A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
The next update to Foursquare’s iPhone app includes a new feature called Radar, which pulls suggestions from the app’s Explore feature. Depending on your location, it might suggest a nearby restaurant, or remind you that the coffee shop on your to-do list is nearby. It will also tell you when your friends are meeting nearby. (TechCrunch)…
LocalResponse, a local marketing system that pushes targeted ads to users based on their check-ins, has raised $5 million. The money will go toward expanding the sales team and building out an enterprise version of the service for brands and agencies. (GigaOm)…
Yelp Helps Local Restaurants Beat the Big Chains
Local Quotables: Clay Graham, Perry Evans, Claire Hughes Johnson and more…
Perry Evans gets tongue in cheek on deals, while Rocky Agrawal soberly analyzes the Groupon-Yelp correlation and Pat Kitano shows the hyperlocal-Facebook correlation. More wise words and wise-cracks:
Street Fight Daily: 10.14.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
Groupon and LivingSocial succeed because consumers perceive them as great deals. But is that true? Perhaps not. Thumbtack.com called 10 vendors offering daily deals (five from Groupon and five from LivingSocial) and found eight instances where they were quoted a price over the phone that was cheaper than the advertised regular price being offered. (Business Insider)…
SCVNGR/LevelUp’s Mobile Payment Application Goes National
SCVNGR has announced the national rollout of its mobile payment product LevelUp, which the company has been testing in Philadelphia and Boston for the past two months. The company’s “chief ninja” Seth Priebatsch talks with Street Fight about what LevelUp’s launch is all about…
In Jefferson’s Hometown, a Hyperlocal Focuses on Digital Democracy
Brian Wheeler is executive director of Charlottesville Tomorrow, a thriving nonprofit hyperlocal in Virginia that focuses on land use and other civic issues that are key to protecting the character of the community that was the home of Thomas Jefferson. We talked to Wheeler about his unusual definition of user engagement, and how he’s working to take it to a new level…
Will Big Brands Cut Out the Middleman to Go Hyperlocal?
We’re on the brink of seeing brands start to carve into the hyperlocal pie simply by providing an online space to offer localized content and capture the “neighborhood” conversations that locals want to see.
Street Fight Daily: 10.13.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
The next update to Foursquare’s iPhone app includes a new feature called Radar, which pulls suggestions from the app’s Explore feature. Depending on your location, it might suggest a nearby restaurant, or remind you that the coffee shop on your to-do list is nearby. It will also tell you when your friends are meeting nearby. (TechCrunch)…
LocalResponse, a local marketing system that pushes targeted ads to users based on their check-ins, has raised $5 million. The money will go toward expanding the sales team and building out an enterprise version of the service for brands and agencies. (GigaOm)…
Indy Sites, Trusted Vanguards of Local Referral
There is a system in which people discover businesses that they love. It existed way before there was an Internet, and it’s also the foundation of local advertising. Patrons don’t want to go to sources they don’t trust, though — they want an honest and sincere referral because if an authority loves a place, they are more likely to love it too…
GPS for Groceries: Aisle411 Might Have the Right Ingredients
Sometimes when I enter a large space with the intention of performing a specific task I quickly lose all my energy and fall to the ground. For instance looking for a moon rock at the Air and Space Museum, or a particular gift item from a cacophonous mall: Down for the count. Looking for cumin at the […]
Street Fight Daily: 10.12.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
AmazonLocal posted more than 300% revenue growth in September. It has expanded to 40 markets and brought in $4 million of gross revenue in September. (Business Insider)…
Daily Deals Industry Moving Into Consolidation Mode
With over 600 companies currently in the daily deals space in the U.S., industry consolidation is bound to occur — with larger companies buying up smaller rivals while other competitors go belly up. To find out more about what to expect in the deals space, Street Fight recently spoke with two industry watchers from local media adviser BIA/Kelsey…
#SFS11 Company Profile: SCVNGR/LevelUp
SCVNGR is a mobile marketing platform that uses location-based game mechanics to improve engagement with brands. Since 2010, the company has partnered up with Dunkin’ Donuts, Swarovski, and numerous universities to build custom marketing campaigns on top of its mobile application. At the same time, the company has seen solid engagement with its rewards product aimed at small and medium size merchants…
Street Fight Daily: 10.11.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
The daily deal industry has jolted a formerly sleepy corner of the $30 billion online advertising market: the local part of the paid search marketing business. Local search ads that included references to towns and cities were not in demand until daily deal companies started paying handsomely to track down people interested in neighborhood goods and services. (Reuters)…
Sponsored Post: Free Tickets to Social Media Analytics Conference
The iPhone 4S: A Local Voice
Apple’s integration of voice search system Siri into the iPhone 4S operating system has clear implications for local search. Mobile voice search could skew local because of the propensity to use voice when out and about and in “lean forward” mode where local commercial intent is high…
Street Fight Daily: 10.10.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
Reports of the death of Groupon’s IPO plans have apparently been greatly exaggerated. The online daily deals pioneer filed an updated version of its S-1 document with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, as part of its preparation for a planned initial public offering of its stock. (GigaOm)…
What Bad News Means for the Future of Daily Deals
The fact that sending a mass email to lots of random people advertising a random business may damage said business’ reputation is not entirely surprising. But this news really speaks to group buying 1.0, not where the industry is going. And that future will be far more interesting with differentiated, personalized, time-specific and behavior inducing offers…
Local Quotables: Richard Jones, Ellis Hamburger, Bo Fishback and more..
Wise words from the outgoing editor of the Saddleworth News; a first-time Foursquarer questions what it’s all about; Yipit’s Vin raises the Google-Groupon question; and Ben Ilfeld comments on the new indie hyperlocal trade association formed last weekend in Chicago. More:
Street Fight Daily: 10.07.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.
“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…