Location-Based Advertising: The Key to Sales Success

Location, location, location.. isn't just the battle cry for commercial real estate,  it also happens to be the hottest new trend in the world of marketing and advertising.

A phenomenon called location-based advertising has risen to the forefront of digital sales and marketing strategies for all kinds of organizations and industries -- and it can play a vital role in helping businesses reach the next level of sales success.

What Is Location-Based Advertising?

• Location-based advertising involves the use of geo-targeted data to deliver personalized ad messages to customers' and prospects' mobile devices via SMS (Short Message Service) text messages. LBAs can be sent to such individuals in various ways, depending in part on regional regulations and preferences. Typically, businesses will use an online form as an opt-in method or send messages through communications platform services providers such as Cequens.

Once the desired audience has subscribed to a business's SMS, the business can send them special offers or other enticing ads based on the subscribers' location. Popular localization techniques include:

• Geo-fencing - Geo-fencing triggers the sending of location-based ads whenever an SMS subscriber enters a predetermined geographic zone, based on the latitude and longitude coordinates of each subscriber's smartphone.
• Place-based targeting - Place-based targeting gets even more precise than geo-fencing. This technique triggers the sending of SMS messages whenever the subscriber enters a specific building (such as your nearest store).
• Geo-conquesting - This form of "guerrilla advertising" actually sends SMS messages to subscribers when they go near or into a competitor's store, in the hopes of claiming that competitor's potential sale.

Why Location-Based Advertising Matters

Location-based advertising has become increasingly widespread and popular for a number of reasons. This kind of advertising offers such critical advantages as:

• Timeliness - The ability to send ads precisely when subscribers are in physical range of a store grabs these subscribers' attention at just the right moment to compel an impulse buy.
• Personalization - A combination of previous buyer behavior and stated buyer preferences (volunteered during the op-in stage) allows businesses to promote the exact products or services most likely to make individual customers take action.
• Targeting - The more accurate the geo-targeting of an ad, the less likely the recipient is to ignore it or unsubscribe from the SMS.

Location-Based Advertising and Your Digital Sales Funnel

• Location-based advertising can play important roles at various stages of a business's digital sales funnel. For instance, online shoppers who include a location in their Google searches may click through to a website that include the necessary SMS subscription opt-in. At this point, the shopper remains at the outer rim of the sales funnel. Different location-based SMS messages, each aimed at moving the prospect through deeper and deeper into the sales funnel, can then be delivered until the prospect becomes a steady customer.

The Location-Based Advertising Explosion

• Consumers throughout the Middle East and Africa are clearly making more and more use of mobile services for their everyday needs -- including shopping for local products and services. The number of mobile internet users in the Middle East alone is expected to reach 344 million by 2025, while the penetration rate of unique mobile subscribers is expected to include an encompass 69 percent of the population. 74 percent of those mobile connections will occur over smartphones.
• As the depth and breadth of mobile usage continues to grow in these nations, so will the opportunities to capture new audiences (and maintain current customers) through location-based advertising. Cequens' communication platform and related services stand ready to help organizations make the most effective possible use of this technology.

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CEQUENS Can Help

• We're leading Communication Platform as a Service ( CPaaS ) provider in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region that aims to bridge communication gaps in a communication-driven world.
• Powered by innovation and guided by a Cloud-First and Mobile-First approach, we provide omnichannel communication APIs that enable enterprises and developers to communicate with their customer base worldwide.
• As an Endeavor and GSMA associate member, CEQUENS plays a pivotal role in transforming communication in the region.
• CEQUENS proprietary, PCI/DSS compliant Communication Platform leverages the latest cloud technologies and features a comprehensive portfolio of products and solutions that are industry-focused, agile, scalable, and cost-effective.

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