Given the ongoing growth in digital access and as mobile devices have become a pivotal part of modern society’s lifestyle, retailers and brands now need to consider adapting new marketing concepts to communicate with their consumers. As a different shopping behavior is evolving by a new generation of shoppers who are more tech-savvy and holders of multiple, comparative market information, retailers should now think beyond traditional fundamentals to build up marketing strategies in order to communicate with them.

One of the key objectives coming from the need to employ this new approach is to be able to communicate with shoppers when they are open to being marketed to, grabbing their attention while in-store and make them an offer before their purchasing decision. The effectiveness and the appreciation of such a communication would be even higher if the pushed message was tailored to the shoppers’ preferences and needs, and all that, in a relevant location and time. On the other hand, brands should be able to evaluate in real-time the effectiveness of their campaign actions and receive information about consumer behavior in order to contemplate. Therefore, a proximity-based marketing approach allows both marketers and consumers to gain value.

Location-based marketing and in particular, Proximity and Geo-Fencing Marketing leverage the capabilities of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and NFC technology to push rich, relevant, tailored, permission-based content to consumers who are both in the right location and time to purchase or engage. Given the limited number of targeted users who are in proximity of the business and use their Bluetooth or Wi-Fi signal, pushed messages are meant to be convenient, user friendly and reach those who are more likely to visit the store. That is why mobile proximity campaigns have very high conversion rates compared to traditional campaigns.

Proximity and Geo-fencing Marketing should be integrated in the marketing strategy of anyone who operates in a fixed sales location. In particular, Large retailers and FMCG, Shopping Centers, Malls & Sport Centers, Insurance and First Aid Services, Hotels & Resorts, Cinemas, Theaters & Museums, Restaurants & Cafes, Airports, Airlines & Trains, Event Organizers & Venues, etc. are the most likely industries that could take the most out the advantageous features of a location-based campaign. 

Moreover, in order to develop a successful location-based marketing plan, marketers need to consider that they have to incentivize action to the targeted users that is not invasive to their shopping experience but convenient and relevant. Thus, some common tips for deploying such a proximity campaign would be:

• Adding an opt-in to the campaign in order to give control to the users over which messages they are willing to receive.
• Creating short, concise and impactful messages.
• Setting clear objectives such as drive foot traffic, promote in specific time-periods, enhance loyalty, revitalize brand with creative, informative and entertaining content etc
• Exploiting the high conversion rates of digital coupons and QR codes. Digital coupons, special offers and vouchers can be seamlessly sent to mobile devices by Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Digital coupons can exhibit high redemption rates and, therefore, can be a powerful tool to capitalize on high-traffic time, test out interest in a new product or stimulate sales on a slow day.
• Enhancing each campaign with social media presence: A strong social media presence will create hype and may add value to a location-based campaign and vice-versa.
• Monitoring the results and effects of the location-based campaign as well as shopping behavior by gathering valuable, real-time metrics and data. One of the main benefits of proximity and geo-fencing marketing is their ability to track immediate data and immediate insights about the running campaign and evaluate its effectiveness on the spot.

MPASS provides its partners with mProS an advanced and efficient proximity turn-key solution that enables them to excel intelligently, offering high quality services to their customers.