“15 Things You Should Know About Location-Based Advertising
As
the name implies, location-based advertising means creating highly customized
and targeted marketing efforts tailored to consumers in a specific place. While
it's not a new concept (neighborhood-based direct mail campaigns came about
long before the internet age), geo-targeting and GPS-enabled mobile devices
have made it easier than ever for brands to learn where their customers are and
when to reach out to them for maximum effectiveness.
Modern
location-based marketing tactics like text messages and app push notifications
triggered by certain actions (entering a store, making a purchase, etc.) can
help tremendously in engaging and retaining customers. But you can't just start
sending texts to everyone who interacts with your brand: You need to do your
homework and implement a carefully-crafted strategy to get the most out of
local ad campaigns.
Fifteen
members of the Forbes Agency Council offered one key fact all brands should
know about location-based advertising before you get started.
1. Local Businesses Can Use It to Compete With Big Brands
Many
local businesses often fear that the hurdle is too great when it comes to
competing with nationally known brands. What business owners need to understand
is that Google has given the advantage to local business owners by engaging in
the most immediate of all audiences, which, many times, aren’t reached at a
personal level by huge brands. -
Charles Kim, Executive Digital
2. It's Highly Personalized and Measurable
Mobile
advertising can be dynamic and personalized, based on a consumer's previous
shopping behavior, apps downloaded, specific location and even external factors
such as weather, sales inventory or sports scores. Further, brands can track
exposure to a mobile ad or even a billboard to see whether ads had any impact
on store foot-traffic based on a control and exposed group. - Jeff Tan, Dentsu Aegis Network
3. You Need To Know Your Target Audience
Knowing
and understanding your ideal customer will be a big help with location-based
advertising. You don't want to just throw everything on the wall and see what
sticks. Strategize and hone in on who you serve. - Aisha Martin, A. Martin Group
4. It Can Deepen Your Connection with Customers
Think
of location-based advertising as an opportunity to deepen your connection with
your target audiences. Providing content that is specific to their
circumstances shows that you are knowledgeable about where they live and their
needs, which can foster trust and help them feel more connected to your
business. - Megan Shroy, Approach
Marketing
5. It Should Complement Your Other Marketing Strategies
Location-based
targeting should be complementary, not a focus. The moment a consumer leaves
that location, the message will get lost. It is important to capture audiences,
followers and emails from the location-based consumers, and then use that data
to push retargeting ads, newsletters and general brand awareness campaigns to
increase the ROI on your location-based ad spend. - Omar Jenblat, BusySeed
6. Timing
Is Everything
Since
location-based advertising is so personalized and tethered to specific audience
member locations and behavior, brands can reach people when purchases are
accessible and convenient. This greatly increases your brand visibility and you
can target audience members who will be more likely to purchase from your
business. - Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com
7. It Can Help You Measure Offline Results
Most
advertisers focus on how they can use different location tools to target ads,
but the real value comes from using beacons, Wi-Fi and store visits in Google
to measure and understand the offline effect of digital advertising. Being able
to attribute offline results with digital efforts allows brands to build on
successes and adjust when the results simply aren’t there. - Dan Golden, Be Found Online
8. You Need a Good Strategy for Tracking Results
The
tricky part of any location-based advertising is the ability to align promotion
with success measurement. How do you associate a local ad with in-store traffic
and, even further, in-store purchases? Coupons help and specific redemption
codes are ideal, but depending on your business model, this approach may have a
lot of holes (i.e., are you solely dependent on your store clerk's discipline
to track a campaign?). - Jon Clark,
Fuze SEO, LLC
9. A Call to Action Will Bring Customers In
If
you are doing location-based advertising, you need a really solid call to
action to drive the user to your store or make the purchase. Don't just
advertise something generic, but rather a key difference that will finalize the
sale. - Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web
Design
10. You Can Use Multiple Platforms
When
it comes to location-based advertising, there's no exclusive platform out there
that you have to use. Google AdWords, Facebook, Bing, Instagram, display ads,
programmatic online radio, LinkedIn ads and more can all be location-targeted
within a one-mile radius or less of your desired location. Use multiple ad
platforms to have maximum impact. -
Jordon Meyer, Granular
11. Getting Too Personal Will Scare Consumers Away
Location-based
advertising is powerful, but also intimidating to many consumers. When using
location-based advertising, you should make an effort to draw in prospects
without getting too personal or giving them a “Big Brother” feeling. Opt-out
options and low-risk offers are a must.
- Jon Simpson, Criterion.B
12. It's Reliant On Targeted Consumer Insights
When
it comes to location-based advertising, we must acknowledge that the days of
generic out-of-home ads and commercials are gone. We've shifted toward a
hyperlocal and intimate approach to actually reach consumers in a cluttered landscape.
Ultimately, you have to be spot-on with your insights, because your creative
and copy for ads are directly generated by the insights of the location's
consumers. - Coltrane Curtis, Team
Epiphany
13. You Must Consider Context and Intent
Marketers
should consider context and intent when thinking through their location-based
advertising strategy. While CPG and retail advertising near a shopping mall
would generally align with a consumer's mindset, healthcare messaging near a
hospital should be approached more carefully.
- Nina Hale, Nina Hale, Inc
14. It Should Provide Value Above All Else
Good
marketing is useful, contextual and relevant for the audience. Location-based
advertising is a great tool that should be wielded thoughtfully with the end result
of passing value back to the consumer. It's not enough to just stalk someone
online; location-based marketing should still be relevant and ultimately
useful. - Shannon Wu, Mr. Progress
15. You Need To Stay Relevant For It to Work
If
you can't be relevant locally, then you can't advertise to your target
audience. It's also about being there at the right time, being extremely
relevant to consumer's needs and to the right group of consumers. Gather some
analysis to effectively understand your consumers' behavior. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS”
SOURCE:
Forbes (Nov 22, 2017)
Comments
Post a Comment