Ten years ago, having a smartphone was unique, but now with 184.2 million smartphones in the US alone it seems like nearly everyone has a tiny device in his or her pocket, lending insight into everyday behaviors.
The powerful network of information coming from those millions of mobile devices allows them to communicate not only where people are shopping or eating, but also bridge to data about what they’re watching on TV, buying in specific stores, and how their behavior changes if they are near work versus home.
Connecting all the marketing activity consumers are exposed to with location and movement data enables brands to go beyond yesterday’s tactic of pushing a targeted promotion to potential customers as they walk by a store.
Here are a few ways location data can improve a marketer’s business:
Inform smarter retail site selection decisions
If a retailer is considering a new location for a store, the most important factor in that decision is pinpointing the optimal site location. That’s because the financial implications of being wrong are massive.
Yet most retailers are often forced to base these decisions on outdated census or static household data. Mobile location data allows savvy retailers to analyze what really matters: consumer traffic patterns, an understanding of specific behaviors during different times of the day, factors in customer segment purchase preferences — all to predict which site locations will best attract new visitors and steal shoppers from competitors. Location data also allows retailers to differentiate between home and work to understand how commutation patterns impact store traffic and make strategic decisions accordingly.
Modernize out-of-home advertising
One of the more traditional channels, out of home (OOH), is ripe for transformation by mobile data. Understanding the way consumers travel during the course of a day makes it a natural fit for the medium which accounts for $2.25 billion in ad spend. Planners for OOH have relied on casting a wide net for exposing the most consumers to their message, focusing broadly on locations with high consumer density. Armed with a better understanding of where audiences with particular interests congregate (ex. their places of entertainment or dining etc.), can better inform all types of OOH decisions, like where and when a brand should place displays on public transportation, airport terminals, and more.
For example, a major airline reached new consumers by placing various messages on different billboards based on the understanding that those traveling specific commuter routes were either existing customers, or frequent flyers of a competitor brand.
Go cross channel to boost in-store visitation
Despite the proliferation of e-commerce, the majority of retail sales are still made in physical brick-and-mortar locations. With location data, brands can now look to a powerful attribution mechanism that can measure how effective marketing channels, like TV, mobile, desktop, and OOH advertising work in tandem to drive results in physical locations. Place Visit Rate from Place IQ, specifically measures how successful an ad campaign is in driving people in store.
Marketers can also connect location data to CRM systems, to prove unequivocally that ads are resulting in actual purchases – helping marketers more easily grow customer lifetime value.
As brands face more pressure stay competitive, understanding human behavior has become the asset that gives them a real edge. And significant advancements in location-based data analysis have made mobile a natural tool for gathering insights into where people go, the things they do, and what they buy. For marketers, this means the ability to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds and, ultimately, measure and improve campaign success – something that has never been more accessible.
This post is sponsored by Place IQ.
