Outside.in ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) is now able to geotarget ad campaigns to a specific place, address, intersection or latitude/longitude.  They can "create a simple fixed campaign for an advertiser looking to reach customers within a very defined radius from their place of business." You can also submit your blog or site feed to http://www.outside.in/geotoolkit and drive traffic there for free. This comes from Mark Josephson of outside.in, who was a speaker at ILM:08 (Interactive Local Media).

Josephson expects localized search and advertising to take off as people "increasingly turn to new sources and new platforms to find out what’s happening around them and to research and buy products and services." He expects "mobile and location based services to drive a lot of this innovation.   It is not just bringing research and data from retailers to the PCs of home users, but also bringing that data closer to the offline point of sale via mobile applications." In a recent interview Josephson said:

We are seeing some trends that speak to the growing importance of hyperlocal and should lead to real growth for our business and those of the other panelists:

• Consumers are demanding more personalization in their content.  They set keyword alerts, rss feeds and newsletters about their individual stocks, teams, ailments, etc…, but not at all yet for local.  Today you can’t do better than a ZIP Code or a City/Town. That all changes going forward.
• More devices and applications are becoming “geo aware” — that is, knowing where you are is going to be easy. The next step is “what’s going on around me right now?” and that’s what we all do.
• There is an explosion of content being created at the hyperlocal level.  Historically there has not been enough “there there”, but with the explosion of blogging platforms, municipal data and discussion platforms like Twitter, there is an abundance of content.

Please comment if you have used or have seen use being made of hyperlocal advertising in Milwaukee or elsewhere.