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.
Images courtesy of FAC members.
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
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