The Niche Marketing Blog

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Today Mashable, and several other blogs, reported on the rumor that Google has just purchased Groupon for $2.5 billion.The acquisition would allow Google to integrate Groupon’s deals with Google’s newly enhanced Google Places.

If the rumors are true, the deal would position Google well against rival Facebook, which recently announced Facebook Places.

The larger question, of course, is: where is all of this heading? As “location-based” marketing continues to merge with “promotion-based” marketing, the industry giants are signaling that the likely trend of the future will be the merging of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses with the technological savvy of the Internet business communities.

What effect will this have on the smaller, niche-oriented businesses? How about the corner bakery? Or the local nightclub?

How can the mom-and-pop business of the future successfully compete? What combination of check-ins, promotions, incentives, and merchandising will work tomorrow? What exactly is the road forward?

Tell me what you think.

Related articles

• Unconfirmed Report Says Google Acquires Groupon (webpronews.com)
• With Groupon, Google could go beyond engineers (news.cnet.com)
• Google rumored to have bought Groupon for $2.5 billion (downloadsquad.switched.com)

Technorati Tags: Google, Groupon, location-based marketing, niche marketing, niche marketing strategy, promotion-based marketing

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By Scott Spooner

The trend over the last year is for location-based marketing beginning to merge with promotion-based marketing. Witness the announcement this week of Coca-Cola teaming up with local malls to create a scavenger hunt of sorts that pays off with real promotions in the form of gift cards and Coke-branded merchandise.

Over the last couple of years, several authors (including myself) have predicted that the first wave of location-based marketing efforts – where consumers “check-in” for virtual badges or “mayorships” – would play out as consumers begin to lose interest.

These predictions seem to have been borne out based on the continuing low percentage of consumers who chase after these virtual payoffs.

Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and similar companies are about to change all that; and maybe in the process, change the rules of promotion marketing as well. These companies, and more like them every day, are realizing that location-based marketing can be a real driver in terms of getting consumers into a store, but it will take the coupling of a strategic promotions campaign to persuade those consumers into making a purchase.

Technology has put the consumer in the driver seat when it comes to selecting (or ignoring) competitors; and in this current economic climate, many are willing to wait on the sidelines and see what incentives show up.

Now it is up to the marketers to use that same technology to not only woo those consumers back into their stores, but also to combine the power of location-based marketing with promotion-based marketing in order to successfully compete in this rapidly changing marketplace.

What do you think? How can your company strategically use a combination of location-based, and promotion-based, marketing to increase both traffic and sales?

Related articles

• Foursquare Gets Pepsi, SCVNGR Answers With A Fizzy Partner Of Its Own: Coca-Cola (techcrunch.com)
• Location-Based Cola Wars: Pepsi, Coke, Foursquare and SCVNGR (readwriteweb.com)
• Coke Targets Teens With Black Friday SCVNGR Promotion (mashable.com)

Technorati Tags: coca cola, location-based marketing, Marketing strategy, niche marketing, promotion-based marketing