According to the Mobile Marketing Association's Location Leadership Forum on March 23rd in New York City, location is fast becoming the new search of marketing in terms of opportunity for growth. Speakers spanned major brands (Macy’s, Dunkin) as well as beacon players, media buyers and location-based marketing companies all echoing the call to action for mobile marketers to educate themselves on the one thing that matters: reaching consumers.. without being creepy or just downright wrong. Where can you start? See the key takeaways here.
Embrace The Mobile Consumer
Greg Stuart, CEO of the MMA kicked off the day with “mobile is the closest you can get to consumers,” followed by Macy’s VP of Digital Media Kimberly Yarnell giving a brief synopsis of why Mobile Location matters. Overall, mobile should be thought of as the glue that connects the digital and physical world where location provides context to deliver meaningful experiences.
Greg Stuart also revealed the MMA’s SMoX (Cross Marketing Effectiveness) survey that showed mobile’s effectiveness across multiple campaign execution with startling results, exemplified by Walmart seeing a 6% increase in overall sales as a result of increased mobile spend in their campaign mix.
Before you capitalize on that special relationship, understand there are “higher standards for connecting to users” says Dunkin Brands President of Global Marketing & Innovation John Costelo.
“Consistency is important, and make sure you’re using accurate location data,” Keary Phillips Director of Digital Marketing at Allstate reminded the audience. You need to be authentic, and in order to deeply connect with your customers your message must be based on accurate data, which reminds us to..
Think Critically About Location Data
Location IS going to be bigger than search said David Buckley, CMO and VP of eCommerce of Sears Outlets. The need for convenience will drive this proximity marketing boom, and your business must be ready for it. If further proof is needed, Buckley noted “'near me' searches (in Google) have increased 34X since 2011." He suggested the following 3 pillars in order to get started with a customer-centric mobile strategy:
Greg Ivie, CEO and Executive Director of the Media Rating Council is leading the effort to standardize what makes location data effective and accurate. Stay tuned for more information coming around the following considerations:
At Skyhook, we talk extensively about the issues surrounding location in adtech today, such as the need for accurate location, insights and attribution. There are multiple factors that impact the reliability of location data, and you can learn more about those location best practices here. This forms the foundation for delivering highly accurate attribution that directly measures venue and campaign traffic, rather than comparison-based models.
Finally, Avoid Data Paralysis
Multiple speakers and attendees gave this is as a key consideration for designing your mobile strategy. Jason Loehr, VP, Director of Global Media & Insights of Brown Forman said that rather than overwhelm yourself with data, ask really good questions and then chase after the appropriate data source. It can be as simple as starting with your customer database (no matter that it could just be in SQL for now).
Remembering that the core of your strategy is to make it easier for people to buy your products will help you discern which data sources will help you develop those relationships with consumers.
The advice from MMA speaker gives brands and agencies a "to-do" list as we charge towards a more optimized mobile world. As marketers start to better understand the complexities of mobile location and the value those insights provide, Skyhook will be there to support businesses with high standards for reaching consumers with location-based experiences. To see how we're doing that today, as well as access an attribution solution that directly measures your users' store visits, checkout our Skyhook Personas guide or talk to our team to see how we can provide better targeting, mobile insights and attribution.