Be a Prescient Geolocation Marketer
One of the most memorable movies in recent times depicting a dystopian future has to be Minority Report. Never mind “Prescients” predicting a catastrophic crime Tom Cruise has to stop himself from committing. I’m talking about Gap ads inundating the main character’s cornea as he enters a mall. Although the scene in the movie tries to paint a grim picture, there isn’t one marketer in the world whose mind wasn’t blown by the tremendous possibilities this scene offered.
Geolocating, targeting consumers by their location, has emerged as an indispensable tool to not only understand but also influence consumer behavior and traffic. It is the next step in local advertising that synergizes the rise of smartphone usage and evolving mobile advertisement tactics. GPS-enable mobile devices are producing huge amounts of data driven by geographic location and consumer behavior. More and more transactions are being conducted online with an astronomical force and speed.
Ads bombarding you in real life is not stuff of fiction anymore. Geolocation now has the ability to roll an ad in front of a potential customer who is online or within the vicinity of a business. As of now only about quarter of retail marketers use geo-data in mobile marketing. Getting on that geolocation marketing train earlier will set your business apart as an early-adapter in a trend that will soon become the norm.
Geolocation is moving beyond location-based applications or check-ins in the mode of old school Foursquare. The new capabilities come in the shape of local searches and push notifications. For instance, businesses can send coupons and promos to people who are geographically close to them. Not surprisingly, shopping malls are harnessing the power of geolocation by providing mall-specific apps to shoppers. The only caveat is that the customers have to download the app on their phone.
So how do businesses get people to sign up for their app? It’s easy: offer them benefits. According a survey, 77 percent of respondents replied that they would consent to location tracking if they received enough value in return.
