Mobile marketers have long been giddy over the idea of using location-based services (LBS) to truly reach consumers at the moment they need to find a particular business. Even cellular carriers have been banking on the technology as a new revenue stream, I reported at last fall’s Under The Radar: Mobility.
TechnoCom has brought its LBS marketing technology, proven in Europe, to the United States. The company claims its solution is the first of its kind in the United States. Dubbed “SpotOn GPS,” this hosted solution “delivers fully-customizable interactive and location-aware advertising, offers, coupons, and loyalty building promotional messages,” according to the company’s announcement this week. “It increases the effectiveness and reach of advertising and promotional messaging by presenting it to consumers at select times, in the right places, close to points of sale, enhancing the return on investment from mobile advertising dollars.”
In plain English: SpotOn lets marketers reach consumers when they’re in the business’ vicinity, by using GPS technology. (So much for the carriers’ LBS-enhanced networks!) A coffee shop can send out special coupons on lattes just as the consumer walks by; or a hotel can offer guests price breaks from the property’s spa, restaurant, or bar, enticing them to spend more.
“Early evidence suggests location-based advertising… yields significantly higher conversion rates with direct response modes, such as click-to-locate and click-to-navigate, compared to non-location-based advertising,” TechnoCom quotes ABI Research practice director Dominique Bonte as saying. “LBA and navigation are a winning combination, mutually reinforcing each other. For the end-user ad-funded navigation represents a highly valued balance between exposure to advertising and access to reduced-cost, or potentially free, navigation, thus driving adoption of both.”
Finally we’ll be able to see if Mr. Bonte, and all those evangelists at Under The Radar, are right.
