It’s an ongoing challenge for marketers to find new and innovative ways to communicate with their customers and be heard amongst the noise. In a competitive environment, we need to be able to deliver highly personalised messages. The growth of mobile connected devices and location technologies is transforming the way brands communicate in the marketplace. One of the most powerful ways to personalise mobile services is based on location.

Directing customers to your business has been around since the first phone book, but this is getting more sophisticated – and more targeted through location sharing technologies. The high adoption rate of mobile phones in South Africa means that location-based services (LBS) offers a significant opportunity for marketers.

So, if you’re hoping to harness the marketing opportunities of LBS, here are some tips to help you out.

LBS allows you to pinpoint your customers on the map and build strong brand relationships. Image Credit: David Rumsey Map Collection

1. Do your homework and choose the best technology for your brand

The core of LBS is to connect end users to nearby points of interests. A diverse range of tactics is offered to achieve this, which range from simple local advertising to more complicated location detection using GPS. 

Most platforms allow users to share location-based information by "checking in" to places they visit, notifying anyone that is following them of their whereabouts. Some platforms provide event, meet-up and social opportunities based on physical location. Others can deliver detailed product information when someone is standing in front of a product. This is achieved by interacting with the product through technology on your mobile phone such as augmented reality or 2D bar code scanning. Businesses can also issue coupons to users as incentives for location-based activities such as visiting a store multiple times.

There are a host of platforms available for both users and businesses to interact with. Businesses need to know what they are trying to achieve (set goals) in order to identify the most effective medium to communicate with their customers. It is important to research the applicability of the different applications to ascertain which one best serves the needs of your product or service offering. You may also want to consider providing deals across a variety of LBS platforms to increase the reach of your communication.

On the international front, the most well-known platforms are Foursquare, Loopt, Gowalla and Facebook – and are all gaining momentum. Locally, Vodacom’s mobile social network, The Grid, calculates your location based on your proximity to the cellphone towers and allows users to leave notes for their friends at places visited.

2. Customise and create compelling promotions

Once you have an understanding of how the different platforms work and which will be the most effective for your brand then the platforms can allow you to customise in-store promotions. For example, if your goal is to increase repeat visits to your store, you could offer customers a discount when they check-in for the 10th time – similar to the offering of a loyalty card.  If your goal is to bring new customers to your store, you could offer a first time check-in special. Another common promotion is exclusive specials for the user who checks in most often, commonly known as the Mayor special on Foursquare.

3. Communicate with your customers

LBS can be used to build relationships with your customers and increase brand loyalty. It is a platform for social sharing, so why not get involved in conversations with you customers? For example, you can engage with your customers by sending them tips while in-store. The sky is the limit, so think of fun, innovative ways to delight and engage with your customers. There is so much technology available to businesses; with a bit of creativity you can increase the profitability of your campaign.

4. Track

Like other digital and mobile technologies, LBS have the ability to track behaviour patterns of users. This valuable source of market research will offer insights in to how to optimise your campaigns and better interact with your customers.

Consistent monitoring can help you to identify potential influencers or brand ambassadors and identify those customers who are unhappy with your product or service, as well as those who are endorsing it. This will provide you with an opportunity to manage your reputation – contact the customer who is unhappy and remedy the situation. Real-time monitoring could allow you to incept the customer before they have even left the store.       

Along with real-time tracking, be sure to include time-trending metrics. For example, this could be percentage of active users – the number of people who have checked in today or in the last week. This will assist you in determining the effectiveness of in-store promotion by comparing the previous week to the campaign week. So be prepared to measure, track and verify everything.

5. Optimise

And a final note, like anything in the digital realm, things change rapidly. New tools, features and applications are emerging all the time, so be prepared to adapt your campaign accordingly.

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