With the majority of mobile consumers using their devices to broadcast their location by checking in on Foursquare, posting a photo on Facebook from dinner with friends or getting directions, location-based social data has become the new currency to engage and build stronger relationships with consumers. Therefore, location-based marketing - targeting people with advertising based on their location - is essential for businesses to partake in.
Geo-location activities are often linked to consumer-related behavior, which is why this type of marketing serves as a powerful vehicle for reaching consumers, increasing engagement, creating a better experience and ultimately, growing sales. It's important for marketers to move away from blindly offering deals and discounts, to utilizing location-based social data to reach the nearby, engaged consumer.
Marketers must move away from blindly offering deals and discounts, to utilizing location-based social data to reach the nearby, engaged consumer.
It's Okay to "Spam" Customers With Personalized, Timely Offers That Meet Their Needs
One thing for marketers to realize, is that people don't necessarily mind being "spammed" with offers if it meets these conditions: it's personalized, it's timely and it's tailored to their needs. According to research from Placeable, 61 percent of people would turn to a competitor if they were given a special offer while looking for a business. Imagine receiving this notification on your way to the grocery store from a market down the street: "Stop in by noon today, show us this ad and receive 30% off".
61% of people would turn to a competitor if they were given a special offer while looking for a business.
How would you not take advantage of offers if you were nearby?
For example, Coca-Cola leveraged their "Open Happiness" campaign in Israel with location-based resources to identify with consumers on a very particular level. When people drove by a Coca-Cola billboard, with the help of a dedicated mobile app and geo-fencing technology, the message on the board changed into a personalized "Enjoy Coca-Cola With X" message showing the person's first name. The chances are now higher that the next time they are looking for a cold beverage, they will grab a Coca-Cola product.
Although the campaign was successful and thrived on customer experience and brand awareness, your customized message needs to go even further than an expensive billboard by reaching people directly on their mobile devices. To keep the mobile-savvy consumer engaged on the longer term, it's about making that one-to-one connection and delivering the right content through a personalized message based on their personal, localized data.
Keep the mobile-savvy customer engaged on the longer term by making a one-to-one connection and delivering the right content through a personalized message based on personal, localized data.
As the connected consumer continues to rely on their mobile device to determine where they will go and how they will spend their money, companies need to embrace location-based marketing. It should be at the forefront of every marketing strategy to glue together the consumer experience. People will easily flock to competitors, if you don't capture them in the right moment.
This article originally appeared on the Engagor blog.