Every day, smartphones transmit billions of location data bits. Never before have local business owners had such a golden opportunity. With the right mobile marketing strategy, local businesses can profit from the ability to use their customer’s smartphone location data. Here are a few tips local business owners can follow to use location data to their advantage.

Start with analytics

Before you can successfully merge location based marketing into your current marketing strategies, you need to take a closer look at your business. The more customer and sales data you can access the better. As a business owner you need to know what products your customers are buying, how much they’re buying, why they’re buying, etc….Determine what your profit margins are and you’re share of the market as opposed to your competitors. Once you have a firm grasp on these statistics, you’ll be able to start thinking about location based marketing and how to integrate it into your mobile marketing efforts. Without this information, you have to rely on the guess and check method to find what works, but with it, you start out with a good idea of what will be successful.

Forget about proximity

Initially, the hype about location based marketing was about proximity marketing. This works by automatically sending push notifications to customers who get within a certain distance of your store. According to recent research however, proximity doesn’t necessarily mean intent. Most purchases are planned and a push notification isn’t typically enough to make someone divert from their plans. So rather than investing in trying to change customer behavior in the moment, think about the long term.

Track time in addition to location

Location data is a great way to learn about your customers, however, the best indicator of intent isn’t location, it’s time. Pay special attention to what times of the day customers are engaging with your mobile ads. Push notifications sent during those times will be more effective. By using location and time data together, you get more out of your efforts.

Coupons still work

Sending coupons may seem old school, but they’re extremely effective. More than any other strategy, discounts and deals drive secondary actions. To make sure you location based marketing campaign is effective, supplement it with a healthy dose of deals to keep the customers coming.

Understand local messaging

Keep in mind that consumers spend 80% of their income within 50 miles of home. If your local business isn’t working to target local consumers, you’re missing out on a significant opportunity.

By having a firm understanding of what location based marketing is, and what it isn’t, and by following these simple tips, you can make the most of your location based marketing efforts.

Source:  Street Fighting Mag