22
www.
nexmedia
.co.za
Nex Media • GEOLOCATION MARKETING – CRAFTING A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CUSTOMER
M
obile is increasingly becoming the channel of choice for brand
engagement, especially amongst younger generations who rely
on their smartphones during their shopping journeys. However,
many brands have invested heavily in apps which are not
delivering real return on investment.
Using new technologies in the geolocation space gives marketing
professionals access to a wealth of opportunity to forge mutually beneficial
relationships with their customers. Tapping into meaningful data will not only
fundamentally shift your customer engagement, but could make your mobile
app the most valuable tool you have at your disposal.
Beacons and Geofencing offer huge opportunity
Over the next few years we can expect the relationship between physical and
online sales and marketing techniques to narrow considerably. Augmented,
virtual and extended realities are becoming more commonplace as the cost
of the technologies continue to drop and device manufacturers throw their
weight behind them.
Companies looking to enrich their apps are now also leveraging the
tech advancements in beacons and geofencing. These make them far more
accessible, allowing highly targeted campaigns, including in-store promotions.
Let’s take a closer look at how these technologies work and how they can
benefit your organisation.
Starting at the macro level, a geofence is a virtual perimeter that you can
set up around a specific location. It will register when someone carrying a
smartphone with your app is near your store or event and allow targeted
communications with them as they move within the perimeter.
Embedding a light SDK (software developer kit) into the app and
connecting it to your existing content management platform allows marketers
to harness the data and gain real insight into customer behaviour. They can
then target customers with the most appropriate message or campaign at
exactly the right time using push notifications. These targeted messages can
be based on previous interactions such as transactions they have made, as
well as loyalty and segment data.
What’s particularly interesting about geofences, is the ability to track
customers in the vicinity of competitor locations.
The tracking combines the use of cellular, GPS and WiFi data, and can
even run in the background of the phone without your app actually being
opened. Geofences do not require additional hardware, but engagements
should be carefully thought through so as not to spook the customer who may
be startled by the notion of being ‘tracked’.
Beacons, meanwhile, are micro-location hardware that let you know when
someone is near a specific product or object within a smaller space such as a
store. They work on a very granular level and can be used in conjunction with
geofences, or on their own.
Well-known use cases of beacons include the Gatwick airport where
beacons help travellers find flight info, as well as locations of retail stores
within the terminals.
A Dutch real estate agent deployed beacons on its sale signs outside
properties, alerting house hunters passing by, and providing virtual tours of
the properties. The city of Amsterdam has deployed thousands of beacons
around the city. Together with Google they are allowing Dutch developers to
use these to deliver relevant information to the city’s citizens and tourists,
including information about public transport, museums and retail hotspots.
Gaining insight without invading privacy – creating a value exchange
A key challenge for marketers using geolocation marketing is how to entice
users to opt-in to the tracking. Privacy concerns are growing amongst
the general population and when designing a geolocation campaign, it’s
imperative to clearly show the value exchange between your organisation and
your user.
Waiting for the second or third engagement before you ask your users
to opt-in ensures you have already established a more trusted relationship
with them. Making sure they understand that you still respect their privacy
and explaining clearly that you will be tracking their movements in a limited
way, and only under certain circumstances, also goes some way to allaying
concerns. This should be supported by an easy-to-understand privacy policy.
Most importantly, users must see a clear value proposition in engaging
with you. If I know that I will be getting special offers, discounts, vouchers,
loyalty points or air miles, I will see the sacrifice of sharing my data as
inconsequential. The offers should also be specific to me as a user, based on
my past behaviour and how I have engaged with you previously.
Using data to drive behaviour
It’s clear that the core of successful geolocation marketing is accessing the
right data and making the most of it. Once you have your app on someone’s
phone, getting the most out of it means using the treasure trove of data it can
deliver.
DoubleClick tracking will give you behaviour data, like when your app was
downloaded and when it was first launched. However, it’s best to use in-app
analytics to drill down further. This allows you to establish which parts of
the app engagement are most enjoyed and consumed, and when last they
came back to your app – essentially you are tracking frequency and recency.
You can then tailor-make rich media push notifications with HTML5 content
including video and pictures. This entices the consumer to open the app
and begin deeper engagement with your content. This, in turn, allows you
to better target your geolocation campaigns and then boost it through other
marketing channels.
While some analysts may be predicting the demise of the mobile app,
there are still many ways to make them work for you. Getting the most out
of your app investments requires you using it as a portal into the psyche of
your customer. Once you’re inside, you can begin to understand them and,
ultimately, forge symbiotic brand relationships.
About the Author
Johan Walters heads up NMPi Labs
(previously C2C Labs). He has over
18 years in the digital marketing
space and is also part of the NMPi
global consulting team. NMPi Labs
is the innovation hub of NMPi digital
marketing agency. Focusing on AR,
VR and mixed realities, NMPi Labs
augments the services offered by
NMPi including: digital strategy,
performance display, DoubleClick
technology, data analytics and SEO.
NMPi Labs is a certified Blippar
partner in South Africa.
Johan Walters
