If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Weather can change our daily plans in an instant. Think about it … how often do you check the weather app on your device?  

Much of what we do can be influenced by the weather:

Attention spans are short, and every day your brand is battling for limited mindshare. Is there a proven way to target the people you *know* will be interested in your product? 

The answer may not be quite what you think…

Who are the people practically guaranteed to be receptive to your message? Those who are already using a similar product or service. Or, more specifically – your competitors’ customers.  

Just as analyzing your own data yields important customer insights, on the other side of the coin is the often-overlooked competitive analysis. Let’s take a look at the marketing strategy that drives this approach, geomarketing.

Geomarketing Harnesses the Power of Location

Geomarketing uses geographic, or location-based, data to help companies hyper-personalize marketing strategies and campaigns to current and potential customers. Companies that understand where their customers go in the physical world – as well as the online world – can create valuable customer profiles and insights. 

Now, take that one step further … 

Companies that have the same insights about their competition’s customers can use them to provide compelling offers at just the right moment and better customer experiences. Done right, you just might earn their business for yourself.

Geo-marketing strategies add several different tools to the marketer’s toolbox. 

• Geotargeting. As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. Geotargeting helps to analyze who has visited a specific area or location in the recent past.
  
  
• Geofencing. Think of geo-fencing as a creating a “virtual fence” around a designated area. You can capture real-time information about the people within the fence and also elect to send them ads when they are within the specified area.
  
  
• Geoconquesting. This tactic can be a game changer for those who want to specifically attract customers away from the competition and toward their brand. Geoconquesting uses location data to precisely target people who are visiting, or have visited, a competing business.

Most of us can admit it – we’re addicted to our phones. According to this article, more than 91 percent of smartphone users have their phone within reach 24 hours a day. Wow! 

This is great news for marketers who want to connect with their audience wherever they are today. That is, provided you have the insights around where your customers are and what they’re doing online.

So, how do you find out?

Let the MAIDs guide the way. 

Inside those phones we hold so closely is something called a mobile advertising identifier or MAID. It’s a string of digits that include numbers, letters, and symbols that are assigned to that mobile device. MAIDs are in the device’s operating system and when the device owner downloads and installs apps, marketers can retrieve this unique information and use it to more deeply understand their customers and prospects. It enables highly targeted and effective mobile advertising. 

Customers don’t have to be using YOUR app to produce helpful MAID data. ANY application on their phone that uses location services (like a weather app) creates collectible intelligence. The only way MAIDs can be deleted is to reset the device, so they have a longer shelf life than cookies.

Like many other CMOs and marketing pros, you might be left with a nagging feeling that you should be doing more with your data. How do we know? Take this survey for one, where fewer than 10% of marketers said they had the data they needed. 

Information about your customers and prospects is growing by the day …. but what should you be doing with it? And, which efforts will yield the best ROI?

Like most things, there is no silver bullet to make you an amazing marketer. It takes time, effort, bravery, curiosity and creativity. Organizations starting on their marketing journey would be wise to hire someone to take on this responsibility, even if a partner agency, because it takes thought, knowledge and consistency to be successful in marketing.

Want to use data for marketing campaigns, but not quite sure which is the best data to use? Data can be obtained and applied to a marketing campaign in many different ways, so it is important to understand the different types of data, how they could be used, and any risks associated with each type.

Data is to marketing what flour is to a cake; even without the flour, you can still create something cake-like, and it may look tasty, but I guarantee you won’t produce the stellar results you desire because something will still be missing. Integrating data into a marketing campaign adds that something missing, just like adding flour to the cake. Data allows a marketing campaign be focused and targeted, leading to higher returns and greater response. Data makes a difference.

When a prospect begins the buyer journey, it typically starts with research. Some companies will be referred to them via industry contacts, while others may become potentials through a simple Google search. However your brand comes into the mix of companies being evaluated, the first stop on the buyer journey is typically a website for more information and contact details. 

The world is going digital – fast. A recent IDC report predicts that by 2025 (just 5 years from now!) each connected person will interact with data every 18 seconds. If your marketing team is not currently using digital marketing tactics, now is the time to begin building strategy and implementing ways to connect with consumers on another level. 

Marketers are always looking for new ways to grow their audiences. Purchasing large and un-targeted lists can often yield a less than desirable return. This is because communicating with random people out of the blue is hard. They’re usually not in the “purchase” mindset and trying to convince them through a series of emails, banner ads or mail pieces can be a challenge. The secret to gaining new marketing names that lead to conversions is to make sure the list used is hitting targets at the right time, and your marketing has the right message.