Get Started with Location-Based Marketing
We use GPS to get us where we want to be, so imagine the potential this same concept has for your business’s marketing tactics. Location-based marketing, in a nutshell, uses global-positioning technology to send geographically specific marketing messages to consumers via their mobile devices and phones. This is a golden opportunity for businesses, large and small, to reach their customers directly in a simplistic and personalized way.
Studies and research has shown that when a business knows their customer’s location and time at the location, it is a strict indicator of their intent to buy. This means that companies can specifically target customers and consumers at those times and locatons, tailoring offers to motivate their interests and subtly encourage them to buy.
Businesses are encouraged to experiment with location-based marketing in several facets. First, they might consider marketing with apps, which uses short text, targeted text messages that engage customers upon first opening the message; no gimmicks or tricks involved. Other sites like Groupon and locally-based Eversave in the greater Boston area are great for smaller businesses hoping to snag a larger audience within the region.
Here are a few tips we have for businesses looking to step up in location-based marketing:
1. Give Your Customers Their Choice – Let them have the opportunity to opt in. Not all customers want to disclose their information, such as name, interests and location. If they do want to, however, reward them for doing so.
2. Keep Clear of Gimmicks – You want to make sure you are open and honest with all your customers. If they opt in, tell them what you’re doing with their information, so they know their information is private and controlled at all times.
3. Never, Ever Give Away Their Information – Selling your customers’ information might seem like a great idea at the time, but doing so might actually be detrimental to your business. You want to make them feel valuable, rather than used.
Melissa graduated from the University of Utah in 2008 with a degree in Editorial Journalism and a minor in French. After spending several years working in copy writing, grant writing and web marketing in Salt Lake City, Utah, she relocated to New Hampshire to work as the marketing coordinator for a non-profit ski destination. Melissa specializes in copy writing, web content, editing and social media.
