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August 06, 2020

How Retail Brands Can Implement Location-Based Marketing?

Location-based marketing entails a mix of online and offline marketing strategies that work towards targeting consumers in a given geographic location. Retail brands specifically can benefit from location-based marketing due to the competitive nature of the industry.



Following our research on the marketing topic, we have concluded that there are ways retail brands can implement location-based marketing to their advantage. In this article, we will cover how retail brands can do that to have a better chance against their competitors.

Leverage Geo-Conquesting

Geo-conquesting is a great way to try and take business from your local competitors. If you are a retail brand that is operating close to other retailers, you should definitely consider trying to leverage geo-conquesting to make your retail brand more competitive.

This location-based marketing tactic involves using ip geo location data to send consumers who enter a specific geographic area a discount offer near a competitor’s store. This way, those consumers will at least consider going to your store instead to save money, and if it doesn’t convert them, it will still make them more aware of your brand.

Not sold on geo-conquesting yet? Well, take a look at how Whole Foods used this strategy to grow its brand. Whole Foods sent out offers to consumers as they got close to a competitor’s store, which in some cases lured them to Whole Foods. This campaign enjoyed an impressive 4.69% conversion rate.

Don’t think that because Whole Foods is a large company that smaller businesses can’t leverage geo-conquesting. It has the potential to work well in any industry that is competitive, and it will target highly relevant consumers.

Implement a Local-SEO Strategy

If you are a retailer that considers yourself a small business, local-SEO can do wonders to help you reach new customers. Local-SEO is what is considered as organic traffic, meaning that it will help connect your business with people who are already looking for the product or service that you provide.

The more customers that you can reel in through local-SEO, the less you will have to spend on paid marketing campaigns. Getting as much organic traffic as possible will also improve the image of your brand because you can avoid pestering consumers with intrusive paid ads.

Some common methods that can help with a local-SEO strategy include Google (News - Alert) My Business, location-specific SEO content, and positive reviews online. If you don’t know about SEO practices, you can always hire someone to help your business with their marketing efforts, as there are freelancers that can help you with this online.

Using Location Tags to Reach Consumers

If you are actively posting content on your business’s social media accounts, you should be leveraging location tags to your advantage. The location tag (News - Alert) uses GPS data to locate where your post or image took place.

Social media is a great way to improve the image of your brand in the eyes of the consumer and reach a bigger audience online. If your retail business is not currently leveraging social media to your advantage, we highly suggest that you make social media accounts in the name of your business and start making posts to connect with your consumer.

By using location tags, you can make your business’s social media activity more visible to consumers who are in the area. That can help you attract consumers to your business, as well as increase engagement with your content.

Geo-Targeting with PPC

So we already talked about driving organic traffic based on location, so now let’s take a look at the other side of that, PPC advertising. PPC stands for paid per click, and it involves your company paying to target a certain audience and paying when that audience clicks on your ad.

PPC advertising can be a great tool for small businesses, and when you use location targeting to your advantage it becomes an even better tool. Just make sure that you strengthen your organic traffic efforts before making too heavy an investment in PPC advertising.

With geo-targeting, you can limit the audience of your advertisements to local areas, which allows you to target a specific audience. When you utilize this tool on your PPC advertising campaigns, you can limit wasteful spending and reach the correct audience.

Get Involved in Your Area

An important location-based marketing strategy that gets overlooked often is actually getting involved with the local community. There are a variety of ways that any business can do this. Not only will it improve the image consumers have of your brand, but it will also increase brand awareness in your community.

Here are some popular ways that businesses can get involved in their local community to get the ball rolling:

  • Hosting a fundraiser
  • Donating to a local charity
  • Hosting an event
  • Holding a competition
  • Sponsor a local event

There are many other ways for your business to get involved in the community. Rather than just having one campaign to do so, you should make it a habit for your business to get involved in your community whenever it can. Locals will come to love your business over time, and you will dominate your competition in the area.

The Bottom Line on Location-Based Marketing

If your business is involved in the retail space, location-based marketing, through technologies like IP geolocation that let you find someone’s exact location with an IP address, can help you attract local customers, improve your advertising campaigns, and give you an advantage over your nearby competitors.

If you are spending money on advertising, you don’t want any of that money to be wasted. You want to reach the correct audience, and have a successful campaign. Location-based marketing can help you do just that, and you can leverage all of what we talked about to improve your retail business location-based marketing strategy.

So don’t fall behind to your competitors. Beat them to your local audience, improve on your local image, and make more money. Grow your retail business through location-based marketing!

Author Bio:

WhoisXML API is a domain and IP data intelligence provider that empowers all types of cybersecurity enterprises to build better products and achieve greater network security with the most comprehensive domain, IP, DNS, and cyber threat intelligence feeds.  WhoisXML API also offers a variety of APIs, tools, and capabilities, including Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP) and Domain Research Suite (DRS).



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