Mobile usage is on the rise, as is mobile payments and shopping. But what if you don’t have the type of product or service that is fit for e-commerce? Does this leave you “out of the game” so to speak? Not at all. You can still attract customers to your bricks-and-mortar shop with Location Based marketing.
Most smartphones have geo-location technology that allows the user to know the geographic location of his/ her phone. While it doesn’t necessarily give an on-the-dot pinpoint of where the user is, it is still pretty accurate.
Marketers are using this geo-technology to do Location Based Marketing. In other words, if they know the geographic location of the customer, they can time their marketing messages to reach customers at the ideal moment. If your customer is in the vicinity of your shop, you can send him a message about your current specials. The power of this marketing method lies in the fact that you are basically giving the customer a reason to enter your shop.
You can either use Location Based marketing to play defence or offense. E.g. target consumers in your own vicinity or “hijack” customers in your competitor’s vicinity.
It can also provide insight into consumer behaviour – for example what time of the day/ on which days your customers are doing their shopping – that will lead to highly targeted marketing campaigns.
How do companies know where to “draw the line”?
This is what is called geo-fencing. You can define a geographic region – big or small – that you want to target with your marketing.
This type of marketing is being used successfully by restaurants, the retail and travel industry, financial services etc.
What problems do marketers face?
Well, you can’t do this if your customers don’t grant you permission to access this feature on their phone. Thus, it is not so easy to attain a large target market. On the bright side: even the biggest marketing campaigns start small, so don’t let this deter you.
Are you interested in Location based Services (LBS) for your business? Integrat is the Mobile Aggregator in South Africa to call!
Leave a comment