10 Things You Should Know About Location-Based Advertising

What is location-based advertising?

An interesting way to think about location-based advertising is to imagine this scenario: you are out for a walk on a beautiful summer day and suddenly you start craving an ice cream cone to beat the heat. There are multiple ice cream shops within a 1km radius of your location yet you usually find yourself at one called Ed’s. As you are approaching Ed’s, you receive a notification on your phone offering a medium milkshake for the same price as a small cone. You think to yourself "that’s a great deal!" so you walk into the shop and order the milkshake.

There are multiple advertising tactics at work here but let’s focus on the main one: location-based mobile advertising.

What we just learned from Ed’s ice cream shop.

Ed’s ice cream shop is using location-based advertising. Based on the shopper's proximity to the store, marketers will create a digital offer and send it directly to the customer’s smartphone. The likelihood that the shopper will act on this offer within a few feet of the storefront is greater than if they had received this offering at home. This technique is possible through a technology known as geofencing. In short, geofencing is a virtual parameter marked on a digital map that will trigger a notification, sale, or offer to the person's phone whenever they pass by the marked boundary.

10 things that are important to know about location-based advertising.

1. Businesses can tailor their messages based on the retail location, routes, weather, and of course behavioral patterns of their local customers. As we can see from Ed’s ice cream shop, there could have been multiple advertising factors at play, and all are all important factors for an ice cream shop to consider: your proximity to the store's location; how often you go to Ed’s; what you usually buy; and the weather conditions.

2. Location-based advertising is a personalized and targeted form of digital advertising. Market to everyone and you market to no one. This is something marketers keep in mind, especially now that technology has allowed for data collection and insights into their customers.

3. It can create impulse purchases. Marketing online is one thing, but marketing when the person is within meters of your store helps shoppers make quick decisions. The more convenient, the better.

4. It offers a better customer experience. Location-based advertising isn’t just for sending offers, sales, and promotions. It can also be used for sending personalized welcome messages to your customers as they enter the store. This can be especially useful in areas where there is a wait to enter the store, or if the customer requires a reservation. Information can be provided about their upcoming visit as well as lead into promotions or other offers that they may be interested in viewing while they wait.

5. Advertising based on demographics helps yield more "ideal" customers. Marketers can use the data they collect to create an ad that is tailored to relevant audiences. Data collection allows marketers to identify customers that are likely to fit their customer profile and send mobile advertisements based on this information.

6. High-intent customers are targeted when it matters most - near your store’s location. Mobile devices are seemingly glued to people, whether at home or outside the house. When a person leaves the house to go to a storefront the intent is already in motion that they are looking to buy. Mobile marketing is genius in the sense that marketers can send notifications right at that critical moment in their decision-making stage.

7. It builds brand equity and trust within your customer base. It is important to create a deeper connection with your clients when marketing to them. Speaking to their needs and wants can prove invaluable when it comes to obtaining a lifelong customer. Using location data can help with speaking your customer's language and aids in providing useful information to answer their concerns.

8. Location-based advertising depends on collecting a variety of information to target your intended audience. It also requires the use of different technologies or techniques such as geofencing,

BLE Beacons, and geoconquesting.

1. Implementing location-based advertising will put you ahead of the competition. To stay competitive in a world full of different retailers it is important to look beyond traditional marketing tactics and use mobile first advertising.

2. The most effective way to establish your brand in the mobile world is to call on the experts. A location-based advertising company will be able to help you set up all your location-based advertising needs and take the guesswork out of this targeted form of digital advertising.

Mapsted is a Canadian technology company that specializes in location-based advertising and location services.

As a tech-savvy writer, I take great interest in learning about new innovations in technology and how it is changing our world.