Peering into the Future of Location-Based Marketing
By Nitzan Shaer
Last week, High Start Group partnered with Allen & Gerritsen to host a half day summit on the future of Location Based Marketing: GEOM2.
The event was part of FutureM week held by MITX. GEOM2 was a uniqe opportunity to discuss insights about the ground breaking opportunities mobile location based services can offer today and over the next couple of years.
Schneidermike and Eric Leist were instrumental in putting together the event. In addition, they authored a great summary of GEOM2 that we are re-posting here.
A&G and The High Start Group Host #GEOM2
A Half Day Summit on the Future of Location Based Technology
As part of #FutureM week in Boston, Allen & Gerritsen and The High Start Group hosted the #GEOM2 event, which explored the future of location-based marketing. This half-day summit brought together leading platforms, strategists and thinkers to discuss the roadmap for the continued evolution of the location industry.
We would like to thank our client Boston.com for being a generous triple platinum sponsor!
Tweet Volume
Throughout the course of the day, #GEOM2 was a lively conversation on Twitter. Participants were tweeting with #GEOM2 over twice as much as #FutureM. What was so engaging on Twitter that kept the #GEOM2 hashtag roaring? We’ve provided a recap here. The following chart tracks tweet volume as it changed throughout the day’s three panels.
The Power of Proximity
The first panel was about the power of proximity. It was moderated by founder and president of Location Based Marketing Association Asif Khan and featured Boris Bogatin, founder and CEO of NearVerse, makers of LoKast; Nataly Kogan, VP of Consumer Experience at WHERE; and John Vajda, Product Manager at Untappd.
Key Takeaways:
- One of the biggest challenges companies face is changing inherent behaviors of consumers in given locations.
- Consumers want simplicity, in the way that they use their phones and in the way that they redeem offers.
- Location technology is not just reserved for mobile media. Marketers MUST consider the integration of ALL media.
- The best user experiences can come when location technology is passive, but it’s also a hurdle as this affects privacy.
Word Cloud of the Twitter Stream:
Social Loyalty Meets Commerce
The second panel was about social loyalty and commerce. It was moderated by SVP/Director Digital Incubator at allen & gerritsen, Schneidermike and featured Christina Dorobek, Boston City Lead at Level Up; Rob Reed, founder and CEO of MomentFeed; and Andrew Paradise, founder and CEO of AisleBuyer.
Key Takeaways:
- Check-ins can be approached as “earned media” these days.
- A powerful thing about mobile technology is being able to narrow down an entire demographic to an individual consumer.
- Trust and incentive are two important factors consumers consider before linking information, like a credit card, to a brand.
- Daily deals are a way to incentivize trial, but they may not be the key to generating customer loyalty. Companies are now working to capture both trial and loyalty.
Word Cloud of the Twitter Stream:
Future of Location
The third panel shed light on the future of location-based marketing. It was moderated by Nitzan Shaer, managing partner and co-founder of High Start Group and featured Rene Pinnell, CEO & designer of Forecast; David Spinks, Director of Product Marketing and Community at Zaarly; and Eric Leist, Emerging Technology Strategist at Allen & Gerritsen.
Key Takeaways:
- Personalization of location involves understanding a consumer’s intent. With continuous behavior tracking, marketers & technology companies are beginning to generate predictions of this intent.
- Retailers must make content relevant to the consumer in order to achieve the best possible user experience.
- It’s up to the technology companies to work with the retailers to create valuable consumer experiences, not the other way around.
- Technology, trust and “unnatural behaviors” are all barriers to LBS adoption.
Word Cloud of the Twitter Stream:
Top 10 Retweets:
Browsers versus apps: RT @allengerritsen: “Nobody wants 10,000 apps on their phone…..that’s why we created the browser” – @borisbogatin #GeoM2
Checkins as earned media: RT @allengerritsen: You can approach a check-in as earned media these days – @reedcontent #LBM #GeoM2
Typical foursquare users: RT @hnmurakami: “I mean, pretty much everybody on foursquare is a coffee guy who goes to a lot of airports” – @schneidermike #GeoM2 #FutureM
Great customer service: RT@allengerritsen: Why are people consistently buying from Zappos? because their customer service is out of this world…that’s how you get retention #GeoM2
Bad lover triangles: RT@anitatandon: LBS platforms want users, users want merchant deals, merchants want the platform control. It’s like a bad love triangle #GeoM2 #futurem
Activating users: RT@tamadear: “Awareness is interesting, but activation is awesome. Can we get people to actually *do* something?” @AsifRKhan #Geom2 #FutureM
Groupon loyalty: RT@tamadear: “How many have used Groupon for a place you’ve never tried?” Almost all hands go up. “How many returned?” Almost all hands go down. #Geom2
Analytics and insight: RT @hnmurakami: Analytics isn’t enough without insight. #GeoM2 #FutureM
Deals and loyalty: RT @mbloomstein: Talking daily deals in context of loyalty programs is the classic “folly of rewarding A while hoping for B.” #GeoM2 #FutureM
LivingSocial deal problems: RT@VictSolomon: #GeoM2 “I went to Whole Foods to redeem the LivingSocial deal and the cashier didn’t know about it. That was huge.” – @natalykogan
#GEOM2 in the news
#FutureM: The Future of Location Based Technology, GeoM2 Recap by Justin Bomberowitz at Boston Innovation
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