Ever had a hard time getting connected to the correct location of a business or the one closest to you? Chances are, the business you are looking for may not be effectively marketing themselves within their immediate area, oftentimes missing valuable customers like yourself. Not focusing on location-based marketing may lead your business down the same path.
With 91% of people constantly within arm’s reach of their smartphones (Nielsen, 2014), it means that people are simultaneously moving through the virtual world as they move through the physical world. The growing availability and depth of user location data will help marketers integrate location-based tactics into their mobile marketing more than ever before.
1. People Want Personalization
Chipotle allows you to build your own burrito exactly how you like it. With Nike, you have the opportunity to design your own shoes. Trek enables you to tailor the exact specifications of your bike. These types of customizations are driving the new customer expectation model for personal experiences as well as contextually relevant information. Relevance is becoming a requirement and leads to people expecting it at all times.
With growing smartphone technology powering customers’ own knowledge and keeping them constantly connected, it offers marketers a new opportunity to employ user data to customize experiences and reach people whenever and wherever they are. Now when a customer calls your business you can take advantage of call routing tools such as geo-location to automatically detect their location and direct them to your nearest store. Not only do you improve the customer experience, it’s helping make your marketing more efficient.
2. Make Your Investment Work Harder
You invest a lot of money into your marketing and need to make it work effectively for your business. Concentrating on location-based tactics can help by physically narrowing down where your message is being seen. The growing number of people who are using their smartphones to shop locally (40% do this at least once a day, according to BIA/Kelsey) are qualified, engaged, and already in the consideration process.
Increasing mobile audiences leads to more mobile advertising inventory as well as innovative opportunities to engage customers. You need to ensure you are engaging the correct market, and maximizing your marketing dollars within that market.
3. Targeting Your Audiences
As mobile proliferation continues, so will the opportunities to reach new and more targeted audiences. Location-based tactics offer geographic targeting, but it can go even further for marketers. The availability of targeting on mobile devices is beginning to match (or exceed) that which has historically been offered via desktop computers; and while it may cost more, the goal is to reach the core audience that truly matters to your business.
Target based on demographics and behaviors that are important to your business. Maybe you have key time periods or weather that drives business: deliver your message by time of day or triggered by weather patterns.
This level of targeting will only work with the availability of deeper data. Call tracking technology can help provide data to both determine what marketing is most effective at driving inbound calls and help you further understand your audience’s mobile usage habits, including the pages on your mobile site they viewed before and after calling.
4. Staying Competitive in Your Market
While many national advertisers have already adopted localized mobile advertising, SMBs are going to be the driving force of future growth. BIA/Kelsey reports that:
- In 2014, $ 4.5 billion is being spent on location targeted mobile advertising
- By 2018, location targeted mobile advertising will reach $ 15.7 billion and make up 52% of all mobile advertising
- SMBs are projected to make up more than one-third of local ad spending in 2015
Don’t help your competitors by dismissing location-based marketing. As phone calls have been given new life with the advent of smartphones, the combination with targeted marketing practices will enable you to reach more qualified audiences. Are you actively utilizing location-based marketing to engage these customers?
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