Whether customer’s realize it or not, their location data is everywhere. It’s embedded in smartphone photos, GPS enabled apps and mobile navigation services.  According to research by Gartner, by 2017, consumers will provide data to more than 100 mobile apps and services every day. This explosive growth represents a huge opportunity for digital marketers to connect with customers in the right place at the right time and drive higher conversion rates.  

Using technology built into mobile devices, marketers are able to use location based marketing strategies based on where consumers are geographically.

"Mobile is the holy grail that finally gives marketers the opportunity to solve consumers’ problems in a personal, relevant way at the exact moment of need." -Interactive Advertising Bureau

Here are the top 5 ways marketers can increase location-based marketing opportunities:

1. Location Based Marketing Services

If you haven’t already, make sure your company or client’s business is listed on all of the major location based social platforms including Google (Google My Business), Yahoo, Facebook Places, Foursquare, Yellow Pages and Yelp.

2. Targeted Messaging and Push Notifications

If your company has a mobile app, make sure it enables location tracking and push notifications. A recent study found 58% of shoppers use mobile devices while shopping. If they’ve opted into sharing location data, digital marketers can use the apps to send a targeted message based on where the app users are and what they are doing.

3. Location Based Mobile Advertising

There are two general approaches to location based mobile ads. Geo-aware ads use the real-time location of a mobile user in order to send a location appropriate message. Geo-fencing ads use location based technology to establish a perimeter around the location of a business and then send ads to users within that area.

4. AdWords Location Targeting

Google AdWords Location Targeting tool allows marketers to fine tune AdWord campaigns and target specific geographic locations. More importantly, the AdWords location tool allows you to target people searching for or viewing pages about your targeted location. Check out this AdWords help page for tips on how to select a radius and target the right locations for your business.

5. Navigation Apps

Navigation is the most popular use of a phone’s GPS technology. Make sure the location of your business or client is displaying properly on popular navigation services such as Google Maps, Maps by Apple, Mapquest and GPS databases.

Leveraging Location Data

In addition to using location marketing to better connect with consumers, digital marketers can combine location based information with data from other marketing channels to unlock a deeper understanding of customers and gain insight into the success of location marketing activities.  

Integrating location data with sources from other platforms gives digital marketers the ability to see correlations between each channel and track the performance of every campaign and initiative. With this kind of insight, marketers can more accurately track campaign performance, calculate ad spend, predict future campaign success and gain an edge over the competition.