Geo-Location – Beyond the Hype
It was all about mobile down at Ad:Tech 2010 and the agencies were out in force, from mobile ad networks, app developers and coupon companies. Geo-location (as expected) was the buzz word of the exhibition which, once you get an understanding of how sophisticated the incentivising and tracking has now got (and with fewer barriers to entry), it’s no wonder this is one of the leading trends for marketing activity in 2011.
With Apple surpassing 100 million in iOS device sales and the predicted growth of mobile coupon usage to 300 million by 2014, more and more brands are starting to embrace the use of geo location technology for incentivising and rewarding customers (currently there are over 3,000 location based offers running in the UK according to agency, VouChaCha). Also, with Facebook Places launching last week, geo location services are being brought to the masses and are no longer just for the early adopters who dived into services such as Foursquare and Gowalla.
So a few tips and advice for brands wanting to explore mobile as a viable marketing channel:
- Ensure that your website is optimised for mobile. Seems a no-brainer but many sites are not
- Know your platforms and where your target audience exists. The iPhone is not the only smartphone out there and many apps are now being produced for multiple devices
- Set out your objectives – what are you trying to achieve? Is it footfall to a store, increased sales or simply raising awareness of a product or service?
Mobile trends predicted to be big:
- QR (Quick Response) Codes: Calvin Klein Jeans Replaces Racy Billboards with QR codes
- Augmented Reality: Mobile phones get cyborg vision / Museum of London launches incredible augmented-reality iPhone
- NFC (Near Field Communication) for quick mobile payments: Nokia says all of its smartphones will support NFC starting next year / Nokia teases Swipe NFC payment system for digital receipts
Despite many of these trends having been around for a few years (and never really taking off in the UK) the widespread use of smartphones and growing awareness of geo-location services means that brands can really start to get creative with mobile executions be it serving exclusive content for direct engagement or incentivising through promotional offers. Mobile marketing has certainly gone beyond that ‘hype stage’ and is definitely a marketing channel to watch as more brands start to experiment.
