Location is key. Where your business is and what competition surrounds it can determine success or failure. Similarly, in marketing you will have to decide on where to make your pitch in order to reach your local, regional or international audience. While geomarketing sounds like a fancy pants terms used to describe the global marketing tactics of multinational corporations, we’re going to show you why your small and local business absolutely needs to make geomarketing part of your digital marketing strategy.
What is geomarketing?
Geomarketing simply means using location data for marketing efforts, both for analyzing and mapping customer segments for review and to inform decision-making, and to target potential leads. With today’s digital technology and location data available through mobile devices and social media, geomarketing is hotter than ever and increasing in reach and capability.
Traditionally, it was companies with the most access to location data (such as mobile service providers or customer database marketing companies) which played an important part in geomarketing. Geomarketing now is accessible to any business and can be implemented even by small companies. The mere mapping of customers has been joined by local business listings, mobile marketing and social media to make it a readily available marketing tool.
The benefits of geomarketing
Geomarketing can identify where customers are and how they are segmented in a region. An effective geomarketing campaign can apply this information on multiple levels to identify new markets and opportunities, establish sales territories, organize logistically and plan new locations or campaigns. Customers are more and more using geo-marketing tools to find a company, business or service locally and near them. These are the three main ones and their benefits:
Web search: Geo-listings or local business listings are search results where a search engine displays a list of businesses matching the search criteria and arranges them on a map. As a business owner, you can claim and update your marketing information. However, you cannot influence any customer ratings displayed, you can only focus on acquiring positive reviews.- Mobile Marketing: This geomarketing tool is geared to meet customers on the move with SMS alerts, mobile apps, mobile optimized websites and mobile advertising as key components. App installations and subscriber lists for push or SMS notifications take time to build, but the benefits of mobile marketing are that companies can target customers on the devices they have with them all the time and use for price comparison and mobile shopping.
- Social Media: Your customers are using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FourSquare, Swarm, Yelp and other mobile apps and tools to find businesses, products and services. These social communities provide recommendations and a place to leave their own reviews. A local business can be very exposed on social media, but the benefit for you as a marketer is that you can leverage social media to your great advantage.
Web search: Geo-listings or local business listings are search results where a search engine displays a list of businesses matching the search criteria and arranges them on a map. As a business owner, you can claim and update your marketing information. However, you cannot influence any customer ratings displayed, you can only focus on acquiring positive reviews.
