News and Analysis
Street Fight Daily: Google Boosts Ads with Machine Learning, Gannett Acquires SweetIQ
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Leans on Machine Learning and Scale for Smarter Display Ads… Amazon’s Alexa Voice Tech is Now Available to Build Chatbots… Twitter is Testing a New Way to Show You News Articles…
Gannett Acquires SweetIQ, Building Out ReachLocal’s Suite of Digital Products
Gannett announced on Thursday afternoon that it has acquired Montreal-based listings management company SweetIQ, which will be rolled into its ReachLocal suite of software for small businesses and brands. SweetIQ’s products provide local businesses with tools to manage their listings and reputation, and measure consumer engagement.
Location Data About Legal Cannabis Reveals Shifts in Consumer Behavior
Another 4/20 is upon us and as cannabis patrons prepare to celebrate, the marketing world is still trying to figure out how best to reach legal consumers of marijuana. Foursquare released data earlier this week that illustrates a few trends among legal cannabis consumers.
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: 10.07.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.
Groupon said in a regulatory filing that it plans to “significantly” reduce online marketing spending over time as such investments yield insufficient returns. (Bloomberg)
“AOL’s management may be committed to Patch for now, but the company can’t continue pouring money into an unprofitable entity forever, no matter how much Webster talks about a “long-term” investment,” writes Mathew Ingram. (GigaOm)…
Getting Your Mobile Ad Performance Model Right
With so much activity (and spending) pouring into mobile advertising, there is also a growing demand for new measurement tools. Local SMBs – moreso than even big advertisers – want tangible performance results that demonstrate pre-sales and sales activity…
Beyond the Banner: Using Twitter Posts as Ad Updates
The publisher of CarsonNow.org has created an advertising system that uses Twitter to supply quick updates to ads. It takes the advertiser’s latest tweet and pairs it with a logo image, and displays it like a banner ad. The logo supplies the branding power, while the text of the tweet carries the advertising message…
Street Fight Daily: 10.06.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
U.K. regional newspaper publisher Northcliffe Media wants publishers to pay to be part of its hyperlocal network. The group is beginning a “franchise” model, where “franchisees” must pay Northcliffe at least £6,995 ($10810.24) plus VAT to run their own local site. For that, they would get keys to the site, the “ability to sell advertising space” themselves, a “marketing pack” and “handbook” and a whole three days’ training. (Paid Content)…
“It’s not worth trying to be comprehensive” in hyperlocal, writes publisher Richard Jones. “Focus on doing what you’re able to do and do it well, rather than trying to take on the impossible.” (Richard Jones Journalism Blog)…
#SFS11 Company Profile: goby,
Weekend warriors, meet goby. This search engine (www.goby.com, as well as Android and iPhone apps) returns “highly categorized and geo-tagged information” personalized based on the user’s desired activity, according to the company’s CEO and co-founder Mark Watkins…
Delivering Local Content to American Towns — All of Them
For the folks behind AmericanTowns, tackling every corner in this country is work enough. AmericanTowns.com is a work in progress begun over a decade ago in answer to the question of whether an online tool could enable citizens, groups and merchants to build a better community together…
Street Fight Daily: 10.05.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
Apple is launching a new location-sharing feature called Find My Friends, that will allow users to easily share their location with other users. The details are still coming in but users will be able to share their location with friends and find out where their friends and family are in real-time. (GigaOm)…
If enough people buy into Groupon’s IPO, it seems, they all may get a discount, writes Tom Johansmeyer. Of course, this isn’t the goal of the daily deal site, but it could be an unintended consequence. (Business Insider)…
At Chicago Summit, Local ‘Indies’ Get Down to Business
Last week’s Block by Block Community News Summit 2011 was a combination mirror and crystal ball where independent local publishers saw both what they have accomplished and what they need to do to ensure that what they created with their credit cards, sweat and tears would be around years from now…
Philly.com Launches Hyperlocal Site for Main Line
Philly.com, the digital face for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News, launched a small hyperlocal site yesterday. The site, Neighbors, will begin by providing news coverage exclusively for Philadelphia’s Main Line — the city’s oldest, and arguably most advertising-friendly, suburb…
Street Fight Daily: 10.04.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
In the top 30 US markets, no company that reports purchase counts outperformed Groupon in August. In fact, in only 5 markets is the second largest competitor even generating 50% of the gross revenue Groupon generates. (Yipit Blog)…
It was only about six months ago that investor excitement for a Groupon IPO was so high that its expected valuation was $25 billion. Now, institutional investors are wary. A fund manager suggests that Groupon might have to reduce its IPO valuation to between $3 billion and $5 billion in order to get it out the door. (TechCrunch)…
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
AI Won’t Fix Advertising – It May Scale Its Chaotic Nature