Tag: mobile geolocation

As a growing number of smaller companies use mobile technology, advertising trends are emerging.

Small businesses are, on an increasing basis, discovering the opportunities that are available to them over mobile and preferences regarding techniques such as geolocation, social media marketing, and others are beginning to emerge.

Recent research has shown that when it comes to smaller companies, social media marketing is preferred.

Not only is that the preference for the majority of small businesses, but they are also showing that they don’t have a strong liking for geolocation and other location based advertising. In fact, in a recent survey, 97 percent of participating small business owners said that they were already using various types of social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram for marketing purposes.

On the other hand, far fewer said that they were using geolocation based campaigns and promotions.

In fact, among the respondents to the survey, only 17 percent said that they were using geolocation strategies – for example, Foursquare – for the promotion of their business, brand, and/or products.

Even though they don’t seem to be attaching themselves to geolocation technology, they are embracing mobile – both smartphones and tablets – with a vengeance. They are consistently coming up with strategies that are friendly to these devices, such as text message marketing, optimized websites, QR codes, and others.

According to the Joel Hughes, the senior vice president of strategy and corporate development at the company that conducted the survey, Constant Contact “It’s encouraging that a majority of small businesses recognize that their customers are relying more than ever on their mobile devices to find information, look for deals and even to make purchases.”

At the same time, Hughes also pointed out that while small businesses are embracing mobile commerce and marketing, they are still learning the ropes. Therefore, he doesn’t find it that surprising that they are sticking to areas such as social media and email, where they have already experienced success, and are not yet leaping on board with geolocation, which is not nearly as familiar to them and which is untested for their companies.

New features through eBay’s RedLaser have made discounts and in-store mapping possible.

According to the latest news from eBay Inc. and its RedLaser app, new geolocation features will now allow consumers to discover offers and deals from local retailers that are close by, with a simple tap of the screen.

So far, there are several big name participants in this program that could be beneficial to shoppers.

Among the deals that can be discovered through this geolocation app are those from Sears, Best Buy, and Toys ‘R’ Us, among others. This latest update to the mobile commerce app from eBay occurred earlier this week. Since then, it has included a Local Deals tab, as well as additional coupons to help promote savings.

Among the additional geolocation features are the ability to clip coupons, view flyers, and receive alerts.

The notification alerts occur when a nearby store is offering RedLaser deals. The geolocation technology then takes things a step further by allowing the smartphone user to view interactive in-store mapping of various retailers such as some Home Depot and Walgreen’s locations.

According to the geolocation technology news releases, the RedLaser app can now be used in a broad range of different ways. It opens by suggesting products that the user may find appealing. These are selected based on the searches that have previously been performed by the consumer since first using the app. The app can also be tapped to see the top deals of the day. Beyond that, its features have already included searching by image and keyword, as well as scanning product barcodes.

In order to use the geolocation feature for local deals, users of the app can tap the new tab and browse for the various offers available nearby in the “browse deals around you” section, which is accessed through a button tap. This provides a list of nearby retailers that participate in the program, ordered from closest to the one that is farthest away. Choosing a specific retailer opens a page that includes details about the nearby store location, its available weekly flyer, any coupons that can be used in-store, any online offers being made available, as well as an in-store map (if it is available at that location).