Location based advertising is starting to gain a lot of ground in the mobile industry. The way it works is relatively simple: smart phone users receive targeted ads when they are in an area around a certain retail store. Of course, this method is only useful for businesses that have a physical retail location. Online companies will still need to focus on efforts through helpful social media, online re agencies, and management software such as contractlogix.com. However for storefront businesses, there are some additional challenges, when considering mobile advertising.
Location Based Advertising Doesn’t Take Into Account User Behavior
Commercial areas usually have many businesses in different categories located within them. So if someone visits a mall, will they receive ads from every store that is located within that shopping center. Definitely not. Then there is the issue that just because a shopper is walking near a certain store, it doesn’t mean they have any interest for its products. If someone walks past a golf store, for example, but they never played golf in their life and consider it to be a boring sport, what good would it do to send them an ad for a 25% discount on a new type of golf bag?
Ad Delivery Timing Will Not Always Be Perfect
For the ad to be seen, the user would actually need to be interacting with their device as they walk past a store. Furthermore, they would need to be using an app or a website which is served by your ad. By just using location based advertising, you’re leaving out many potential customers, who could be in the area regularly, but don’t use their mobile device too much or aren’t using an app that delivers your ad.
A Better Approach
Many purchases, especially larger ones, are planned and well thought out by people and aren’t spontaneous. Therefore, reaching the user during the planning phase of their shopping could be beneficial to businesses. This is where user location data can become useful. It allows marketers to build a profile of a user based on the locations they visit, such as whether they dine at restaurants, or shop at certain specialty locations such as golf equipment stores.
Location based advertising is a new way for businesses to connect to their audience. But to use it to its fullest potential, advertisers need to know that it’s not sufficient to just display ads to everyone that’s walking past a certain store.
