Marketing your restaurant is a mobile game.
The emergence of the smartphone has created a culture of connectivity. With 77% of U.S. adults population carrying around smartphones to stay connected, it makes sense that your restaurant follows suit with the big names to capitalize on this growing need to know.
If you look around at what many restaurants are trying, you will see many innovative and forward-thinking strategies that are yielding some great success. Today there are a number of ready-made app solutions that provide access to many of these features being used by the big names.
The rise of app builders now allows you to implement the same strategies used by large chains without all the necessary developer fees.
You can easily borrow some of the thinking behind the success of these big brands and develop your own mobile strategy based on what's working.
As a small business or even a string of…
Marketers can better outreach their customers using location data
It's now commonplace for businesses to create mobile responsive websites and apps to offer similar functionality to a desktop website. But if your mobile experience are limited to features available on your desktop site you're missing out on the opportunity to deliver content in context. Customer location information can help businesses deliver a better and more relevant mobile experience and enable them to target the right audience for their services. In this article I'll look at some example for geo-targeting to provide more relevance.
Source: Subiz.com
Marketing campaigns follow a chosen strategy for targeting customers and the choice of location is important in determining the over-all success of the marketing campaign. As the location impacts demographics and buying behavior.
A woolen apparel retailer who makes hundreds of sales in a day in a…
Five examples of how retailers and brands are using iBeacons for marketing campaigns
Apple iBeacon gives great opportunities to develop innovative marketing campaigns, particularly for retailers. Beacons are small wireless sensors to connect the online with offline worlds. Their main purpose for a retailer is to enhance the customer experience by offering a new form of proximity marketing which can link to boosting product sales. Apple explains the the approach this way:
"Your iOS device can alert mobile apps when you approach or leave a location with an iBeacon.iBeacon uses a Bluetooth low energy signal, which iOS devices detect. In addition to monitoring location, an app can estimate your proximity to an iBeacon (for example, a display or checkout counter in a retail store)".
Let's now look at five interesting examples of how brands are using Apple iBeacons to create an advantage and added value for their customers.
1. Famous Antwerp Museum uses beacons as…
How UK consumers are using their mobile devices to inform purchase
Companies are embracing mobile marketing within their digital strategies, as consumers usage of technology is growing and lifestyles are changing. Our post from Danyl Bosomworth, which we keep updated with the latest statistics showing the uptake of mobile usage and adoption in the UK may be helpful if you are interested in further statistics to make your case.
This infographic is from xAD who partnered with up with The Nielsen Company, to explore how UK consumers are using their mobile devices to research products and services, what impacts their decision-making and how they purchase. You can access the full report at the MobilePathtoPurchase web site. It shows how mobile can be used to engage consumer and influence purchase. Touchpoints on the journey include:
Search - as with the desktop 84% of mobile users visit…
What is Location Marketing and how to get started for free
In this post I take a look at the opportunity location marketing presents, provide some ideas on the types of campaigns you can send and show just how easy it I to get started.
Why Should you Care?
A recent report by Deloitte showed that mobile influenced 5.1% of in store sales in the US, accounting for $159bn in forecasted sales for the whole of 2012, way over the $12bn forecast for mCommerce.
Radio Shack has noted that Foursquare users spend 350% more in store than non-users and a pet food brand in the US saw a 14% uplift in sales after using Foursquare to promote free dog food for every unique check-in.
Additionally there are 200 million people sharing location on Facebook, Foursquare is adding 1 million users a month and the recent report by Jiwire shows that 62% of us are willing…
Dispelling 7 'marketing limiting' myths about IP geolocation
IP geolocation technology has been around for more than 13 years. It is used across the globe for a variety of purposes, one of the foremost being marketing.
And yet, an aura of mystery still surrounds what IP technology is and what it can do. IP also has a slightly tarnished reputation in some companies; usually as a result of IP data providers supplying data that fails to meet expectations, leaving companies disillusioned with the technology’s business potential.
This article aims to dispel some common misconceptions on the use of geolocation data, including the way data is derived. The objective is to help marketers understand this technology's true potential, which is increasing in an increasingly location-based digital world.
IP geolocation explained
IP geolocation is an extremely powerful technology that can make a tremendous…
Value/Importance: [rating=2]
Recommended link: Eenox introduction to Qube
We’re fans of the options QR codes give for new marketing applications, so it’s interesting to see a new tool, launched this week by France-based company Eenox that enables better geographical tracking of how offline ads like posters drive response.
According to its developers, Eenox Qube is the first QR code tracking solutions to provide geolocalisation support using the HTML5 API.
The solution tracks specific geolocalisation informations such as a latitude and longitude using either GPS information or either IP location method. Users have the option of disclosing their location, for example, on a basis of 100 scans the system can show that 78 scans have been geolocalised, 18 users refused to provide their positions, and 4 positions where unavailable for technical reasons.
…
Google Wallet launches
Importance (for retailers in the long-term): [rating=5]
Recommended link: Google Wallet launch announcement
If you’re a retailer and have heard about the recent launch of Google Wallet, this is a short update on its relevance as we see it and the bigger picture about NFC and contactless payment that we have been hearing a lot about in 2011.
Well if you’re based in the UK, Europe, in fact anywhere out of the US, Google Wallet is not relevant at all right now.
(more…)…
This is an interesting infographic on the reality of marketers seeking to leverage social location-based check-ins, whether it's Facebook Places or Foursquare. There's been a lot of hype - mostly between early adopters it would appear - about check-ins. So, even though this is US data, what are the take-aways?
Be realistic and targeted - smartphone's are still only owned by half of the population, and roughly half of those have privacy concerns or feel that there's no motivation to bother
Provide a motivation - Check-in % is high amongst smartphone users and the three main motivations are to meet people, learn about the location or actively promote it
Are you the right location type - People are most likely to check in at places to eat or drink - where others gather to socialise (restaurants, cafe's, pubs/bars and clubs)
Play to your strengths - People are more likely to interact with large brands, yet they're more…
A review of using Foursquare and Gowalla for marketing
Earlier this year I wrote about my experience of using Foursquare. We also posted a summary of 5 Foursquare campaigns to inspire you and Dan has a useful infographic on the popularity of the mobile checkin - which is at the core of these tools.
I'm now sharing the business opportunities of two similar location based marketing tools; Foursquare and Gowalla.
For me, location-based marketing tools are ideal if you’re a venue or destination for eating out. Perfect for tourist locations. They’re not really suited for general businesses and they are also a bit of a game.
Designed as geo-social networking tools and a form of online loyalty card, users access Foursquare and Gowalla from their smartphone and when they arrive at a specific destination, they 'check in'. Foursquare has made it harder to check in unless you’re…
