FROM THE PUBLISHER
David J Dunworth
Founder & CEO Marketing Partners LLC
One of my favorite times of year is upon us, and I can hardly wait for the shuffling of the leaves, the crackle of the bon-fires and smell of autumn in the air.
With the heat of the summer past us (for the most part anyway) and the cool air settling in, my thoughts turn to the upcoming holiday season, and all that ibrings. From a marketer's standpoint, this is the time of year where local businesses need us the most. If you haven't cememted your client's holiday marketing plans, you are out of time. Those that have prepared will gain the lion's share of the massive revenues that come in November and December, but all is not lost.
Time for Lead Generation
If your local client's marketing doesn't include massive plans to capture market share, at least you can help them capture leads during the holiday rush. How? That's easy; sign up campaigns for lead gen. Placards, signage, digital coupponing, QR Code scanning for discounts,joining a loyalty program are all ways to get the customers that do partake in their offerings to share their email address or mobile number.
SMS campaigns can be instantaneous revenues as once captured, the mobile device becomes a behicle for sharing additional "unexpected extras" with their new-found customer base.
How about Geo-Marketing?
Not everyone is an expert, so if you aren't quite sure what I mean by that term, it isn't as difficult to understand as you might think.
Here's an explanation from Wikipedia that should help you understand it all:
Geomarketing is the integration of geographical intelligence into various aspects of marketing, including sales and distribution. Geomarketing research is the use of geographic parameters in marketing research methodology, including from sampling, data collection, analysis, and presentation. Geomarketing Services related to routing, territorial planning, and site selection where the location is the key factor for such disciplines.
The core base of Geomarketing is the digital map; it can either make or break the concept. Equally important, though, is the association of data with these maps using some place-based component.[1]
In marketing, geo (also called marketing geography or geomarketing) is a discipline within marketing analysis which uses geolocation (geographic information) in the process of planning and implementation of marketing activities.[2] It can be used in any aspect of the marketing mix – the product, price, promotion, or place (geo targeting). Market segments can also correlate with location, and this can be useful in targeted marketing. The methodology geomarketing is successfully applied in the financial sector through identifying ATMs traffic generators and creating hotspots maps based on geographical parameters integrated with customer behavior.[3]
Geomarketing uses key facts, a good base map, proper data layers, reliable consumer profiling, and proper success/fail criteria.
GPS tracking and GSM localization can be used to obtain the actual position of the travelling customer.