Delivered at the November 2011 Canadian Marketing Association Digital Day Conference by Geomentum Chief Client Services Officer Lisa Bradner, "Why Location Matters" addresses the future of location-based marketing within the Shopper's Journey.
Abstract: For today’s savvy marketer, the neighborhood is no longer just a physical location. Customers are more connected than ever, enabling a new form of brand mobility and consumer engagement. Location-based technologies are at the forefront of this movement, as virtual and physical “neighborhoods” converge, creating a new retail economy in the process. From check-ins, to daily deals, to consumer review sites – how and when a brand enters the consideration funnel may now be deeply impacted by where the consumer is physically located at any given time.
In today’s world, location based marketing is an app driven conversation. All based around consumers access to information based on their current “location” and desire to bargain.Landscape is clutter with like applications that make consumers smarter and take the power from marketers limiting their ability to control price, perception, and build loyalty.
When we think of location based phenomenon we think of the following actions.
The barriers are low, and the current LBS model offers marketers nothing more than “stratatical” opportunities to compete on the premise of local bargains and one-time consumer gratification with no room for loyalty.What we are seeing is a break in the value chain. For the SMB, location-based applications offers exposure, local discovery, and organic evangelism (if you are lucky). But quantifying the value of a check-in, a like, and a one-time offer is hard to do at a national scale.
But location is so much more than a one-off engagement. And for the national marketer/advertiser getting “local” is more than groupon, facebook, and foursquare. “getting local” means shopper engagement across both the virtual and physical plane across time and “place”.
Location offers access, discovery, and efficacy (am I serving you with the information that is desired at that moment) driving them to the point of sale.For a marketer understanding where your customers are throughout the course of their day is as important as deciphering how they consume media and the psychology behind their buying behaviors.Mobility, not Mobile, becomes the cornerstone of the planning process.“Retailers will need to harness [the power of local] to connect and convert this new media-savvy shopper who is comfortable using mobile, social and digital means to get the best deal.” – John Ross
Consumers are now adopting new behaviors based on where they are and their use of technology leading to two new trends surround location and mobility – pricing pandemonium and social shopping. Emerging digital and mobile channels enable consumers to “crowdshop and compare” purchase possibilities. “Mobility will have a transformative effect on the media and advertising market, as both traditional and digital media adapt to an increasingly mobile audience that consumes media on a progressively broad range of portable, personal devices such as laptops, smartphones, kindles, gaming devices, netbooks, etc.” David Courtney, imedia connection http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2009/12/21/four-ways-consumer-mobility-will-reshape-digital-advertising-in-2010/
From a retailer perspective – innovation is needed around behaviors, NOT the adoption of new one-off shiny objects. Audience based media & marketing strategy must be defined by how your customer consumes and uses media & technology across time and space. Location, much like digital and mobile, must fully integrated into the marketing funnel.
Its all about “what I want”, “when I want it”, “How I find it”, “where I may buy it”
The new rule of retail engagement 14 – 10 -3How do you make proximity matter, by understanding the activity associated with each pha.se of shoppers journey
How does location and mobility impact the customers decision making process in the last three feet of retail?
O – Opportunities become Data-enabledNow that you have this information – what do you do with it and/or where should you start in your data collection to build your location strategy?Beware of the mass local phenomenonLoyalty becomes a Social Currency (You should be capturing trials AND loyalty)
The rise of the empowered consumer and social shopper offers us as marketers unparalleled access to information and data that is 1. proprietary and 2. real-time. Data is redefining your relationships with our customers and their relationships with our brand. Silos of the past, that regulated technology, distribution, media, and research partners to their specific lane must now be broken. To meet the demands and needs of this environment customized integration is both a requirement and a necessity.
Location helps breakdown these silos, bring all the players together to create new and innovative opportunities for engagement that strategically leverage data to customize content / messaging, define reach and responsiveness, and strategically driven intent across time and space. In today’s marketplace location lies at the intersection of your business objectives and these core principles. Real opportunity presents itself through vendor / client COLLABORATION, not dictation.
So I know you are wondering: Given these silos - How and wheredo I begin to connect the dots for myself/my brand?It is true that one has broken the code for how connect these dots, but we know that location can help us get their. The first step starts with understanding…connecting, and listening to your customer.The data you have on hand is painting a compelling story about your customer, when they purchase, what they purchased, how, how much, and at times for whom. It tells you where they live, where they work, and what they value. Through this information we can draw a number of logical conclusions about their behavior, needs, and desires. All of these insights translate across different levels of media consumption and receptivity across markets and should be used as the fuel empowering your communication strategy. As your media communication strategy and creative go hand in hand, integrating your data, media and distribution opps, and tech solutions is critical to fueling marketplace success.As your media communication strategy and creative go hand in hand, integrating your data, media and distribution opps, and tech solutions
S – Saliency becomes Critical Retailers must make content relevant to the consumer in order to achieve the best possible user experience.Personalization of location involves understanding a consumer’s intent. Behavior tracking will allow marketers & technology companies to begin to proactively forecast this intent and built relevant campaigns and strategies around this.
Truth is, consumer give up information in exchange for convenience. This exchange can and should never be intrusive, but the data exchange between consumers and retailers is a two way street – the consumer is seeking to capitalize on opportunity and wants relevant content to help guide their decision making process; and the retailer must understand how to synthesize such data to create the unique, timely, and immediate experiences the consumer desires. (i.e. kill the annoying pop-up or the contextual ads that prove to be more creepy than helpful. Bridging the data exchange means partnership with transparency as the velvet rope.Source http://siliconfilter.com/afraid-the-government-is-spying-on-you-online-youre-not-alone-infographic/Trade-off / OpportunityPrivacy concerns existent but are becoming less of a barrier.60% of adults under 34 are willing to share their location for more relevant content (JiWire, Q2 2011)
In Nov 2010, Pepsico and Foursquare launched a pilot program that actually transcended check-ins. The partnership launched a rewards platform built on top of Safeway's existing loyalty program. The platform enables users to link their Safeway loyalty accounts to Foursquare, and earn rewards from check-ins anywhere in their neighborhood (did not have to just check-in at Safeway). This partnership is truly a unique vehicle for check-in rewards that is far less linear and ephemeral than traditional location-based reward programs.Foursquare and PepsiCo have tailored rewards to user behavior, irrespective of in-store check-ins. Now, when participating customers earn Foursquare's "Gym Rat" badge (for going to their local Equinox a certain number of times), they might be offered a SoBeLifewater; or, if you often check in bright and early, Foursquare will recognize you're a morning person, and may offer Tropicana orange juice or Quaker Oats--all specials on PepsiCo products, redeemable at Safeway stores.What I love about this is that it’s bringing behavior and lifestyle into that hyper-local sphere. It’s actually engaging happening outside of the store, but effectively directs customers to the shelf at a Safeway to get that Quaker Oats box. Imagine the potential of Foursquare's new program: Do we feel like drinking Gatorade after checking in at baseball practice? Do we want an AMP Energy drink when checking in at the library? A Mountain Dew when checking in at the ski resort? It is designed to be scalable, which means any other national retailer---could link its existing loyalty program to Foursquare. This is what we’re keeping our eye on at Geomentum.http://www.fastcompany.com/1703807/exclusive-foursquare-partners-with-pepsi-unveils-linked-loyalty-rewards-accounts-facebook-pl
It’s time for location and consumer mobility to come together in the strategic planning process. Everyone – including the Web marketers – needs to begin rethinkingthe customer experience. Shopping as we all know is an experience, whether it starts at home, at work, or on-the-go. We need to think about how customers are experiencing our brands while in motion as that is the key to gaining a competitive advantage. And we need to start targeting customers in smarter ways. Yes, we need to know who our most loyal customers are, and we need to know when they’re most likely to shop. And we need to understand how to leverage technology and our customer data to deliver relevancy that will ultimately unlock opportunity, regain loyalty, and foster continual engagement. Examples: Brick and mortar retailers can use geo-locational tools to find potential customers – regardless of their loyalty level – that might be standing directly outside their store, looking for the product you’re carrying. Online marketers need to better understand the mind of the consumer. In the case of search, for instance, they need to better understand what consumers are searching for, and ensure that purchased keywords take consumers to the places they want to go, not just a generic home page where they need to begin their search again. And both need to work on coordinating their online and offline patterns to better target consumers to reach consumers wherever they are, and however they might be shopping. Both the online and offline worlds need to begin understanding their consumers in reference to time of day, or what they’re doing at any given slice of time in the day. When is the consumer going to be on the road, passing by a brick-and-mortar retail outlet? When is that same consumer going to be online, thinking about what he or she needs to get on the next errand?
Location based marketing means engagement integration across online, offline, and on-mobile leading to the point-of-saleOne of the biggest challenges companies face is changing inherent behaviors of consumers in given locations.Consumers want simplicity, in the way that they use their phones and in the way that they redeem offers.Location technology is not just reserved for mobile media. Marketers MUST consider the integration of ALL media.The best user experiences can come when location technology is passive, but it’s also a hurdle as this affects privacy.