Location-based mobile marketing is the newest and fastest growing segment of the
digital marketing universe. Location-based marketing targets marketing messages
to users based on their location. Generally, location-based marketing involves marketing
of location-based services. Location-based services involve providing services to
users based on their location. Examples of location-based services are: personal navigation
(How do I get there?), point-of-interest (What’s that?), reviews (What’s the best
restaurant in the neighborhood?), friend-finder (Where are you? Where’s the crowd?),
and family-tracker services (Where is my child?). There is a connection of course: the
more people use their mobile devices to search for and obtain local services, the more
opportunities there are for marketers to target consumers with messages at just the
right moment, at just the right location, and in just the right way—not too pushy and
annoying, but in a way to improve the consumer experience at the moment of local
shopping and buying. This is the ideal in any event. Location-based marketing can
take place on a desktop as well because browsers and marketers know your approximate
location. But in this section we focus on mobile location-based marketing, which
is where the greatest growth and opportunities lie.
Experience and market research suggest that consumers want local ads, offers,
information, and content. Consumers have a high likelihood of acting on local ads and
purchasing the products and services offered. Because it has evolved so rapidly in the
last five years, experience and research with respect to location-based marketing is a
work in progress with many different platforms, providers, and techniques. Measures
of effectiveness and returns on investment are being developed.