News and Analysis

Raise Report: DemandBase, G2 Crowd, People.ai Score New Funding

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Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for Frichti, Bulletin, StreamSets, and Julie Desk.

Street Fight Daily: Apple Manufacturing ‘Smart Home’ Speaker, Blue Apron Files for IPO

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… For Smart Home Speakers, a Possible New Competitor… Blue Apron Delivers $100 Million IPO Filing… Uber Says It Just Noticed Error on Pay, But It Was No Secret…

How Legacy Retailers Are Infusing Tech Into Brick-and-Mortar

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Many brick-and-mortar retailers are finding more ways to integrate in-store experiences and ecommerce into their offerings — both to offset brick-and-mortar declines and to drive more foot traffic into their stores. It is a redefinition of a retail revolution that still has fighting power for the old retail guard.

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Swipely Launches Direct Marketing Product Tied to Payments

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The company’s new back-end solution brings ecommerce tools to offline stores. The “Main Street Marketing Manager,” which has been running in a closed beta for the past year, enables local merchants to build loyalty and marketing programs on top of their existing credit and debit card processing systems…

Why Don Draper Would Hate Hyperlocal

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Many brands are still stuck in the days of Don Draper, failing to see that the potential for a lasting bond is even greater with hyperlocal (and delivers better ROI). Campaigns on services like LevelUp, LivingSocial or Tackable have more resonance precisely because they are tied to where you are. They tap into your good feelings around, say, your favorite pizza place, a connection that doesn’t require the same kind of shaping by big media or advertising mavens.

Yext Partners With UBL, Begins Push to Scale

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The reapproachment between the competitors indicates a substantial shift in strategy for both companies as Yext looks for scale and UBL repositions its brand. UBL appears to be pushing forward with a full-service SEO/listings management product. Conversely, Yext is planting its flag as a technology play…

FTC Pushes ‘Do Not Track’ for Consumer Privacy

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The Federal Trade Commission this morning released its final Commission Privacy Report, emphasizing the need for a “do not track” mechanism to protect consumers from unauthorized collection of their personal information and more laws to protect consumer privacy. The report will give hyperlocal advertisers, publishers, and location-based services some insight on the direction policymakers will take in 2012 regarding consumer privacy…

Carrier-Based Geo-Fencing Gives Brands the Power to Push

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I’ve said all along that location-based marketing will only be truly successful in attracting significant ad dollars when we realize that it more than just a mobile marketing concept — and really much more about the integration of any media that has the ability to influence somebody in a specific place. It appears that some brands are getting the message…

Consumer Privacy in Focus as Regulators Zero in on Mobile

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Jules Polonetsky, co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum, says that policy makers should not confuse their desire to protect consumers with legitimate passive use of smartphone data to provide core mobile services. Those functions include using tower triangulation to locate the device in order to provide the strongest signal, ensure critical mission flows, or help users find wifi connections…

Conference Notebook: Sales More Important Than Ever for Local

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Sales force optimization doesn’t tend to draw big crowds. But it’s arguably the most pressing issue facing legacy local media’s slow but accelerating shift into the digital space — and the issue is potentially paramount to the future profitability of the hyperlocal space…

Street Fight Daily: Groupon Buys FeeFighters, Howard Owens on Paywalls

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

Groupon Acquires FeeFighters, the BillShrink for Business Services (TechCrunch)…

Paywalls Create Opportunities for Local News Entrepreneurs (howardowens.com)…

You Say ‘SoLoMo,’ I Say, ‘I Hate My Life’ (TechCrunch)…

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — PayPal, WirelessWerx

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In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan discuss Kevin Rose’s flight to Google, PayPal’s response to Square with a triangle, Amex and Twitter saved $1.7 Million at McDonald’s, the state of the local mobile transaction scene, and special guest Patrick Blattner, Chief Product Office at WirelessWerx…

5 Ways Hyperlocal News Sites Can Use Social Media to Drive Engagement

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Social media is a powerful and necessary tool for hyperlocal publications to engage with their readers and promote their work. In small communities, it can be a vital conduit to reach local people, build traffic, and provide value for advertisers. Here are five tips from hyperlocal publishers on how to increase a site’s social media presence…