As reported by Foursquare, permission-based geotracking is now highly valued by approximately 66% of all retailers and 85% of the most successful retailers. Retail is only one example of where this value exists.
A recent report examining the topic from Foursquare explains: Retailers, with a physical store network, put a greater emphasis on location data than many other industries.
However, marketers are finding the data helpful even beyond retail-even distilleries.
What is location based marketing
In short, location-based marketing is targeting audiences based on where they are or have recently been.
This can range from targeting users who live in particular zip codes, to targeting devices that tend to visit particular locations such as coffee shops, auto dealers, etc.,
Location-based marketing has proven effective across customer lifecycles – from discovery and purchase, to engagement and retention.
When used properly, location-based marketing allows marketers to hone in on specific customer segments with targeted offers, while improving customer experience for a population that increasingly values instant gratification.
For example, location-based marketing may alert a prospect that a product they have been considering is stocked in a nearby store, allowing them to pick it up right away.
Location data can reveal a trove of information about a customer’s daily travel routines (such as commutes), recurring shopping habits (like grocery shopping or gas station stops), restaurant preferences, and even online-to-storefront purchasing behavior.
The data allows for more personalized targeting for the products and services customers might care about and enables more efficient ad targeting and budget allocation for marketers.
4 Benefits of location data platform
Some experts have said that the location-based service market would reach $4 billion by 2018, and while this certainly seems to be well on its way to being accurate, it is important for businesses to understand why location marketing is going to be the cornerstone for all their future campaigns.
Since all sizes businesses can benefit from including location data in their marketing efforts, whether healthcare services or mom-and-pop stores or multi-location companies and franchises.
There are four significant ways location data platform can enrich a business’ marketing efforts and why businesses should implement location marketing in their strategy in order to succeed in the market., according to Foursquare.
#1. A real-time targeting system
Location data has the most obvious benefit of being able to provide real-time targeted advertising.
You can, for example, send tailored messaging if you know an individual is approaching a town, store, or office that you have a presence in by knowing where they are.
Marketers have widely adopted this approach because it tends to be effective; according to a report from Foursquare, 71% of franchises use location-based ads to reach audiences, while 84% use social ads.
Location-focused, real-time ads on digital platforms are now available in a wide range of formats. Your efforts can now be tailored to individuals by geofencing based on certain criteria and by using different types of creative limited-time offers.
#2. Market segmentation
Local-based data is helpful in terms of improving marketing efforts at the moment and is also more efficient over the long haul.
It’s partly because it makes segmentation easier. By linking location and behavior, you can segment audiences according to their regular shopping behavior or recent visits to certain stores. A survey conducted by Foursquare found that the best insight to be gained from location data is to create accurate audience segments based on location.
It is important to remember that location information can provide highly useful nuances when segmenting.
#3. A customer’s perspective
In addition to better customer insights, location data can also help businesses in the long run.
Location data can be used to gain valuable insights into complex behaviors, such as where audiences commute, how far they travel, and what they do in various locations.
As a result of these innovative insights, Foursquare found that almost three-quarters (74%) of North American marketers strongly agree that a location is no longer an optional component in customers’ interactions with a business.
#4. Credits
Using location information can help you answer questions such as what effects do different sales approaches have? For example, you can attribute revenue to particular marketing investments by tying purchases and visits made offline to online and traditional marketing.
This attribution power has so much potential, and marketers will only begin to witness its full effects in the next few years. Existing technologies can help provide some level of detail. Still, upcoming innovations will allow marketers to get a much deeper understanding of the effect of their marketing initiatives on real-world actions.
Foursquare reports that a significant share of retailers sees value in IoT innovations such as in-store beacons and tracking sensors.
Final Words
Today’s geo-based technologies provide brands with a powerful means of reaching and understanding customers much more efficiently and effectively. In any case, marketers must realize that if consumers stop disclosing their personal information, these benefits might no longer exist.
Individuals choose to allow their digital devices to share their location with apps and websites when they opt-in to do so. Data handling must be respectful and secure; otherwise, people will withdraw consent.
Furthermore, marketers should make sure their customers feel benefitted from sharing their location information.