Location, location, location – the mobile marketing phenomenon

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Mobile B2B marketing is finally here. Location helps marketers to be relevant and helpful, instead of annoying. We call this gift to humanity, Geo Targeting

Location, Location, Location – The Mobile Marketing Phenomenon

We know how important location is for the real estate market, but did you know that it is just as important when marketing any products and services? More than 2.6 billion people are walking around with their smartphones and B2B marketers are still not using geo targeting technology to impact their pipeline.

Location helps marketers to be relevant and helpful, instead of annoying and research shows that by using location data campaign performance jumps by 45 percent. What we have is a classic win-win situation. Local businesses are using location targeting for retail and fast food, and mobile marketing for national and global brands are on the rise. So how do you use geo targeting for B2B marketing?

When to use location-based mobile marketing

Mobile devices track and report the owner’s location in real time with great accuracy. Consumers not only allow that: they are loving it. According to the Pew Institute: 74 % of smartphone owners say they use their mobile device to get location based information.

Some companies use mobile marketing to trigger alerts for special sales and offers. When these are relevant and based on proximity people are more responsive. People who are looking for products and services on their phones expect to receive geotargeted results and Google knows this. So where relevant have your search results for content optimised based on location: people will sometimes skip an ad, but they won’t skip relevant information that is closer to them.

Where does it work?

The most widespread use of mobile marketing is to use location-based ad triggers for apps. If your headquarters is in a business center, you can target customers within a certain distance of it. You can also take advantage of the free market and target the area near a competitor: you can have your own marketing promotion come up on the mobile device at the vicinity of your competitors’ business. Promoting your business near your office is not a new idea, but thanks to mobile you now have another channel to use.

If you are organising or participating in a seminar/event, consider talking to the organisers and see if they are offering mobile marketing opportunities within the venue. Companies can utilise location-based marketing to attract people not only to a place, but to a particular product within that place. Last year we took part in OpenText Enterprise World and they were using a social media app designed especially for the event. By releasing your own app, you can utilise tracking data to learn more for your prospect customers and present relevant information like upcoming webinars or other events.

How do you go about it?

There are several ways to use mobile marketing within your campaigns: presenting ads, delivering relevant content, promotions.

Facebook is using Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) cards at most of their live events to allow guests to automatically capture and post photos.  A lot of automotive brands are using the RFID for social media marketing as well. The cards use electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. These tags contain two types of electronically stored information: passive and active. Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID readers interrogating radio waves. Active tags, on the other hand, have a local power source and operate at a long distance.

geo

A company that provides geotargeted marketing solutions is Geotargads: it will laser target your audience wherever they go, you just need to define the geographic locations where your audience resides. Geotargads surfaces adverts through 1.2 million commonly installed mobile apps so you don’t really have to worry about keywords, websites or developing you own apps when devising your strategy. It uses iOS, Android and other operating systems for mobile phones and tablets. At trade shows, seminars, hotels. Why not at universities and colleges across Europe? Just imagine: you will be able to get to people when they are away from the computer, maybe at the seaside or at a pool. Summer is coming, after all.

Another device you can use is the iBeacon or just Beacon (the first is for iOS and the second-for Android devices). The system developed by Apple listens for signals from beacons in the physical world and reacts to them. The Beacon technology allows apps to understand their position and deliver highly-targeted content to a user based on the location. It uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for communication of small packets of data. BLE Advertising is a one-way communication method. Beacons can broadcast packets of data in set intervals. The packets are collected by devices like smartphones and tablets, where they can be used in smartphone applications to trigger push messages, app actions, or prompts. Standard BLE works in a range up to 100 meters.

What to be aware of…

What should you be aware of when using geolocation? It is very easily blocked by mobile users. Many users leave the apps with the GPS location feature running, but some won’t even install apps that share location data.

Current trends show that consumers are substituting checking in with checking out: instead of sharing their location, they are using it to do research on the spot. Genuine value can be provided to the prospects by alert-based ads and product information. Research shows that 72% of consumers will respond to calls-to-action in marketing messages if they can see the retailer as well. What does it mean for your B2B business? Go to events and invest in mobile marketing, if you can’t afford a booth.

Mobile marketing not only helps marketers, but it also improves customer experience. The technology is slowly but surely introducing a paradigm shift in the way brands are communicating with the customers. It is providing a digital extension into the physical world. So as we said, don’t forget - Location, location, location.


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