Location-based marketing and mobile marketing for small business go hand in hand. In fact, the primary reason why location-based marketing is now an option for small businesses is because of mobile devices. Business owners can use their devices to market from anywhere, and can reach their audience wherever they may be. While mobile marketing targets your audience when they are on mobile devices, mobile location-based marketing targets your audience when they are using mobile devices. Read on to learn the basic concepts and strategies for location-based mobile marketing.
Mobile Marketing vs. Location-Based Marketing
Mobile marketing makes your business as accessible on portable devices as it is on desktops, and appeals to the mobile behaviors and mindsets of your target audience. Location-based marketing makes your business more visible in specific locations, and your content specific to each location. Therefore, mobile location-based marketing makes your business engaging and accessible to your target audience on their mobile devices, when they are in specific locations.
Targeting with Location Based Mobile Marketing
There are many benefits of location-based marketing with a mobile focus. However it can be a bit tricky, as it takes into account mindset and location, two factors that play off of one another and affect behavior.
Mobile Behavior and Location
While mobile behavior is typically associated with rushing or on the go, this is not always the case. Our mobile behavior varies according to our mobile usage, and our mobile usage varies depending on our location. For example, the mindset we are in and the applications we use on our mobile devices at home will be different than at work or on vacation.
Location and Mindset
Even further, the same location might elicit different behaviors depending on the context. For example, a person in a cab on their way to work will use their mobile device differently than when in a cab on the way to a hotel.
For optimal location-based mobile marketing, target the locations where your target audience uses their mobile devices, and then consider the platform or application they are most likely to be using in that location, as well as the mindset they will be in.
Mobile Tips for Targeting Location
Locations you may target with your mobile marketing are those that contain your target audience demographic, and/or those that are within close proximity to your physical location. Here are some questions that will help you optimize your targeting and content.
Targeting for regions or zip codes: Are you targeting mobile users who live in that area, who work in that area, or who are visiting that area?
Targeting for close proximity to your store: What else is around you that will influence your target audience’s mindset and behavior. Are there doctors offices where people will be waiting for long periods of time? Offices where people take out their phones throughout the day? Or public transportation stations where users will be on for quick bursts of time?
The key to mobile location-based marketing is identifying the mindset and behaviors of your target audience in the locations you are targeting.
Mobile Location Based Marketing Strategies
There are many ways to can add a geographic element to your mobile marketing tactics, and a mobile element to your location based strategies. Here are two specific examples of marketing that is both mobile and geographic:
Use Mobile Ads
Online advertising offers advanced demographic and geographic targeting capabilities. You can target specific types of people who are in a certain region or in close proximity to your business.
Even better, these platforms—Google, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook—allow you to create separate ads for desktop vs mobile. With mobile-only ads, you can cater your ad for mobile users. You can optimize content based on who among your target audience uses mobile devices, what mindset they are in when on their mobile device, and what else they might be doing when viewing your mobile ad. Mobile ads may not be a free mobile marketing strategy, but it is a highly effective one.
One important thing to remember is that mobile ads are smaller, so the need to be clear and concise is even more important.
Use Social Media
Social media is a great supporter of mobile location-based marketing. Most social media users access the platforms on their phones, and some platforms are mobile-only, such as Snapchat.
Here are some ways to use social media for mobile location-based marketing:
- Use location-based hashtags on Instagram and Twitter.
- Tag your location in Instagram and Facebook posts.
- Encourage your followers to tag your location in their posts about your business. This helps to build credibility for your business and show that it is a popular place in your community.
- Use location features on mobile-specific platforms such as geofilters on Snapchat and location tagging on Instagram Stories.
- Post relevant and useful content to LinkedIn when at a networking event.
- Publish posts relevant to the geographic communities to which your followers belong.
- Create mobile social media ads and target your local area. Facebook in particular offers advanced targeting
Related: Examples of Facebook Ads
Using social media to make yourself more visible to your target audience when they are on mobile devices and in a location where they may be near or in need of your services.
When using posts or advertisements, keep in mind that your goal doesn’t have to be for people who are nearby to come to your store. If you’re simply trying to get more leads, or if you don’t have a brick and mortar location, provide valuable content through these channels that is relevant to the mobile mindsets of your customers.
