As far as marketing trends are concerned, location-based marketing is both an established and entirely innovative strategy. In a 2018 survey by RIS news and IHL Group, 58% of retailers in North America alone said that they planned to invest in proximity or location-based marketing in 2019.
Here, marketers leverage the location of users to tailor their outreach, personalising offers and messaging to a tune that’s familiar and relevant to individual users.
You may feel like this subject is one you’re well-versed in. Indeed, our geotargeting strategies have become more sophisticated and far-reaching in recent years. That being said, new strategies have emerged, including things like ‘reverse geotargeting’. Yes, you heard us right.
Continue reading our post for a look at all the location-based marketing trends you wish you knew about sooner.
Reverse geotargeting
A strategy employed by the very cheeky Burger King, reverse geotargeting refers, loosely, to when businesses drive customers to competitor locations in order to bring them right back to your business. Wait, what?
Recently, Burger King in the US drove customers to McDonald’s locations as a way to promote their brand new app, which allows customers to place orders to Burger King outlets. Here, users within 600 feet of a McDonald’s store could order a Whopper for 1 cent through the new app.
While this is certainly a one-of-a-kind strategy, it’s an eye-opener in terms of fresh alternatives to how you tweak your own geotargeting strategies.
Location-based marketing and IoT
The Internet of Things is an innovation that’s changing the way we do business and how we interact with our customers. So much so, that it’s now being used in tandem with location-based marketing
In brief, IoT refers to internet connectivity in physical devices and everyday objects, allowing them to be remotely controlled and used. As a concept, it allows us to connect and leverage the functions of everyday devices to meet our lifestyle requirements more effectively.
Together with location-based marketing, IoT is being used to improve personalisation and contextualisation within the advertising industry. Did you know that you could dive into a user’s purchase history to market a related service/product within his/her approximate geolocation?
Imagine, for instance, that you’re a washing powder retailer in a certain location. Using the power of IoT and location-based marketing, your customer’s washing machine can automatically purchase washing powder via your online store when stocks are running low, without the input of its user.
How’s that for next-level technology?
IoT is also useful in terms of reconciling the information gap between online advertising and offline purchases, especially if your business is one with, both, an online store and physical retail outlet.
This spate of technology and its accompanying insights can help you understand metrics such as if and when the lead converted into a customer, what they purchased, and even when they purchased products/services from your store.
Using geofences to draw customers to your store
Geofences are of increasing value when it comes to driving foot traffic to physical retail stores. As we’ve explained before, these are location-based wards that trigger marketing messages and promotions, when individuals enter its specified radius.
Businesses leverage location features on smartphones to triggers these messages drawing customers to their stores through a friendly reminder of past purchases the user may have liked or through offers the average buyer cannot say no to.
Leverage the latest location-based marketing trends to drive conversion rates and traffic!
Location-based marketing is not only a saviour for companies fresh out of ideas on how to target their marketing efforts, but also those willing to go beyond the security of tested waters.
By honing the latest trends in this field, including IoT and unconventional strategies like reverse geotargeting, leaving an impression on your customers will become an effortless activity.
Head to the Geo Targetly blog today for the latest insights on all the geotargeting strategies you need to know about! You can also explore our suite of premium IP geolocation tools - advanced location-based marketing awaits!
