hyperlocal 101

As a model of democratic media in action I have enabled this project within the LocalsGuide website and monthly publication.

This election year in Ashland, Oregon seven individuals decided to run for mayor.

I decided to invite all of them to have a 400 word community introduction in our newspaper which will be followed up with series of 15 interview questions. One question per day with the answers of the Seven candidates posted online at LocalsGuide.com

Here is what I sent to the Seven Mayors of Ashland.

Part 1: 400 Word Newspaper Introduction

As a candidate for City of Ashland Mayor I would like to offer you the opportunity to introduce yourself to the community of Ashland with a Free 400 word introduction in the LocalsGuide Newspaper. I will post this along with your photograph and name in the October 1st issue of LocalsGuide (circulation 16,500 all of Ashland, Oregon, Stands in Talent, Phoenix and Jacksonville)

Deadline:
Wednesday September 24, 2008 ( 9am PST )

Items Needed:
• 400 Word Community Introduction
• 1 High Resolution Color Photo (.jpg photo) vertical format

Email To: Editor-LocalsGuide.com
I will then print EXACTLY what you have submitted.

——-

Part 2: Five Initial Questions

Starting on Friday October 2nd your responses to the questions below will be posted on the home page of LocalsGuide.com. One question per day will be posted along with your seven individual responses. (Readers of LocalsGuide will be notified of this in the October Issue)

• Please limit your responses to 450 words max per question

Initial 5 Questions:

1. What type of management style would you bring as the new Mayor of Ashland and how would you specifically work with City Council?

2. How do you feel about the recent decision of City Council to not connect Ashland city water to the Medford water supply?

3. What does Ashland need to do to attract more economic opportunity?

4. What issues confronting Ashland right now are of most concern to you and why?

5. Where do you see the city in 10, 20 years?

Deadline:
Friday September 26, 2008 ( 9am PST )

Email To: Editor-LocalsGuide.com
I will then print EXACTLY what you have written.

——-

Part 3: Ten Follow Up Community Questions

In the October 1st Issue, I will ask readers to submit questions to the candidates. I will collect a total of 10 questions which I will forward to everyone to answer and I will post results online in the same fashion as above.

Hyperlocal Marketing is all about engagement, not exposure!

This is why I connected Charter Communications with IceCreamMan.com for the FIFTH ANNUAL FREE ICE CREAM SOCIAL IN ASHLAND OREGON.

Think about it, real long term business is built on relationships, not creating a posse of idiots to go out and buy your product just because of an identity. Sure it might work or does it?

What types of consumers are really being created when this is done?
Do they have any loyalty or long term commitment to your company or product?

Part of my goal in helping promote the 5th Annual Free Ice Cream Social in Ashland Oregon is to help support this model of hyperlocal engagement.

A model which Matt Allen and his crew at IceCreamMan.com is proving works! They travel around the country giving away free ice cream compliments of corporate sponsors.

This form of marketing is engaged has the potential to create long term relationships rather than one sided highly expensive and temporary media bombardments.

Traditional media however still prefers the dummy method. You show your logo thousands and thousands of times so big and so loud you brand it into peoples minds and pysche forever… or so you think. But, it doesn’t work because every season these companies are back to do the same fire work show. Blowing their money on short term advantages.

The model of mass media exposure is dying out as companies realize the importance of engagement, especially hyperlocal engagement.

New and more powerful models of marketing like doing a free ice cream social prove that real relationships and long term sustainability can be based on creating a real connection with your audience.

Through luck and good fortune, I was able to connect with some of the high level marketing executives at Charter NW and they really liked the idea of engaging the community at this hyperlocal level. So they agreed to jump on board to help sponsor this 5th Annual Ice Cream Social. They have also been huge supporters of the LocalsGuide Newspaper and website, because it helps them get an identity out to the community which is both real and engaged.

How can you not like free ice cream?

IceCreamMan.com started as an idea. It only seems nuts because you don’t see it on a mass scale, yet… but the bottom line is that it works!

As more people to begin to adopt the notion that sponsoring something like giving away free ice cream to the world works you will see it more and more.

When you have a great product it should sell it self. This is the point at which giant companies should back off the non-stop brand campaigns and begin to dial in on building relationships.

Making the world a happier place, one free ice cream at a time!
Ashland, Oregon (August 16, 2008)

Charter is teaming up with local businesses to bring Southern Oregonians the 5th annual Free Ice Cream Social.
The event will be held this Saturday August 16th from 3:00 - 5:00 pm at Garfield Park in Ashland.

This weekend’s event marks the return visit of the world’s most famous ice cream man, Matt Allen. In 2004 Allen,
bought his first ice cream truck and drove around Ashland, selling ice cream. At the end of the summer, however;
he had a better idea, throw a party for the town and give the ice cream away for free. Since then Ice Cream Man
has been on a mission to give away over half a million free ice creams. Now 160,000 tasty treats later Allen is well
on his way to accomplishing his goal.

The Fifth Annual FREE Ice Cream Social is made possible by the numerous companies that help keep ice cream man on
the road and the freezers full. This years event has been made possible by Charter, LocalsGuide, Rhonda Lewis and Today’s Dentistry.

Additional Ice Cream Man support comes from Blue Bunny, Cache Agency and Jakprints who help keep Matt and his ice cream truck touring around the country.

Come down to Garfield Park located on the corner of East Main and Garfield Street. There will be plenty of free ice cream for all!

The phrase niche is popping up everywhere across the internet right now. Niche marketing, niche social networks, niche products, niche membership sites etc. Give it a try and google it.

The bottom line is that niche anything is working. If done well people are making money and growing millions of micro niche networks around the web.

I feel that the future of web resides in the hands of these niche networks specifically because as they grow they become hyperlocal. Hyperlocal in how they create connectivity, movement and interactivity. You could also say that they become vertical networks rather than a pancake style model of facebook or myspace which is essentially a horizontal network.

Part of the reason of how I see this connection is that that in the real world we see locality as based on a model of physical location. Online however locality is based on access rather than physically proximity.

As niche networks aggragate even the smallest of the small detail into a whole you begin to experience an aspect of hyperlocal.

As these networks continue to grow you will begin to see how these vertical niche networks actually creates their own little world.

Will Google eventually become a search engine dedicated to locating niche networks? Will these networks allow Google access to index content from the networks?

Who knows but one thing is for sure. In the hyperage you are going to need a way to travel from one hyperlocal world to the next.

What you think hyperlocal is and why you think the future of it will be so important.
Hyperlocal is essentially the up close study of how society and culture intermingle and connect. It determines how cultures both local, regional, national and global emerge, and it also tracks how culture and society moves.

First off I think there are two main reasons why everything MUST go local.

Number One:
People need intimacy and connection to make sense of their lives. People are by nature social.

If you think about it… when the internet started.. it was called CYPERSPACE.
This was great to go surfing in the vastness… but as it expanded people needed a way to figure it out.

Thus you began to have search engines (kinda like telescopes).
This has worked great for a the time being but 230,983 results in .098 sec doesn’t really hold any relevancy to an audience if they can’t find what they are looking for.

Then social networks then began to appear and people created networks of specialized information. If they were big enough and specialized they were found by the search engines This has solved the first issue of intimacy and connection. (you find the big and bright stars)

The second issue is about specialization and movement.
You can now begin to see this occurring with in social networks as they begin to cluster and build groups within groups.

The bottom line is “HOW DO YOU FIND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR?”
This will eventually result in what I call Hyper Search.

A very specialized search method which social networks will use to drill down into the core.
If you look at our own society, it also has organized down into hyperlocal aspects so it would be only natural that this would occur online was well.

Example:
Food < Grocery Store < Safeway < Ketsup < Aisle 4 top row 2 mid way down < Heinz < Tomatoes, Sugar, Sucrose, blah blah blah.

What’s at the end of HyperLocal?
Hyperlocal is a big equation, because it is going to establish new boundaries and norms for how we see, move and work with the world and culture around us.

The big issue is about control.

The audience online is continuously changing because it moves. This makes it very difficult for mass media and marketers to capture the revenue that would other wise be trapped within a confined space, such as a town or physical geography.

Example: If you live in a small valley like I do and there is one big newspaper and that’s the way to get your ad out to the public you have one choice.
Now with Craigslist and freecycle this is being challenged.

But who has access to the audience and how? Or as they would say.. WHO OWNS IT?
That is the Trillion Dollar question!!!

Why will most companies fail in achieving a functional hyperlocal model?
This is actually quite simple and straight forward.
HYPERLOCAL is a moving model.

Almost 99% of the existing models out there are based on models which are based on a static geography. Think about it. Your mom lives in Boise, your sister in Dallas, your grandparents in Salt Lake. You travel to these place and each time you travel so does your map of locality. Locality meaning people you know, place you go, things that make sense to your life. That’s all I am going to say for now.

Why mainstream newspapers are losing money?
Ah… I love this question.
Well other than just being totally negative and boring they actually suck.

To begin with they are written with one point of view and in an style which is talking to the boomers and their parents.

But even boomers get on IM and chat nowdays. Here is my suggestion.
NEWS is dynamic as it implies. Put that online for free for all to know - AS IT SHOULD BE

Culture is evolving and has a life all to it’s own.
A new band in town, an interesting interview, a great place to eat. Things that create relevancy to each of our lives…
Put this is print!!! This is what people want to read about anyways.

Good bye hollywood hello local.. I could go on and on about this.
Your sitting on a gold mind and it’s right in front of you.

Tomorrow Hillary Clinton will come to our town, to a hotel my friend manages, more than likely one of our members will get a photograph of her posted online within the hour of it being taken. It’s not just about availability it’s about reality.

Mainstream media represents one point of view, often times capture by people who don’t know jack about the topics they are covering. So give the power to the people and let them tell it how it really is. Represent a point of view which offers diversity. It doesn’t have to be correct it just has to be real.

So to answer your question why are they losing money.
1. The audience is changing
2. The engagement is played out and negative
3. There is better stuff online… and it’s real

Netflix is sitting on a potential hyperlocal gold mine of an opportunity.

To begin my wife and I sat down for an evening together, popped in the Netflix DVD and low and behold an ad for Gaiam appeared. Maybe Gaiam actually produced the movie, but what suddenly occurred to me was that this might as well have been an ad… and it could have easily been a Hyperlocal one at that.

The ad was short and sweet and embedded in a way which forced us to watch it then forwarding us to the movie menu.

What if the ad had been locally targeted, like the pre movie ads you might see in your home town movie theater.

Impossible!
Think Again!!!

Currently Netflix delivers DVD’s by mail for one reason and one reason only. The answer is to compete with your local video store.

In the near future Netflix Movies will transition from DVD’s to digital downloads.

AGREE… ok

Now imagine that they transition from a paid model to a free model. Afterall they are not making that much money on the actual rental side of things.

Downloads become free.

YES FREE
Paid for by your LOCAL ADVERTISER

With a small embedded ad in the pre movie startup.

This idea has a ton of pros and cons but one thing is for sure… it wouldn’t be that difficult to do.

Another potential for Netflix and less invasive to the end user would be to run HYPERLOCAL ads on its packaging. Currently you get national ads, but what about Local Ads.

They could be done on demand and sold in quantities ranging from 100 to 100,000+
Again the idea is simple and essentially ready to go.

Let’s see how long it takes Netflix to jump into the hyperlocal marketing game.

Yelp sits in the drivers seat to unleash one of the world’s most interesting and best citizen journalism prototypes.

With thousand of citizen journalist style real reviews posted daily, and an arsenal of hundreds of thousands of testimonials, Yelp is essentially nothing more than a citizen journalism mecca.

Review site sure, but beyond this it is a actually a functional model of how citizen journalism can make it’s way into the mainstream and actually serve a purpose.

Tie this into a media syndication model and you suddenly create both a way for Yelp to be profitable and compensate it’s contributors. Will they recognize this opportunity at hand? I hope so and I’d love to speak with them if they do.

Otherwise they might as well start deleting those review once they more than a year old.

What a concept!!!
There are enough restaurant reviews in here to topple any high and mighty bay area restaurant critic: Power to citizen journalism and reality reviews!

Imagine if Yelp decided to create a weekly PRINT restaurant / business review guide.

They would start in the Bay Area; the mecca of diversity and personality for the US of A.
It would simply be the best read in town!

Why?
1. It’s Real
2. It’s Funny
3. It’s Engaging

Oh, and did I mention the $Money$ to be made in Ad Sales?
Also how do you compensate those hungry restaurant critics?

1. Free Meals
2. VIP Treatment
3. Reality Review (Film Them)

Here Is How It Goes:

One day, designer-looking newspaper stands begin popping up all around the highest traffic areas of the Bay Area. Suddenly, restaurants and businesses want to get into the weekly review. If your restaurant makes the Top 100 list, your solid gold. If you don’t you try.

You never know how or when it might happen!

Everyday locals become self proclaimed connoisseurs & critics.

The most popular rise to local celebrity status. Establishing them self with alias such as:

TeamPuffy, GSquad (Short for Granny Squad), Chew_MAN_Chew, MeSoHungry88….

In their day to day routine they hit business all around town leaving their fatefully, business calling cards.

Yelp starts accepting gift certificates from restaurants wanting reviews, and then send daring review squads in anonymously for reality review. Some restaurants up the ante and go for a higher level of promotion with reality reviews being filmed and podcast.

Don’t get hit by the GSquad of Oaktown. If you serve a bad cup of coffee there will be hell to pay!!!

Citizen Journalism can be empowering. It can work to build a culture which is more articulate and capable of creating real change in the world.

If you do great work you get attention.

If you suck…well then never mind!

Oh…and don’t just do restaurants, but business reviews in general.

Don’t you wish!

That is the question that all major media companies should be trying to figuring out.

Can myspace go hyperlocal?

In other words could you login to myspace and see people you know, places you go and things that made sense to your live locally.

Restaurants you ate at, businesses you shopped at, events you wanted to attend. Things you really needed to know.

In my opinion myspace has the most potential to drill into the hyperlocal core by enabling hyperlocal search within it’s directory. Sure there is TRIBE.net but we all don’t go to Burning Man. No offense or anything but there needs to be a bigger diversity of audience and MySpace has it.

If myspace goes hyperlocal it would change the way we look at current portals and crack the code for a scalable model of monetizing hyperlocal.

Why?
Because the key to solving hyperlocal is not in the creation of an isolated portals, but rather in the interconnectedness . HyperLocal is a global equation so it needs to be approached this way.

How can you move to any one point isolate your field of view and still remain connected. This is where it all comes back to two things.

1. Access
2. Ability to Move

As I have discussed in my previous blogs… locality is no longer an issue of proximity but rather an issue of access. Don’t believe me.. take a highlighter and highlight exactly where you go for one month. THIS IS YOUR LOCALITY.

This means we need to be looking at how people move and where they move to.

What defines movement….?
Well that opens a much bigger question for another blog, because the way humans are moving is changing as well.

It’s time for myspace local.

Of course there are alot more pieces to the puzzle but having an x factor diversity of population to work is a big start.

Tomorrow: A Solution for YELP (ouch.. help us make money please)

Don’t Mix Business with Pleasure!

If you take this advice when going hyperlocal you are bound to fail and here is why.

Take for example Google Local.
Why isn’t it better?

Google Local total lacks the social network engine that could make it totally awesome so essentially all it is DATA with feedback. It needs a little bit of party!!

Then on the other hand take Yelp.com. It’s all pleasure… and no business… if it is Business it’s not very targeted.

So what I am saying is: Mix Business with Pleasure.
Or more specifically:

The best hyperlocal portals create a successful mix of Business Directory and Social Network.

Business owners are a big part of community.. and they have social networks which have helped establish the status and positioning they hold. Bring this into an equation and you have the ingredients for a successful hyperlocal portal.