It’s a piece of Internet Marketing that is often overlooked. But it is a piece that is gaining ground quickly. Google says that “77% have contacted a business via mobile, with 61% calling and 59% visiting the local business.”  http://googlemobileads.blogspot.com/2011/12/look-back-at-2011.html

If you have a retail location where customers can come to your place of business, are you doing all you can with mobile marketing? First, let’s acknowledge that the cell phone has changed in the past 5 years so drastically.

In this article, we are going to discuss ‘Location-based Marketing.” A tool to capture your customers as they are looking for you and rewarding them for visiting you.

Just like the Wal-Mart greeter, your location-based ‘Thanks for Being Here’ coupon or message uses web applications with specific location information to deliver the right message to the right person at the right place AND time.

Here are some examples:

• a mom finds the specific address and gets turn-by-turn directions to the closest pizza place to take her son’s team out after a road game win.
• consumers are looking for nearest coffee shop and notice that the one that is an extra 1/2 mile away is offering a second cup for free with the purchase of one cup.
• a college couple learns the show times of the movies playing at nearby theaters.
• a Dad has pain in his lower back and needs a Chiropractor. He searches his mobile app and finds recommendations for a one near his office with a first time patient coupon if he ‘Checks In.’

Like the name implies, Location Based Marketing (LBM) are services that take advantage of their location as a key ingredient of providing relevant information to your customers.

So what ways can you take advantage of LBM? Below are some steps you can take now!

1. Make sure you have an account and have ‘claimed’ your business in top mobile location services. Yelp, Bing, Yahoo Local, Google Places, Facebook Check-In, and Foursquare. Free and easy.
   
2. Add a coupon for ‘check-ins.’ It’s easy to create a coupon with these services and don’t require any special graphic design skills. According to eMarketer, one in ten mobile users redeem coupons via their mobile device. By 2013, the number using such coupons will nearly double, and 16.5% of all US adult mobile phone users will redeem a coupon that year. http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/one-in-ten-users-redeem-mobile-coupons-18438/
   
   
3. Build relationships with customers. Much like any social media, you need to engage with your audience and customers; poll questions, provide some customer services, offer advice. Posting once a day or a few times a week on Facebook or Twitter keeps your name in front of them.
4.  Help customers contact you. Make sure your website has the crucial information in crucial locations. We are adamant about adding your phone number on the upper right of each website design and it is coded as a text object allowing mobile users to tap the number to immediately dial. Then your contact page should have your address as a link to a map or is easily copied and pasted into a mobile map app (like Google Maps).As you claim your listings in these mobile apps, be sure to include your address(es), hours, and your services.
   
5. Consider a Mobile Website. Consider a redirect for your mobile users to a mobile website. At GlobalSpex, we do make sure that your website does not break on a mobile device but it is not necessarily mobile friendly. You can create a mobile-friendly website using a redirect code (the site will recognize if you are using a mobile device) by simplifying the navigation, easy to read without zooming or pinching to much, as with #4, make it easy to contact. But give your users the option to see your desktop website.