Guns, Money, and a Data-Driven Hyperlocal Wire Service

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A data-driven wire service would — through a cooperative model or other collaborative form of consumption — help pool the costs of complicated technology development and integration across numerous parties while yielding scalable, customizable results. Put the wired in wire service and let the database masters rule the new media universe…

Why Location Is Key to Mobile Monetization

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As location becomes an ever bigger opportunity in mobile, a few questions are worth digging into further. One of those is how precise that location data is. Another important topic is the way success is measured in a local campaign aimed at driving offline actions, whether a call or an in-store visit…

For 2013, SeeClickFix Moves Beyond Its Pothole-Filling Mission

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Municipalities spend about $10 handling a 311 call about a pothole. SeeClickFix can cut that cost to close to zero by delivering to City Hall, via jaw-rattled citizens, GPS-pinpointed information about new potholes plus digital photos of the road damage. What’s in store for SeeClickFix in 2013? We went to cofounder Ben Berkowitz to find out…

Social Isn’t Search: Why Apple Should Think Twice About Foursquare

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Though the cachet of the Foursquare name might make this idea sound appealing, my sense is that it could only be executed successfully if handled very carefully by Apple. With the prominence already given to socially driven results from Yelp, Apple would risk becoming a search service dominated by social content…

Daily Deals: Still Lucrative for Local Publishers

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Given the challenges facing pure-play daily deal companies (and the saturation of news stories chronicling their issues), a casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that the deals space is experiencing a major downturn. Recent studies, however, suggest a more bullish outlook for deals in 2013…

Location + Mobile + Ads: Verve CEO Says People Are Set to Get It

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“I think 2013 is the year that people will begin understand that mobile advertising will soon be the premium channel for all digital advertising,” says Verve Mobile’s chief, Tom MacIsaac. “If you want to reach users when they are out and about, interacting with the real world, closer to the buying decision than ever before, mobile will be the preferred channel. Mobile will begin to do to online advertising what online did to print.”

Using Geotargeting to Follow the Consumer from Desktop to Aisle

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The choice of a location-based solution should depend on what message marketers want to convey to whom and when, along with how much consumer contact and engagement they want. As consumers continue to demand the ability to shop on their own terms and the local shopping experience becomes even more entrenched in the buying psyche, retailers will need a three-pronged digital strategy with a strong geotargeting component to be competitive…

The Localization of the Enterprise

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Organizations are decentralizing and adapting to consumer hardware cycles by storing data in the cloud and utilizing software services without deployments. Tech capability dictated by employees is a seismic shift that will forever change the world of technology. We’re going to see a similar shift in marketing: the localization of the enterprise…

‘Indie’ Publishers Are Ready to Start Roaring

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The Local Independent Online News Publishers association is still in the cub stage, but it’s getting ready to roar. There’s a 11-member board of directors, a sense of mission that’s powered by what looks like a strong start in networking, and not least funding from the Patterson Foundation that will encourage LION’s growth by subsidizing membership dues…

Facebook Nearby and the Mobilization of Local

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At long last, Facebook has made a serious move in the local space, and Nearby now recommends local businesses based on your friends’ likes and check-ins as well as your proximity to general business listings. I can’t think of a better or a more timely summation of what’s happened in local search during the past year…

Weather Channel SVP: Changing the Pitch on a Local-by-Local Basis

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Eric Hadley, the Weather Channel’s senior vice president for partner solutions and ad trade marketing, recently spoke with Street Fight about the local-national tension in weather coverage and information, the secrets behind Weather Channel’s success on mobile, and his predictions for the coming year. He will be appearing as a speaker at Street Fight Summit in New York later this month as part of an IAB-led panel titled “Using Location to Monetize Mobile Inventory.”

Street Fights of 2012: The Battle Over SMB CRM

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After two years of watching siloed firms like Groupon explode, 2012 saw a shift in how companies approached the hyperlocal market. Business-to-business plays, particularly in the marketing space, emerged as a more efficient alternative to the early pioneers…

Is Facebook Local’s Waking Giant?

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“Google is the best advertising product in the history of the world… because it’s like advertising at a store,” Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget said recently. “Facebook, meanwhile, is like advertising at a party.” But despite Google’s user-side advantages here, Facebook could have an edge in SMB engagement…

How Press Association Ad Networks Can Help Newspapers Compete Online

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One would think that the Internet would help ad networks from state press and newspaper associations operate with even greater efficiency, but these groups are only in the early stages online. Still they are well-positioned to help increase CPMs and provide a way for newspapers to ensure that their ad inventory is always sold at a set value…

Parsing the Value of Social Media Brand Advocates

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Although building a brand advocate network on social media potentially involves a lot of quid pro quo costs, it also likely creates stronger commercial relationships with the customer base than any campaign involving an attempt to buy loyalty with a discount coupon…

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Yoose

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In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan look at whether Bing can perform as the underdog, discuss the new Google Maps for iOS, and review the new Point augmented reality app. Plus funding news, resource of the week and special guest Christian Geissendoerfer of Yoose…

Big Metros and Small Indies Play ‘Let’s Make a Deal’

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Metro newspapers are shrinking — both in head count and amount of community news they publish with their limited resources. But they still have an important edge on their hyperlocal competition — in reach. But now some metros are deciding to trade reach for news…

Information Wants to Be Free, but Local Data Is Currency

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The sizable overlap between consumer-generated information and enterprise control is experienced every day in the world of local search.Though few local search companies could exist without licensed data, once that data gets inside their walls, it becomes a foundation upon which consumer-generated data adds value to a service…

2013: The Revenge of the Merchant

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Next year, merchants will start to gain the upper hand in online marketing. That gain will come from lessons in the consumer market, where simple UI and UX have become paramount for success and sophisticated filtering has given way to three-click processes.

Mobile Digital Mood Ring? Gravy Targets Hyperlocal Events — All of Them

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I recently caught up with Jeff White, the serial entrepreneur behind timeRAZOR’s app. Among other things, Gravy asks users what kinds of events and experiences they are in the mood for — rather than presenting them with a menu of options…