INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, people want everyone to know what they are doing, how there are doing it, why they are doing it, and where they are doing it. The where they are right now is a valuable piece of information. Leveraging location is about following a new kind of cookie. It tracks users from morning till night. The process is called location-based marketing.
People wake up in the morning and grab the phone beside them. They travel to work listening to the radio. Also, they interact with billboards along the way. People take lunch breaks and are influenced by digital menus. Similarly, they go shopping and receive push messages swaying their purchase decisions. And, when they get home, some of them are still watching ads on TV. Through all of this, location is the only piece of data that enables marketers to see where the people are and what media is nearby. Hence, location-based marketing is already a big market.
Marketing at the right place and in real-time is now possible. All this is done while you share your location with the apps on your mobiles. Location-based marketing allows you to personalize your content. All you need is a marketing automation platform that supports location-based personalization.
FUTURE OF LOCATION-BASED MARKETING
Using a person’s location data, marketers can send different messages to people depending on where they are.
Global leader in IT and networking, Cisco predicts that by the end of 2020, there will be 5.5 billion mobile users. It represents 70 percent of the global population. It presents a massive opportunity for brands and marketers to target consumers based on their location data. The data can be derived directly from their mobile device.
There are over three billion smartphones in the world. In 2019, 88 percent of brand marketers used the location data to target customers. Seventy-one percent of those consumers responded to location specific offers, changing from one brand to another. Nearly 30 percent of shoppers said that being able to pay from anywhere in the store was crucial.
The Location Based Marketing Association (LBMA) predicts that investments in mobile and location-based marketing will surpass 96 billion dollars by 2021. Also, by 2022, half of consumer vehicles in use will have at least one connected feature. Similarly, the total value of mobile and online coupon redemptions will rise from 47 billion dollars in 2019 to 90 billion dollars by 2023.
Moreover, voice commerce will surge from 2 billion dollars in 2020 to 40 billion dollars in 2022 as voice platforms take hold. By this time next year, 50 percent of the search will be initiated via voice, enabling brands to reach us while searching on the move.
These location loving consumers are:
- 57 percent of them are millennials (Millennial years)
- 46 percent are adults with children
- 40 percent have income over 150,000 dollars
Location-based marketing seems simple. Also, it is so easy to know people’s locations. It’s right there in their smartphones.
ADVANTAGES OF LOCATION-BASED MARKETING
Better marketing target means less time and money spent on sending your messages to people who literally could not care less about it. In location-based marketing, with the amount of data available for marketers, there is no excuse for not targeting your message.
Some benefits of location-based marketing are:
- Location-based marketing is free or low-cost
Many location-based marketing is free. First, you need to complete a page on a location-based service for your business. Then, you get free marketing. However, you need to pay some amount in advanced location-based marketing. But, it is still cheaper than other marketing strategies.
- High targeting opportunity in location-based marketing
Geographically, location-based marketing is highly targeted. You will know when a person is near your products or services. Then, you can send messages and personalize your content.
- Attract many customers
Location-based marketing can attract lots of customers. Imagine you are passing by a mall, and you get a message of 40 percent off on Gucci bags. The probability of visiting the store becomes much higher than you being at home or some other place.
Location-based marketing is not limited to the big brands. Google has given the benefit to local business owners by engaging in the most immediate of all audiences. Many times, even huge brands cannot reach those customers on a personal level.
