedian, the founder of Well Paid Maids. “As a reader, I find that sponsored posts on blogs are often lengthy, impersonal and overly centered on sales. I set out to write a post that would be succinct and personal.”

Street Fight Daily: How Google Cashes in on AI, Uber CEO Says IPO 18-36 Months Out

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google and Microsoft Can Use AI to Extract Billions More in Ad Dollars from Clicks… New Uber CEO Says Company Could Go Public in 18 Months… Coming Soon to Facebook Watch: Sponsored Shows…

Street Fight Daily: Microsoft & Amazon Integrate Cortana/Alexa, USA Today Personalizes Homepage

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… In Surprising Move, Microsoft and Amazon Integrate Voice Assistants… USA Today’s Facebook-Like, Personalized Mobile Site Succeeds in Grabbing User Attention… For New Uber CEO, Fresh Challenges Already Emerge…

Latest Posts

Hyperlocals Dig In as Sandy Bears Down on East Coast Communities

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From Cape May, N.J., up the Atlantic Coast to New England, hyperlocal news sites put on their slickers and boots to prepare for “perfect storm” Sandy. We asked a few publishers what they have been doing today as they gear for more intense news around Sandy as the storm soon makes landfall along the eastern seaboard.

Localeze’s Beard: Mobile Raising the Bar for Local Search

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Street Fight spoke recently with Localeze president, Jeff Beard to discuss local search and businesses’ online identities, the interplay between daily deals providers and listings companies, and the continuing advancement of mobile strategies in local…

Case Study: Pizza Chain Finds New Ways to Build Email Database

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As the director of marketing at Stone Hearth Pizza in Boston, Alex Chamberlain is always on the lookout for ways to grow her email database. She’s found that the best way to acquire new email addresses is by requiring customers to input their contact information when redeeming limited-time deals and promotions…

Street Fight Daily: Google Tests Same-Day Delivery, Facebook’s Local Hole

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Google Is Testing Same-Day Delivery for Shoppers (New York Times)… The Big Market Facebook is Missing Out On (GigaOm)… Now Amazon Can Easily Win The $100 Billion Local Commerce Market And The $150 Billion Smartphone Market (Forbes)…

Postmates CEO: Online and Offline Commerce Will ‘Melt Into One’

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“We give our consumers what can be seen as a remote control that allows them to browse the inventory of a city, buy an item, and have that item delivered in under an hour,” says CEO Bastian Lehmann. “Whatever Fedex does on the global level, we want to be able to do that on a micro-urban level.”

Street Fight Poll: Word-of-Mouth Is Primary Driver of Local Business

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A new Street Fight poll finds that even with a slew of new locally targeted marketing platforms at local merchants’ disposal, word-of-mouth is still a primary driver of local consumer behavior. The poll of 500 U.S. consumers found that 43% of consumers are most likely to shop or dine at a local business after a recommendation from a friend or colleague…

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Placecast, Expion

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In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan reflect on the first 100 shows. Innovation finally strikes with ByteLight; the Green Giant makes his augmented reality debut; stories from Placecast, Klash and Facedeals; and a ton of acquisitions, our resource of the week from Shopify, and special guest Erica McClenney of Expion…

Street Fight Daily: LivingSocial Takes $566M Loss, Mayer Buys Stamped

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Amazon Loss Puts Spotlight on Daily-Deal Firm LivingSocial (Reuters)… Mayer Strikes First Deal at Yahoo With Acquisition of Stamped (New York Times)… What we’ve learned a year after Groupon’s IPO (Crain’s Chicago Business)…

Village Soup Today: The Pot Is Full and Bubbling Again

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Counting all his revenue streams — online and print subscriptions, paid business and nonprofit briefs, display ads and licensing for publishing software — Reade Brower says he has achieved, in a few months’ time, the sustainability that eluded former Village Soup owner Richard Anderson in 14 years. “Everything is very steady,” Brower said. “The money is good.”

Hyperlocal Retail Directories Go After ‘Shop Local’ Consumers

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Two key reasons why consumers shop local is immediacy of purchase and physical confirmation of product, (i.e. making sure a shoe fits). Fab and Etsy can’t ship their products to you for delivery this afternoon — and it’s tedious for a consumer to filter product offerings based on retail location. That leaves room for hyperlocal retail directories like GatherLA.com , which curates designers in Los Angeles for discovery by local consumers…