Five New Online Tools for Finding Local Customers

It's one of the big challenges of the wide-open, global Internet: How to use it to help customers in your town find you. At a recent two-day "hackathon" event hosted by the New York business incubator and American Express OPEN, more than 100 developers met to work on this problem.

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They came up with  or applications, that help consumers shop local. The apps do everything from helping you find a good local meeting venue to turning up local properties for sale.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

Here are a few highlights:

1.  -- Want to send a special offer or incentive deal only to workers in a few nearby office towers or condo buildings? This is the micro-targeting app for that. 
    
2.  -- Eatpager helps diners explore which restaurants are near their current locale, using foursquare and data from your local municipality. So far, it has New York City data on board.
    
3.  -- Want to do a local giveaway? This app lets users search foursquare, cutting the data there to show only free deals. This one's also just in New York City so far, but what a great idea. Watch this one spread.
    
4. -- Wonder what customers are saying about your joint on restaurant-review sites? This hack aggregates reviews from Zagat, Yelp, CitySearch, MenuPages and many others into one convenient spot. It even boils down all the reviews for an eatery and gives you one average rating.
    
5. -- If you sell at farmer's markets, this tool allows consumers to connect with you even when you're not at your stand. Consumers create a grocery list, enter their zip code, and are shown results with local farmers who could provide the goods they seek. This allows customers to quickly see what's available and in-season, and then order ahead either for delivery, or for pickup at a nearby farmers market.  

How do you find local customers online? Leave a comment and let us know.

This article originally posted on Entrepreneur.com