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[Editor's note: Today's guest article is focused on "location-based marketing". As location-based marketing gains a foothold, more and more companies are finding novel ways to use emerging technolgoies to reach prospects and customers. The ability to direct a message to a previously opted-in prospect is a powerful marketing strategy. As technology advances, even the smallest of brick and mortar businesses can target customers with incentives to stop in and shop. ~Scott]
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Mobile marketing can be a powerful and unique medium, but mobile campaigns are not for everyone. Not yet anyway. There’s a lot of opportunity for big brands who are looking to advertise in new and innovative ways. After all, big brands have the resources and budget to test the waters. If their initial attempts fail, it’s not the end of the world and it’s not going to break their bank.
So, is there room in this medium for the smaller guys?
I think there’s one specific area of mobile marketing that is suited incredibly well for brick and mortar businesses of any size, especially in areas with high foot traffic. Particularly retail stores, restaurants, bars and other event venues. This is Location-based marketing. With the differences in handset hardware and wireless and Blue Tooth technology, it’s probably too early in the game to determine how realistic this form of marketing is today, but it’s worth understanding how this can tie into your overall marketing efforts.
What is Location-based Marketing?
Location-based Marketing is the act of delivering targeted content directly to the user of a mobile device based upon their proximity to your business. This is usually done through SMS, known to most simply as text messaging. Information about your location is determined via built-in technologies such as GPS and Blue Tooth, which are quickly becoming standard in mobile devices. What it essentially comes down to is knowing when potential customers are in proximity to your business and sending them a targeted advertisement. This is truly the most direct form of direct marketing available.
How does it work?
Here’s an example: Maybe you’re walking down Ionia Ave. in Downtown Grand Rapids on a Saturday night deciding where to grab dinner and a drink. As you head down the street, you receive an offer via text message prompting you to stop into J Gardella’s for a free drink or to head over to Hopcat for half off an appetizer. Prior to receiving these messages, you’ve chosen to opt in to receive these messages through some other form of marketing. You’re a patron of both establishments and have already given them permission to market to you in this way, so you’re very receptive to such offers.
This is an interesting way for businesses to market to a very targeted group of people: those who are already out on the town on a Saturday night and are in close proximity to your business. Would you have the same success marketing that offer to the same group of people through a direct mailer or a website? Certainly not.
So let’s take it one step further and say you’ve successfully directed this foot traffic to your business but there’s a line at the door. With an effective mobile marketing campaign, a simple text message could allow your customers to be added to a waiting list.
While they’re waiting for a table, why not allow them retrieve a menu or list of specials via another text message?
A few minutes later, another message could let them know when their table is ready. Now your customers are seated and can effectively use the original text message as a coupon to redeem your offer.
Entertainment venues and clubs can use Located-based marketing to broadcast to customers by letting them know what time a show starts, who’s performing, how much tickets cost, etc. I’m a big fan of Dr. Grins Comedy Club at the B.O.B and every week I take a look at their Facebook page to see who’s appearing that weekend. I’d happily opt in to a service that would allow them to notify me of who’s performing and how much tickets cost when I’m in the area. If they wanted to offer any specials to get me in the door, even better.
What are some of the advantages of Location-based Marketing?
You can create a true sense of urgency.
Unlike advertisements distributed through mail or email, you can create coupons or offers that expire quickly — within 30 minutes to an hour, rather than weeks. You know your customers are already in the vicinity of your business and can leverage that to compel them to act out of impulse and urgency.
This creates the mentality that your customers need to act quickly to take advantage of the offer. This is something you can’t do that with a direct mailer.
You’re marketing to your customers at a time when they’re most likely to purchase.
Most forms of advertising will require your customer to remember an offer when and if they’re ready to act on it. If it’s a physical coupon, they need to cut it out, keep it handy and make sure they can actually find it when the time comes to redeem it. If that same coupon sits on their phone — which most people always have with them — you can eliminate the need for them to cut out and carry a piece of paper. I’ve never cut coupons but would be very likely to redeem something that was pushed directly to my phone.
If you are able to market to your customers via SMS as they enter your store, they’re more likely to be receptive to your offers and make a purchase than if you produce marketing that is focused on getting them through door in the first place.
You know exactly who you’re marketing to.
Unlike home phones and mailboxes, people don’t share mobile phones. You’re not marketing to a household or a home phone number that could be shared by several people — some who are in your target and others who are not. With traditional direct marketing, you always face the possibility that your message never reaches the person you intended it to go to.
About Opting-In
The idea of getting these advertisements in small doses would sit well with most people, but you certainly wouldn’t want to be bombarded with these advertisements the moment you step into a mall or walk down main street.
It’s up to the user to choose who they are interested in receiving this type of marketing from, through simple opt in procedures. The user has full control to determine who is able to market to them in this fashion. That’s why it’s important to integrate mobile advertising with your overall marketing campaign. Websites, print ads, radio spots, etc. can provide a direct call to action to opt in to these services by text messaging to a Short Code. These are small codes that you text in to a designated number to sign up for an offer, place a vote or be added to a mobile marketing database among other things.
Take a look at a detailed article I wrote on the subject called “Effective ways to get users to Opt In to your Mobile Campaign” for more detailed information on this topic as well as ideas on how to build a mobile marketing database.
An example of Opting In through Short Codes
How could this work in the case of our earlier examples, Gardella’s and Hopcat? Maybe you’re sitting at either place one night and see an advertisment at your table on a napkin or a drink coaster. Or perhaps a poster on the door or bathroom prompting you to text in to a Short Code to redeem a free drink or discount for joining the list. This could be a very effective way to build a mobile database of customers and offer them incentives for being marketing to in a very unique fashion.
So, while big brands may be the most likely candidates to jump into the mobile marketing arena, these are all interesting ways for brick and mortar businesses of any size to market to their customers in the most direct way possible.
Mark Swanson
http://www.web-mobility.com Mobile Web Marketing and Mobile Web Design Blog
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Swanson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Location-Based-Marketing-For-Brick-and-Mortar-Businesses&id=4150319
Related articles
- HOW TO: Create a Location-based Marketing Campaign (penn-olson.com)
- What Local-Mobile-Social Convergence Means to Your Business (searchenginewatch.com)
- What’s the future for SMS? (technokitten.blogspot.com)
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