News and Analysis

The Place of Newspapers in the Local Marketing Ecosystem

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“Digitally speaking, NextDoor is encroaching on a space that local papers really should own.” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal. “It’s basically a glorified forum that in my view would be every bit as successful, if not more so, if hosted by a truly local entity.”

New CEO at Daily Voice Says Full-Bore Expansion Is His Mission

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Randy Kilgore succeeds Carll Tucker, who founded Daily Voice in 2010, after a long career in print community news and will continue as chairman of the private Daily Voice company. In this Q & A, the two execs talk about the transition and what’s next for hyperlocal news network.

Street Fight Daily: Inside Uber’s Messy CEO Search, Why Brick-and-Mortars Are Closing Down

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber’s Search for New CEO Hampered by Deep Split on Board… Amazon Is One Part of a Much Larger Picture of the Retail Apocalypse… Focus on Mobile and Product Drives Q2 Digital Ads…

Latest Posts

6 Geofencing Tools for Small Businesses

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A number of mobile advertising platforms have recently stepped up with geofencing tools aimed directly at small business owners. Here are six tools that businesses of all sizes can use to reach out to consumers at targeted locations…

Where to Look if You’re a Job-Seeking Professional in Local

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Based on our conversations with presidents and CEOs and other data we track in the marketplace, we have seen a strong demand in two key areas: sales and technology. Companies continue to build up both inside, outside and national sales forces across the country. On the technology front, if you have experience with a consumer driven web company, you know how robust the job market currently is for people with your skill set. Learn more about who’s hiring and who’s not…

Street Fight Daily: Trulia Files for IPO, Groupon Investors Exit

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Trulia Files to Go Public (New York Times)… Groupon Investors Give Up (Wall Street Journal)… Layoffs At Plum District Point To Changes In Hyperlocal Deals Market (TechCrunch)…

All Geotargeting Methods Are Not Created Equal

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The social-mobile-local movement will most certainly drive even stronger interest in and use of geotargeting. But with all the options available, what factors dictate when marketers should use one method over another? It depends on what message they want to convey to whom and when, along with how much contact and engagement they want with the consumer…

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Square, RapidBlue

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In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan discuss the Starbucks/Square tie-up. Meanwhile, RapidBlue wonders if in-store movement the next battleground for location. Plus a special clip of “Fast Shopper, Slow Store” author Gary Schwartz…

Street Fight Daily: Square Offers Flat Rate, Food Network Goes Local

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology...

Square Offers Flat-Rate Plan for Small Businesses (New York Times)…

Food Network Goes Local, Builds Its Own Meal Finder App (GigaOm)…

Instagram 3.0 Bets Big On Geolocation With Photo Maps (TechCrunch)…

Will ‘Breaking Promos’ Help Hyperlocals Bring New Customers to SMBs?

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SMBs have been flocking to social sites like Facebook, where they can set up neat pages about their products and service. That’s fine, says Scott Karp, but “the only customers they reach are existing ones.” To solve this, his service Breaking Promos lets SMBs create pages on a social site that runs within the pages of hyperlocal news sites….

Case Study: Salon Keeps Customers Coming Back With Wacky Rewards

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As a co-owner at Red 7 Salon, Jason Hall likes to think of his business as the “Cheers of the salon world.” Rather than encouraging loyalty with cash-back incentives, Hall has partnered with Belly to give away “fun” rewards — like the chance to shave one of the salon owners’ heads — that don’t cost his business a dime…

Street Fight Daily: Retailers Get Into Mobile Payments, Holovaty Out at EveryBlock

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology... Target, Walmart and Co.: Why Leave Mobile Payments to Others? (GigaOm)… Did Yelp and TripAdvisor Push Google to Compete? (New York Times/Bits)… Founder Adrian Holovaty Leaving EveryBlock After 5 Years (Holovaty.com)…

Deep Data and the Semantics of Local

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In the case of local search, there is no prevailing reason beyond lack of attention to prevent the industry from doing a better job of serving the full range of consumer needs. For the time being, industry attention is still directed in a self-fulfilling way toward the activities that have always received attention. This is the safe bet, but safe bets don’t lead to progress…