The Great Indoors: The Future of Indoor Location & Advertising
The “shopping experience” is something retailers have been perfecting for decades. Product placement and drive aisle concepts are designed to entice consumers and draw them to the best deals that will keep them coming back. But, what if we could take these concepts a step further with location-based marketing?
What Works in One Local Market Won’t Necessarily Work in Another
I’ve learned, sometimes through epic failures, what works in Tracy (a suburb of Sacramento, Calif.) won’t work in Tampa. However, I’ve also learned, through epic victories, that when you harness the power of 200+ communities for a common goal great things can happen. Here are a few bits of wisdom I’ve picked up along the way.
The Capitulation of a Social-Mobile High-Flyer
Two years ago it would have been hard to imagine Gowalla selling for anything less than a pretty penny. But a couple things have happened since then to devalue mobile apps. First, the location-based gamification juggernaut has not developed as quickly as some had predicted. Second, the competition for mindshare on handsets has magnified as many more eye-popping apps vie for attention. It’s a real street fight out there in the land of mobile apps and we will likely see more casualties, even among worthy players like Gowalla.
Hyperpublic: Structuring Place Data, Redefining Hyperlocal’s Scope
What might we see spring forth from the ether when local data is properly structured? It’s easy to imagine various applications of search — i.e. “Show me all wine bars that serve croquettes.” Similarly, one can imagine that this type of data would be immensely valuable to advertisers who want to target, for example, everybody who drinks beer and is in walking distance of an establishment…
Tap, Tap: Is the NFC Tipping Point Finally Here?
This new technology creates a connection between consumer and retailer like never before. It also creates a world of possibilities for location-based marketing. The use of NFC also benefits retailers by allowing them to analyze consumer patterns more easily, connect with them, and learn what keeps them coming back…
Can Pandora Do Hyperlocal Ad Sales?
To do hyperlocal, Pandora uses the IP address of the device and maps it back to a location. This is standard geotargeting and other local advertising plays are tapping into the same idea. But the question is whether Pandora can push through with this strategy successfully by priming the sales pump with a local sales force…
How to Run Hyperlocals that Make Money — An Email Mini-Debate
Recently the good folks at the American Press Institute asked if I’d help lead a discussion about “Strategies for Sustainable Hyperlocal Business Models.” So I did what I do best: ask other folks what they think. Here are some thoughts on the matter from Rick Blair, ex-CEO of Examiner.com, GoLocal24 co-founder Josh Fenton, Scot Brodbeck from ARL Now, Street Fight columnist Tom Grubisich and Street Fight CEO Laura Rich…
The Legal Battle Brewing Over LBS and Privacy
Anxiety is rising over the use of location-based services as tools for advertising to consumers. Surveys suggest that consumers see value in LBS, but they are concerned about their privacy. This means LBS providers must walk a tightrope in providing both privacy options and value to consumers…
Why Hyperlocal Marketing Will Best Gamification
Hyperlocal marketing strategy and gamification both strive to accomplish the same purposes: attract new customers and drive increased customer-visit frequency. And yet one of these won’t be fueling marketing efforts just a couple years from now. In my mind, it’s hyperlocal that wins, while gamification, as defined and promoted today, disappears.
Patch, Others Seek Holiday Cheer Updating Tried and True Guides, Deals
Holidays are a sparkling time to test out the effectiveness of one’s local penetration. And it seems Patch is going all in. I asked Mark Josephson, SVP of revenue, to talk about what Patch is pitching for the holiday (among other obvious questions). Turns out the network of local sites has a Ye Olde Fashioned Gift Guide of its own…
Big Picture Stories Make Hyperlocals More Valuable
Hyperlocals do a great job at finding and generating news. But are enough of them putting government performance to the test? Given the amount of data available to measure performance, these stories should be resonating louder and more insistently than ever in this deep, stubborn recession…
Web Freedom Groups Call on Publishers to Oppose SOPA
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Mozilla Foundation, and other online groups are calling on hyperlocal news publishers and other online developers to oppose the “Stop Online Piracy Act” in advance of tomorrow’s markup session on the bill before the House Judiciary Committee…