The Niche Marketing Blog

Here’s a quick re-cap of location-based marketing news from around the net.

MENG to Hold Virtual Summit on Location-Based Marketing on April 18

Location-based marketing (LBM) takes mobile marketing and advertising a step further by enhancing the relevance of the marketing message. “It is essential for marketers to connect the ‘who and what’ with the ‘when and where,’” said MENG member Claudio …
See all stories on this topic »

Voxeo Rolls Out Location-Based Intelligence with Voice Self-Service Apps

In addition to store locators and other applications that typically require location information, companies can use LBS to deliver location-based marketing offers and location-based advertising. The technology can also work to track mobile workers, …
See all stories on this topic »

Five Things You Need to Know Today: March 29

In March, the topic will be “Foursquare and Location-Based Marketing” and in April, the topic will be “Pinterest for Business.” For more information on the event, contact either Bob Cargill at Cargill123@gmail.com or Phil Hollows at phil@feedblitz.com.
See all stories on this topic »

Location-Based Tools Tying Music to Local Experiences

As location-based marketing becomes increasingly popular, the variation of place-centric apps is also increasing, with niche players competing to provide targeted local ads and promotions. The music industry, in particular, has staked out its place in … See all stories on this topic »

BetaKit

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — PayPal, WirelessWerx

Welcome to This Week in Location Based Marketing, a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association. In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan discuss Kevin Rose’s flight to Google, PayPal’s response to Square with a … See all stories on this topic »

Street Fight

Related articles

• Make Foursquare Work for Your Business (thenichemarketingblog.com)
• LBS-location based services (alihusnaen.wordpress.com)
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Technorati Tags: Location-based advertising, Location-based service

Slow and Steady Wins theSocial Media Marketing Race | Fox Small …

According to a survey by Revelation Research, a marketing research firm, more than half of online customers have connected to a brand online through a …
smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/…/slow-and-steady-wins-social-…

MENG to Hold Virtual Summit on Location-Based Marketing on April 18

Location-based marketing (LBM) takes mobile marketing and advertising a step further by enhancing the relevance of the marketing message. “It is essential for marketers to connect the ‘who and what’ with the ‘when and where,’” said MENG member Claudio …
See all stories on this topic »

Voxeo Rolls Out Location-Based Intelligence with Voice Self-Service Apps

In addition to store locators and other applications that typically require location information, companies can use LBS to deliver location-based marketing offers and location-based advertising. The technology can also work to track mobile workers, …
See all stories on this topic »

Five Things You Need to Know Today: March 29

In March, the topic will be “Foursquare and Location-Based Marketing” and in April, the topic will be “Pinterest for Business.” For more information on the event, contact either Bob Cargill at Cargill123@gmail.com or Phil Hollows at phil@feedblitz.com.
See all stories on this topic »

Location-Based Tools Tying Music to Local Experiences

As location-based marketing becomes increasingly popular, the variation of place-centric apps is also increasing, with niche players competing to provide targeted local ads and promotions. The music industry, in particular, has staked out its place in … See all stories on this topic »

BetaKit

Related articles

• Make Foursquare Work for Your Business (thenichemarketingblog.com)
• Location based marketing review (mrbtg.wordpress.com)
• Location-Based Marketing: Tips for Getting Started (pbsmartessentials.com)

Technorati Tags: location-based marketing, Location-based service, Mobile Marketing

Foursquare and Niche Marketing

[Editor's note: Recently, Foursquare has added many new features designed to help deliver foot traffic to their member businesses.  Niche marketers with brick-and-mortar locations will appreciate this strategy. This article will help you get started with Foursquare and get some of that foot traffic for your business. ~Scott]

By Alex I Cohen

Many of you will have already read that location based services are set to be big in 2012. The challenge is how we can turn the excitement of a shiny new trend into something useful that produces data we can analyze and act on. We have put together a brief guide to Foursquare and have given a few examples of how it can be used as part of your marketing strategy for 2012.

What is Foursquare?

Foursquare is a location based game that asks players to use their mobile to ‘check-in’ at locations they visit throughout their day. Users receive points every time they check-in and can share these with friends they connect with on Foursquare and on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. When players complete certain tasks within Foursquare they are awarded badges; these are displayed on their profile page. And, if a player is checks in the most at a certain venue then they will become the mayor of that place, meaning that their profile picture and name will be displayed to everyone who checks into that venue.

How can you use Foursquare?

The list below is just a taster of what you can do, just speak to us if you have an idea of how else you’d like to use Foursquare

Offer discounts and promotions to people who check in

Offer discount codes to those who check into your business or a nearby location in order to bring business in. This is a really low cost way of acquiring customers; McDonald’s recently gave away a gift card to every person who checked in on Foursquare on a specific day. The campaign cost them just $1000 to create and resulted in a 33% increase in footfall.

Find your brand advocates

When users check in they are also able to leave a comment about where they are. Take a look at these comments to get an honest view of how your brand is perceived. Foursquare also offers location owners a whole host of data about check-ins related to their business.

Reward Loyalty

Starbucks did this really successfully when they rewarded mayors of each branch with the chance to get $1 off their coffee every day. As well as gaining a load of press coverage, this promotion incentivised people to check into Starbucks in the hope of becoming the next mayor, thus increasing the number of mentions Starbucks got in people’s news feeds and increasing interaction with the brand.

Link up with complimentary brands

If you own a product then you may want to offer exclusive versions or samples to people who check in at a relevant location e.g. if your product is a moisturizer targeted at men you may want to offer them a sample when they check in at a particular gym or hairdressing chain. This will increase product trail and awareness of your brand amongst the target market.

Still keen to find out more? Download our comprehensive guide on our website.

Alex Cohen is the Managing Director of Xander Marketing, a successful marketing agency based in Berkshire, UK. For more information visit http://www.XanderMarketing.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alex_I_Cohen
http://EzineArticles.com/?Make-Foursquare-Work-for-Your-Business&id=5804079

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• The Case of Foursquare for Business (socialmediasleuth.net)

Technorati Tags: Foursquare, Location-based service

Image via Wikipedia

[Editor's note: Today's guest article focuses on location based marketing and the growing popularity of smart phones. Smart niche marketers are picking up on this trend and using it to develop micro-niche marketing strategies for targeting core audience segments. Mass retailers and local merchants alike can exploit the opportunities of location based marketing. Let me know how you are using these niche marketing strategies for your business. Leave me a comment below. ~Scott]

By Greg Smith

Location Based Marketing

It wasn’t so long ago that businesses advertised on TV, radio, billboards, direct mail and the like… the so-called ‘traditional’ media. These mediums promised lots of impressions but were limited in the amount of targeting they offered. So, while a lot of people would see or hear your ad, it was hit or miss as to whether or not they were actually in the market for what you were selling. On top of that, the pricing models for these types of media made them fairly prohibitive for anyone other than large companies and organizations with dedicated advertising budgets.

With the advent of the internet marketing, and of the Google Adwords model, businesses big and small found a new way to reach potential customers. Business owners could now reach out to people who they knew were not only interested in their particular product or service but were, in fact, searching for it at that very moment. This type of highly targeted advertising promised significantly higher ROI and made for a much lower cost to entry for those businesses that didn’t have money to spend on expensive advertising campaigns. The only real disadvantage was the fact that the user had to be in front of their computer to see your ad. Maybe not so bad for everyone, but it doesn’t necessarily do proximity-based businesses like the restaurant or coffee shop down the street too much good.

Enter the smartphone.

Almost 20% of all mobile phone users in the US are on smartphones today and that number is closer to 25% worldwide. Since March of this year, the US alone has seen a 36% increase in smartphone adoption (via Mashable) and that rate doesn’t show any signs of slowing. While the heavy-hitters dominating the smartphone landscape at the moment are Apple’s iPhone and Google’s wealth of Android based phones, there are a number of other handsets which offer users the standard smartphone functionality, including internet access and GPS. With so many mobile phones now equipped with these types of features, a new branch of applications, deemed ‘location-based services‘, have emerged which allow users to broadcast their physical location at any given time. In turn, services such as Foursquare now allow businesses the ability to offer incentives to nearby users who ‘check-in’ at their location, providing an unprecedented opportunity to reach potential customers when they are close by and most likely to engage with your brand. In addition, these services provide businesses access to analytics dashboards containing a wealth of information such as who is coming to your business, when they are coming, what they had to say about it and where they went afterwards. And the best part… it’s all free.

Until recently, these location-based services were used primarily by the early adopter crowd (think Twitter, before it was as popular as it is today) and had yet to make their way into what might be considered mainstream culture. Just last week however, the social networking giant Facebook announced its entry into the location realm with the release of its ‘Places’ service, thrusting the concept of location-based social networking into the limelight and increasing the number of people with the ability to start checking-in to more than 150 million overnight.

A number of big brands are already engaging their customers through these services in new and interesting ways and the benefits of using location-based networking is only now becoming truly evident. As mobile phone usage continues to skyrocket and location services become more prevalent and advanced, savvy businesses will have opportunities to reach potential customers in ways that have never before been possible. While a fully ‘integrated’ marketing approach used to entail both offline and online initiatives, there is now a third element that should be considered when formulating your marketing plan… location. There is no doubt that location-based marketing will soon be as mainstream as having a website, but the companies who get involved early will benefit the most as they gain the valuable experience that other organizations will have to make up for later. What’s your business doing to engage customers?

Related articles

• How To Add Value As a Social Media Marketer – One Easy Tip To Distinguish Yourself (thenichemarketingblog.com)
• Location Marketing – The Latest Small Business Tool (thenichemarketingblog.com)
• Pew: 58 Percent Use Geosocial And Location-Based Services (searchengineland.com)

Technorati Tags: location-based marketing, Location-based service, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy

Image via CrunchBase

[Editor's note: Location based marketing (LBM) is gaining popularity amongst the "brick and mortar" crowd, for both local and niche marketers.  Here's a list of services and applications that you can use for setting-up, and running, your location based marketing strategy. Do you have a favorite? Let me know by leaving a comment below. ~Scott]

By Matt Bodnar

Location based marketing (“LBM”) is taking social media and transforming it from a mushy concept to a real tool to drive revenue in your small business.

LBM is creating cost effective ways for smart business people to use social media to increase their sales. The disruptive nature of this technology allows business owners to increase real and measurable foot traffic to their stores and quantify the results of their social media campaign.

In order to take advantage of the huge opportunities location based marketing provides, there are a few key apps that every small business interested in LBM should keep in their marketing arsenal.

You don’t need all of these to run a successful LBM campaign, but each one is helpful in its own right and can help strengthen your LBM campaign in one way or another. Here is a quick rundown of the basic apps that you need to know (and use) to be successful with location based marketing.

Foursquare - This is a no brainer. Foursquare is the market leader in location based services and one of the big names of LBM. Foursquare is free to use and set up for your business. Foursquare also has the largest established user base of any mainstream location based service.

Gowalla - Another strong contender in the LBM space, Gowalla also has a substantial user base and offers a “city pages” where you can feature specials and deals for customers to browse online, a great way to showcase your offers to new and perspective customers.

Facebook - Facebook is involved directly in the LBM space with Facebook Places, which allows you to set up a a location page for your business. Facebook Deals is a new Facebook platform that lets you offer specials and reward programs to customers. Facebook’s Fanpage is also a great way to keep your fans updated about your latest specials. All around, Facebook is an excellent tool for building and strengthening your fan base and ultimately your sales.

SCVNGR - SCVNGR is a smaller up and coming location based service. With the help of some recent VC investments and a big deal with a major consumer brand, SCVNGR has definitely put itself on the map. Given the lack of users, its hard to get as much traction, but keep an eye on this service.

Geotoko - Geotoko is a third party LBM platform that allows you to monitor your location based marketing campaign across multiple locations and platforms. With an easy to use and sleek interface, Geotoko is a great way to manage your LBM campaign in one place. This service does cost money so keep that in mind.

Place Punch – Place Punch is similar to Geotoko and offers another platform to monitor your LBM campaign from one place – the software isn’t quite as sleek but its a little cheaper than Geotoko. Both services offer a free trail so give them a shot.

Twitter - Twitter doesn’t have a specific location based component that lets you offer deals to customers, but its such a powerful platform for customer engagement and PR that it needs to be integrated into any successful LBM campaign. You can use twitter to broadcast your LBM campaigns to customers and generate buzz about your latest check-in special.

What are you waiting for? Start learning more about these great software tools right now and get your LBM campaign off the ground. This could be the opportunity to make your small business as successful as it can be. You can get these campaigns set up in no time.

Matt Bodnar is a restaurant entrepreneur with a passion for social media. Visit his blog http://www.LBMGuru.com to learn more about location based marketing and get the latest updates. Matt also offers tips and strategies for using location based marketing to grow your business with a free how-to guide you can download right now at: http://www.locationbasedmarketing.biz.

(C) Copyright – Matt Bodnar. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Bodnar

http://EzineArticles.com/?Seven-Applications-Every-Location-Based-Marketer-Needs&id=5818956

Related articles

• 7 Reasons Your Small Business Needs Location Based Marketing (thenichemarketingblog.com)
• How Location Based Marketing Can Help Your Business Survive The Recession (thenichemarketingblog.com)
• How To Use Foursquare For Businesses (thenichemarketingblog.com)
• Geo-Deals Battle Royale: Groupon vs. Facebook vs… Scvngr? (clickz.com)

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, Location-based service, SCVNGR, Twitter

Image via Wikipedia

[Editor's note: The bottom line for any marketing strategy is whether or not it increases sales leads and/or customers. Everything else is simply academic. Today's guest article focuses on Foursquare, a location based service, and how you can use this service to drive traffic and get more customers.

As more and more consumers are moving towards mobile technology, and as Foursquare is orienting itself towards providing business owners with traffic building tools, Foursquare is becoming an important piece of any overall marketing strategy.  Local businesses and niche marketers should pay attention to the recent advances in location based marketing services, as it is almost certain that your competitors are. ~Scott]

By Matt Bodnar

Foursquare is a new location-based app that lets customers check-in to locations and access free rewards or deals. This presents a substantial mobile marketing opportunity for owners and social media markets to use Foursquare for business. How can you use Foursquare for business?

Foursquare is a cornerstone of any location based marketing strategy. As the market leader in location-based services and the platform with the widest user base Foursquare should be the focus of any mobile marketing or social media marketing campaign for small businesses.

Crunchbase describes Foursquare as: “Foursquare is a location based social network that incorporates gaming elements. Users share their location with friends by “checking in” via a smartphone app or by text message. Points are awarded for checking in at various venues… In addition, users who have checked in the most times at a certain venue will be crowned “Mayor” until someone surpasses their number. Various venues have embraced Foursquare, and offer special deals to users who are “mayors”.”

Here is a quick guide for using Foursquare for businesses as part of your location based marketing strategy:

Set up your Foursquare campaign - go to http://www.Foursquare.com and set your campaign up. You need to register, find your venue, and register. Once you are registered you can get your campaign rolling.

Start running specials – start running specials and deals to reward your mayor and your loyal customers – use Foursquare to acquire customers and get them into your store.

Get more customers involved – get your customers on board – tell them about your deals and get them on Foursquare – the more customers you have on board, the more you can use the platform in the future to market your deals.

Track your results – use Foursquare’s built-in functionality to track your results and see what’s working, learn from your mistakes, and build a better campaign.

This simple strategy can make Foursquare a cornerstone of your marketing strategy. The best part about using Foursquare is that the only cost you incur is the cost of the deal itself – the software and functionality are free to use for small businesses – this is a tremendous marketing opportunity.

Matt Bodnar is a restaurant entrepreneur with a passion for social media. Matt offers tips and strategies for using location based marketing to grow your business with a free how-to guide you can download right now at: http://www.locationbasedmarketing.biz

(C) Copyright – Matt Bodnar. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Bodnar

http://EzineArticles.com/?How-To-Use-Foursquare-For-Businesses&id=5876113

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• Set Up Your Specials on Foursquare (problog.weddingwire.com)

Technorati Tags: Foursquare, location absed marketing, Location-based service

Image via CrunchBase

[Editor's note: Niche marketers are always looking for ways to improve their marketing strategy and increase their market share. An effective location based marketing (LBM) strategy is one way to do this. Many LBM strategies focus on platforms like Foursquare, or Gowalla, to drive foot traffic to a retail location. But, how do you drive traffic to Foursquare and Gowalla? Consider Twitter. Yes, if used strategically, Twitter can be a powerful weapon for increasing leads and sales. Let me know what you think by leaving me a comment, below. ~Scott]

By Matt Bodnar

Twitter is a core piece of any social media marketing strategy. It makes sense for online markets to use Twitter for a variety of reasons, but why should a local small business, a shop or restaurant for example, use Twitter?

Twitter is a very strong platform for location based marketing. Foursquare or Gowalla would be considered “primary” location based marketing platforms, while Twitter is more of a secondary location based marketing program. However, Twitter can be a vital tool and take your LBM campaign to the next level.

Twitter builds on the idea of “permission marketing.” Twitter can be used to create a follower list of customers who are passionate about your brand and your business. This Twitter follower list can be used as a “permission asset” of customers who want to see what specials and deals you are offering. Once you build up a significant twitter following (that is a whole different article!) you can market to those customers using Twitter.

What can you do with Twitter to juice up your LBM campaign and make some sales? Here are a few suggestions to consider for building your Twitter base and using that to leverage your LBM campaign.

Tweet about one-time specials and deals available through other location based platforms – send out a tweet to your followers and let them know to come check-in and unlock your special.

Use Twitter to get new followers onto your LBM platform – get followers to sign up for Foursquare or Gowalla and come in to your store for specials, discounts and deals, once they are on the platform – you can offer them more specials in the future.

Offer check-in specials exclusively for your Twitter followers – this is a great way to reward your twitter followers and encourage more of your customers to join twitter – this creates a virtuous cycle where you get more followers on both twitter and your location based service of choice.

Give your customers a small bonus for becoming a follower on Twitter – 10% off or a free beer will do – something simple but meaningful- this creates a win-win situation for both you and your customer because you are both providing each other with something of value.

Advertise in your store - let customers know if they follow you on twitter they can get access to free deals and specials that you will only post on Twitter – this creates a great incentive to get your customers on the platform, once you start offering them specials and deals then you can drive concrete and measureable foot traffic into your venue using location based services like Foursquare.

Use Twitter as part of your arsenal and you can unlock the real strength of your LBM campaign. What are you waiting for? If you already have Twitter followers, this is even easier as you can start to monetize your follower base and use your followers to drive foot traffic and ultimately sales into your business.

Matt Bodnar is a restaurant entrepreneur with a passion for social media. He offers tips and strategies for using location based marketing to grow your business with a free how-to guide you can download right now at: http://www.locationbasedmarketing.biz

(C) Copyright – Matt Bodnar. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Bodnar

http://EzineArticles.com/?How-To-Use-Twitter-For-Small-Business-Location-Based-Marketing&id=5876395

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• Social Location Marketing by Simon Salt (blogs.forbes.com)
• Foursquare Isn’t Just for Fictional Mayors Anymore (clickz.com)
• Gowalla 3.0 Unifies Check-Ins, Places With Facebook, Twitter, And Yes, Foursquare (e1evation.com)

Technorati Tags: Foursquare, Gowalla, LBM, location-based marketing, Location-based service, niche marketing strategy, Twitter

Image via CrunchBase

[Editor's note: Location based marketing services - like Foursquare, Loopt, and Gowalla - are gaining momentum as powerful promotion and incentive tools, helping both niche marketers and local businesses drive foot traffic and sales leads. The LBM providers are picking up on this trend by complementing their own services with promotion tools aimed at helping the merchant attract loyal customers. The following guest article takes a look at how to leverage these free LBM services to help increase leads, and build foot traffic for your business. ~Scott]

By Matt Bodnar

Location based marketing (LBM) is an immensely powerful tool for small business marketing. Here are 7 reasons why every small business should implement an LBM campaign.

1. Customer acquisition – location based marketing helps you reach out to new customers. You can offer deals or rewards for first time check-ins to encourage new visitors to your store. These customers can find your deals either by using location based services like foursquare, or by finding online deal listing like Gowalla city pages.

2. Reward loyal customers – location based marketing lets you reward your most loyal customers. You can choose to use mayor specials to reward your top customers with special goodies, or you can use repeat check-ins to reward customers with something similar to the Smoothie King punch card.

3. Monetize your social media presence – what are you going to do with all those fans on your restaurant’s Facebook page? LBM lets you drive those customers into your store by offering them specials or promotions – and its measurable because you can track check-ins and monitor all your LBM analytics.

4. Low Risk / High Reward – there is little to risk for setting up an LBM campaign, spending 15 minutes to set up foursquare and get your campaign going is your only real cost (other than the promotional items). So what if no one checks in for a few days? Even 1 or 2 sales extra sales would still make 15 minutes a worthwhile investment.

5. Free to use – Foursquare and Gowalla are both free to use for small businesses – there is no cost to set up your campaign. Do I really need to say more?

6. Differentiate yourself from your competitors – be the first of your competitors to get ahead of the trend. If you dominate the LBM space before anyone else then you will be the go-to spot and your brand will be associated with location based promotions in your customer’s mind.

7. Proven marketing methods – at the end of the day, none of these tactics are new or untested. Location based marketing takes the proven and successful tactics of coupons, customers loyalty cards, promotions, and discounts and moves them all onto a mobile platform in the social media space.

What are you waiting for? Go set up your location based marketing campaign today. There isn’t much to lose but it could really help your business grow sales and outmaneuver the competition.

Matt Bodnar is a restaurant entrepreneur with a passion for social media. Visit his blog http://www.LBMGuru.com to learn more about location based marketing and get the latest updates. Matt also offers tips and strategies for using location based marketing to grow your business with a free how-to guide you can download right now at: http://www.locationbasedmarketing.biz

(C) Copyright – Matt Bodnar. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Bodnar

http://EzineArticles.com/?7-Reasons-Your-Small-Business-Needs-Location-Based-Marketing&id=5729036

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• 5 Questions (and Answers) About Social Location Marketing (mpdailyfix.com)
• Foursquare Builds User Value With New Functionality (lbmguru.com)

Technorati Tags: Foursquare, Gowalla, location-based marketing, Location-based service, Loopt, niche marketing strategy