4 Ways Hyperlocal Vendors Are Helping Merchants Run Efficient Campaigns
In addition to battling it out over features and functionality, more and more platforms and services are upping their game in the way they work one-on-one with merchants. Here are a handful of the ways hyperlocal companies have begun providing support and information to help businesses run more successful deals…
Local Quotables: Hartley, Gardner, Thompson and more
This week’s quotes focus on advertising, technology and new businesses. Sarah Hartley describes how the end of a site can be good while Scott Thompson, newly-appointed CEO of Yahoo talks about the beginning of a new Yahoo. Pat McDevitt discusses the community’s role in advertising, Jonathan Gardner talks about how advertising will change and more.
Case Study: A Michigan Yoga Studio’s Tips For Managing Deal Customers
When Eric Paskel ran his first Groupon promotion in January 2011, he knew it was going to be big. What he hadn’t expected, however, was to get hit with 3,000 new clients by 11 a.m. on the day his deal premiered. In the year since then, the owner of Yoga Shelter has sold approximately 15,000 daily deal coupons. But no longer with Groupon…
Verve Wireless CMO: Making Mobile Content Profitable
Verve Wireless serves up one of the largest local mobile ad networks and offers a mobile publishing platform as well. Street Fight caught up with the San Diego-based company’s chief marketing officer Greg Hallinan to discuss how local content can be monetized on mobile and the future of the mobile ad stack…
6 CRM Tools for Better Daily Deal Customer Retention
Merchants who go into their promotions with systems in place to manage and track the influx of new customers report significantly higher levels of satisfaction. Here are six popular CRM tools that can help track redemptions, collect email addresses, analyze revenue data, and drive repeat sales long after their promotions have ended.
Local Quotables: Moyal, Mims, Tolles, Lessin and more…
As the first week of 2012 commences, everyone is speculating about what will happen this year in the hyperlocal industry. Jonathan Moyal sees Lucky Ant helping communities play a bigger role in local business. Jeremy Mims predicts growth for Groupon and Michelle Jones hopes to create an alternative to Yelp. Also, Sam Lessin describes how Facebook’s check-in with timelines is an entirely new kind of LBS and more.
Case Study: Delaware Coffee Shop Sees 50% Return for Daily Deal Customers
At The Java House Café in Middletown, Del., (pop. 18,871), Cleo Clarke has run promotions with a couple of daily deals sites. She’s managed to turn 50% of those group coupon buyers into repeat customers. Clarke is now exploring Foursquare as a way to tap into her tech-savvy customer base — 90% of whom currently use smartphones…
Case Study: Southwest Airlines’ Time Limits on LBS
Platforms like Foursquare and Facebook haven’t had any trouble attracting attention from national brands, but what’s the secret to attracting interest from these brands in lesser-known start-ups? According to Southwest Airlines emerging media specialist Christi McNeill, it all comes down to persistence, innovation, and a little bit of hand-holding…
Street Fight’s 10 Most Popular Stories of 2011
From Patch antics to Gannett’s Deal Chicken to a Flipboard hyperlocal how-to, here’s a look back at some of the Street Fight stories that really touched a nerve (at least as far as pageviews go) during our 8 1/2-month run. Hope you all have a happy new year, and we look forward to bringing you more great content, research, and events about sustainable hyperlocal business models in 2012!
Street Fight Staff and Friends Predict 2012’s Top Stories
Earlier this week, some top hyperlocal luminaries weighed in with their predictions for what we can expect to see in the coming year. Today we’ve asked Street Fight’s writers and editors — as well as a few friends who regularly cover hyperlocal media— to submit their own prognostications…
Local Quotables: Crowley, Owens, Gallo, Cheong and more…
The quote of the week goes to the folks at Starboard Value LP, which owns a 4.5% stake in AOL and holds a seat on the board. In a letter to the company, Starboard went on the attack against AOL’s media business… with a pointed mention of Patch. The Batavian’s Howard Owens predicts Patch won’t survive 2012; journo Jane Stevens gets revolutionary; and Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley weighs in on Siri…
AT&T Interactive VP: The Future of the Local Ad Stack
With a little over 1 billion in yearly revenues, AT&T Interactive, the offshoot of AT&T Inc. that handles its digital advertising efforts, has grown substantially, leveraging the massive sales network associated with the yellow pages print business to create a handful of digital advertising products with a deep roster of local advertisers…
Case Study: Deals Earns Restaurant 30% Repeat Business and $120,000
In Winnetka, Illinois, chef Michael Lachowicz has strong opinions on what it takes to run successful daily deal promotions. Lachowicz has run six Groupon deals at his establishment, Restaurant Michael, resulting in more than 5,000 coupons sold and $120,000 in revenue generated in the last two years. He estimates that 30% of coupon buyers have returned after their vouchers were redeemed, and says he’s negotiated a deal with Groupon to get 90% of his payouts just two days after his deals end.
Case Study: CKE’s Own Check-In App Lends Accountability and Control
How does a restaurant group with 3,000 locations spread across 43 states manage a robust location-based rewards program without sacrificing functionality or flexibility? For Brad Rosenberg, manager of digital strategy and marketing for CKE Restaurants — which owns the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast-food chains — the answer was to build a mobile app that could work across multiple point-of-sale systems and still provide the accountability that individual franchise owners require…
Opening Up the ‘Walled Garden’: Content APIs and the Location Layer
For small-radius media, in which location plays a far greater role than niche or national media, walling off content will substantially impede industry growth. Ignoring LBS as a viable distribution channel is tantamount to leaving the industry’s most valuable asset grossly under-leveraged.
Off-Campus Events Go Hyperlocal With Student Guide Lokalite
Location-centric events site Lokalite aims to give college students an off-campus guide to local events, bringing a new set of loyal customers to small businesses. Street Fight caught up with CEO Will Powers recently to discuss how his company facilitates those relationships, and why campuses are a particularly ripe market for hyperlocal…