Personalisation in marketing isn’t a new concept, and it’s had to become the norm for many marketeers if they want to talk over all the noise.  With so much technology and ways of targeting nowadays something has to be done to grab the attention of consumers.

Have you ever looked at something on Amazon, just briefly or maybe you found it at a better price elsewhere. You may have noticed that Amazon sent you a reminder email a day or so after to tell you it’s still available or that there’s some great products to consider in the subject that you were searching for… that was all down to personalisation and what you had searched for on their website. If you want to understand how they did it, cookies are your answer!

Personalisation does not have to be complicated and there’s now even better ways to do it which we will discuss in this blog. The world of marketing has become even more smarter with location-based marketing!

What is location-based marketing?

Location based marketing or geo-targeted marketing is defined as a form of mobile advertising that is highly personalised based on where the customer is or has been. This could be when your customer is physically close or within your store.

How does it work?

Location-based marketing is used to fine-tune a business’s marketing efforts and gain better engagement from the marketing that they produce. But how does it work?

We as humans move around a lot, be it by car or public transport, and for reasons such as shopping, fitness, leisure, holidays, a whole lot of things! But we almost all now carry a mobile phone, and for some of us, a smart phone. According to Statista, 45.04% of the world's population owns a smartphone so therefore, why not as marketeers use that to your advantage! Location based marketing relies on the use of smart phones and GPS to hone down on it’s customer base and let them know about things they may potentially be interested in, in their area.

If you’re looking for an efficient and low-cost way of marketing effectively, this is your go-to strategy! Location-based marketing is extremely effective for getting your brand out there, producing inbound traffic to your store and boosting brand awareness. When compared to other marketing tactics, this way is much more achievable for all walks of business industries!

Types of Location Based Marketing

There are many types of location based marketing and a few too many to cover off completely, but we thought we’d pick the main winners out of the list…

Geotargeting  - A way of targeting an individual with advertising material, based on their location at that time. This for example can happen if an individual has allowed a certain app on their phone trace their location (this can be opted in or out).

Geofencing – Used to target individuals once they come within a certain border. This could be a particular shopping centre, a town or street. Once a person is in a certain vicinity, they will be able to receive offers or notices about a certain shop or event.

Mobile targeting – Mobile marketing is a form of targeting that is specific to the user. Much like geotargeting, the individual will receive ads or information relevant to them and the location they are in.

What are the disadvantages of using location based marketing?

As always, it’s interesting to refer to the disadvantages of all tactics in marketing, not one can be right for all businesses. It’s best to find these out so that you know whether it could potentially be the right fit. Every great marketer knows that success in marketing comes from consistent test and measure! So, what are the disadvantages to location based marketing?

No smartphone

As mentioned further up in this post, 45.04% of the worlds population now own a smartphone, and when whittled down into specific country the stats are even greater! For example, 82.9% of the United Kingdom now own a smartphone. This is fantastic for marketers, however, worldwide there are still many people that don’t own a smartphone and this is where location based marketing has a disadvantage.

To opt in or opt out, that is the question

For location based marketing to work, you need to know about the privacy element. Not everyone likes the fact that their data can be tracked. We as humans are very sceptical when it comes to tracking and we have a right to privacy. This is why we have a choice whether we opt in or out for location technology. You may have seen this come up on your smartphone for particular apps. When an individual has opted out, location based marketing cannot work.

Irrelevant content

Having a large geographical audience to target does not necessarily mean that your content will apply to everyone. The only way to gain successful traction is to segment your geographical data accordingly, targeting the different segments you wish to target with individual and relevant content.

Is location intelligence marketing something your business could benefit from using?

If you would like to sign up to your own Mapsimise Go Account for FREE, click hereand you’ll soon be on your way to better data analysis and improve productivity