News and Analysis

Digital Transformation of Outdoor Attracting New Advertisers

Geopath President Kym Frank says the money that outdoor advertising industry put towards digital has reinvigorated the market by becoming more interactive and targeted. Meanwhile, the opportunity to measure the reach and effectiveness of outdoor has brought new relevance to the medium.

Street Fight Daily: Verizon Offers Rewards for User Data, LinkedIn Sharpens AdTech Strategy

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Verizon Wants to Build an Advertising Juggernaut. It Needs Consumer Data First… LinkedIn Bolsters AdTech Game, Launches Audience Network… WhatsApp Tools and Features for Businesses Are Coming…

6 Mobile Customer Service Platforms for Retailers

Tech vendors are stepping in with mobile solutions designed to expand the ways store associates interact with customers. These solutions allow employees to do everything from checking inventory and processing transactions on smartphones to accessing real-time information about current promotions and customer purchase histories.

Latest Posts

Block-by-Blockers Respond to Borrell’s Revenue Prescription

“People are beginning to figure out that the display advertising model is a bad carryover from mass media,” says Gordon Borrell. “What does that mean for the future of hyperlocal websites? I think there’s value in them, but I honestly don’t think there’s enough value to sustain the business model in any single market beyond being a very small niche.”

How Real Estate Agents Are Using LBS to Connect Buyers and Sellers

Real estate has always been about “location, location, location,” but that maxim is truer now than ever. Mobile apps and location-based services are increasingly becoming an important part of a real estate agent’s marketing arsenal, and an important part of the way prospective buyers find places to live…

Street Fight Daily: Yelp Surges, Google Monetizes Third-party Maps

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Yelp Surges as Growth Potential Counters Lockup Expiry (Businessweek)… Google Launches New Ad Formats To Help Developers Monetize Google Maps (TechCrunch)… Square Extends Its Retail Reach, Now Sells Its Card Reader at 1k AT&T Stores, 20k total (The Next Web)…

Why Are Local Search Results Polluted With Bad Content?

Really good local is half Q&A, half search and includes enough activity and ratings and comments to provide more than temporal relevance. But many sites that come up high in searches have few ratings, and don’t provide me with particularly useful or relevant information. And there is rarely a social graph overlay…

6 Ways to Encourage User Contributions on Hyperlocal Sites

Encouraging readers to comment on stories, share news tips, and contribute content involves more than adding a commenting widget or slapping a “Tips” button on the header of a site. Here are six tips from successful publishers and editors about how independent publications can solicit feedback from their readers online…

Street Fight Daily: Yelp Bulls Get Bearish, Google Wants More Wallet

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Yelp Traders Brace for Lockup Expiration; ‘Better to Be Safe Than Sorry’ (Wall Street Journal)… Google Wallet Aspires To Hold All Your Cards and Tickets (GigaOm)… How The Web ‘Check In’ Is Growing Up (Forbes)…

Where Do Business Listings Come From?

At some point in the future, local data must become purely digital, because the phone book will not be around forever. But until a critical mass of U.S. businesses understands the rationale for managing online data, this fundamental problem will continue. We need the concerted effort of all local search players to educate the local business community and advocate for the transition to digital data…

Clif Bar Uses Foursquare’s API for Geo-Targeted Twitter Campaign

By restricting advertisers from targeting users at specific locations, Twitter has made it difficult for big brands to use its platform when running geo-targeted campaigns in the past. Clif Bar found a way around this challenge earlier this summer, when the company began asking customers with GPS-enabled devices to voluntarily tweet their locations for the chance to win coupons and prizes…

Street Fight Daily: iPhone Leaks Show NFC, LivingSocial Sued

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Here Comes Passbook: Latest Leak Points To NFC-Equipped Next-Gen iPhone (TechCrunch)… Marketer That Sued Groupon Now Targeting LivingSocial (CNet)… Marketer That Sued Groupon Now Targeting LivingSocial (CNet)…

Data That Thinks ‘Big,’ But Acts Local

Local media is increasingly colliding with the emerging super-sector known as “Big Data.” This will define the “mobile+local” promise we keep hearing about — that location targeted ads will boost relevance, performance and thus monetiztion. But one thing often missing from the discussion is what the heck we mean by “location targeted?”