The best new marketing tool is right in your customers’ pocket, purse or palm. Mobile devices are at the heart of location-based marketing – letting you target potential customers instantly based on where they are.
When it comes to marketing and advertising, phones are just starting to be used to their full potential. Every cell phone is outfitted with a location service, such as GPS, that allows the phone to know where it is in the world – essential for maps and wayfinding. The location service, in turn, allows users to access apps such as Foursquare, which encourage users to “check in” at businesses and other places. Another common feature of smartphones is near-field communication, or NFC, which allows devices to talk to each other when they’re within a few inches of each other.
These technologies can be used to great effect for location-based marketing. Imagine being able to send a tip about a sale to shoppers who are already in your neighborhood, sending a text to attendees of an industry conference in a particular city or showing a mobile ad to potential buyers near your firm. All of this – and more – is possible with location-based marketing.
Recent Pew studies show:
- 58% of Americans adults use a smartphone
- 19% of Americans over 65 use a smartphone
- 74% of seniors use a cell phone of some kind
Among people with annual incomes of over $75,000, smartphone users include:
- 42% of seniors
- 76% of all adults
Impressive statistics, right? Nearly half of cell phone users use their devices to get location-based information such as recommendations and directions; that rises to 74 percent among smartphone users. About 12 percent of adults use cell phones to “check in” at locations using apps such as Foursquare, Yelp, Facebook and Google+.
So what could location-based marketing do for your business? Here are a few ideas:
- Restaurant: Set up a geofence at a baseball game to send texts to encourage fans to come have a meal after they leave.
- Car dealership: Use a geofence to determine when your customers are at competitors’ lots and send them a financing offer they can’t refuse.
- Service-based company: Send reminders for service updates triggered by location and purchase history.
- Retail store: Use an NFC service that lets customers tap their phone against a promotional piece to receive a coupon good to use immediately.
- Hospitality industry: Offer advice to out-of-town visitors on what to see while they’re staying with you, via messages sent as they explore the city.
Want to start implementing location-based marketing for your business? Give St. Gregory Group a call – or just look up our location on your smartphone and stop on by.