Location based ads and promotions are generating more data and personalized offers.
Geolocation based marketing isn’t just a matter of trying to use locally targeted ads on search engines to drive customers into brick and mortar shop doors anymore.
The technology has undergone a considerable evolution and is now steadily paying off.
Marketers are discovering that it isn’t just a matter of pushing foot traffic into stores. Geolocation’s potential goes far beyond that first step. What they have found is that aside from sending consumers a local deal that can help to make one sale, it is also allowing them to collect a significant amount of highly useful data that can be used to better create offers for the future.
The data from a single geolocation based marketing campaign can be more valuable than the sales it produces.
It is the data, itself, that often has the highest amount of worth. Though certain techniques are able to generate several levels of benefits, some geolocation tactics are able to allow marketers to arrive at certain goals better than others. As the technology is used by a growing number of marketers and on a more regular basis, the methods and techniques are growing in number and in polish.
A recent BI Intelligence report examined the six geolocation based marketing tactics that they deemed to be the most successfully used by large brands and national retailers, above and beyond the traditional forms of paid local search advertising.
What many of these geolocation based marketing tactics have provided for very positive results is a cycle of continual improvement. Customers offer information about themselves in exchange for a deal. That data can then be used to provide that specific consumer – or groups of similar consumers – with better offers, which allows them to find the deals more appealing and shop more often.
The data regarding the successful campaigns and the purchases they generate can then be incorporated into future campaigns, allowing them to become increasingly targeted and personalized as time. Geolocation, therefore, creates an ever improving customer experience with enhanced data and offers that provide improved relevancy for their own specific needs and preferences.
Local Corp has just announced that it will be powering this feature for the Microsoft search engine.
The operator of the Local.com search site, Local Corp, has just announced that it will be responsible for providing the geolocation based listings for products and services on the Bing search engine.
The shares of the company skyrocketed on the Nasdaq by 41 percent following the original announcement.
According to the company, the geolocation product listings search feature will be powered by the Krillion shopping data platform which is owned and operated by Local. That platform provides consumers with information regarding local shopping opportunities such as consumer products from retailers. This includes current discounts, comparison pricing, the availability in store, and images.
Geolocation technology is used to make certain that the shopping data is relevant to the consumer’s current location.
This is helpful to mobile consumers who are looking for products and services that they can purchase at a nearby brick and mortar store location. It also helps to make sure that they will find the best deal in doing so, providing them with options that are available from all of the various shops that carry the desired item within their area.
This geolocation feature will give Bing the opportunity to provide local search results for consumers that can be refined down to retail stores, brands, and the actual availability of the specific item within a designated store location.
Krillion was originally acquired by Local just over two years ago. The acquisition was clearly a clever one, and it is certain to pay for itself many times over after having been integral to the geolocation results deal between Microsoft’s Bing and Local. Moreover, Microsoft isn’t the only large search engine company that has been involved in a partnership with Local. Google, Inc. is currently Local’s largest partner and was responsible for generating 44 percent of its revenue last year. Twenty one percent of its revenue, last year, came from Yahoo! Inc., another partner. At the moment, the market share in the United States for Google is 67 percent, with another 11 percent belonging to Yahoo! Bing is also on the rise, having risen to its current place at 18 percent over 16 percent at this time last year.