How to leverage the power of location-based marketing

Location-based marketing is fun! In my opinion, while it can be more intimate than any other medium that exists at present, it’s also less in-your-face.

The new generation communicates with each other far more freely on cyberspace than in person these days (sad but true). They don’t mind telling anyone when they get up, brush their teeth, have a cup of coffee... They also don’t mind chatting with strangers and are open to responding to anyone that comes up to them.  Oddly enough, this doesn’t quite work out so well in real-life.

Understanding that mentality and skillfully playing with that psychology can help spread your message effectively and affordably. Location-based Service (LBS) adds an extra layer to that. Users are not only communicating through cyberspace but are also voluntarily announcing where they are and what they are doing.

You could say marketers now know where their consumers are, but how do they (as strangers) approach and establish a relationship? Sounds like dating, doesn’t it? In my opinion, the same skills apply.

The most common first step in establishing a relationship with your consumer is to provide an incentive such as Buy-1-Get-1-Free deal or a freebie to the user who has checked into your location (retail shop or an event). This is what I would call a “tease”. You reward them with a small token and hope they will come again and bring friends.  In the dating world, that is similar to buying her dinner on the first date and leaving a good impression.

This alone is not quite enough unless the consumer already has a slight crush on you. So lets expand that circle, cast the net a little wider and pursue the relationship a little more actively.

Why not text them? Or, use location-based SMS’es to be more precise. It allows marketers to broadcast only to consumers who are both nearby and have expressed an interest – so your text is never inconvenient or unwelcome.

As an example, our new LBS platform, Favspot, has just partnered with 3HK to allow retailers to send messages as and when it suits them. In this case, the retailer has control over the offer and the time (such as extra inventories that may be expiring soon) and can offer at a special price to those who are more likely to take up their products (since they previously announced they liked that product or similar ones) and they are in the area.  While you may reach a smaller audience but the ROI will likely be higher.

Another way of engaging customer through LBS marketing is to set up a direct communication channel with them. You’ve gone on a date, sent a message and gotten a response – now it’s time to communicate. Try setting up a dialogue with those who have publicly announced their presence in your location and maintain that dialogue on a continuous basis. That direct communication will help build a deeper and long-term relationship between you and the customer.

Finally, join the party! A fun way to leverage LBS is around live events. Whether it is a concert or a fashion show or a trade fair, it is interesting to see everyone checking into the same spot and sharing the excitement in real time. Let’s say you’re in a music festival and everyone’s sharing by posting photos and comments, sharing and interacting with each other.

If you’re the event organiser, you can post official information and photos of the event. Suddenly, you have aggregated all the interactions together in one place, connecting both online and offline. We at Favspot like this idea so much that we are working to add this beautiful function in our next platform upgrade.

Just remember - the users have already declared their love for you first (by publicly announcing it) so why wait? Engage them and wow them so they will continue to show their support to you. Don’t forget to lure those who can be your potential customers too.