Geolocation and the future of Digital Marketing
Geolocation has just started to change our daily activities and the way we live. For all those of us who feel completely lost and desperate if asked to go from A to B without using Google Maps, this is only the beginning. When it comes to marketing, the implications of geolocation and geolocation-based technologies are limitless. An article by Fortune listed and analysed 15 of them, giving us an overview of what is expecting us in our future as shoppers and consumers.
The most famous example is probably augmented reality, the technology that rose to world fame thanks to the well known Pokémon Go game. Augmented reality provides the basis for interesting evolution in digital marketing, such as augmented events and augmented advertising. The former is very advanced geolocation technology that allows visitors to unveil with their mobile devices products or artworks that appeared on a screen, simulating physical presence. The latter consists of dynamic ads that come alive and can be interacted with by the user.
Among the examples illustrated by the author of the Fortune article Chirag Kulkarni, there is also focal clustering, a technology that goes way beyond determining the user’s physical location, as it can even detect in what direction the user’s look is directed. This opens up huge possibilities for tailoring user experience.
The most curious technology illustrated in the article is probably whether-based geolocation advertising. Its function is to offer customers specific deals according to the weather, like tire chains on a snowy day or umbrellas in case of sudden rain.
source: freeimages.com
In our opinion it’s very interesting to analyse the impact that geolocation and geolocation-based technologies will have on the retail sector in the near and more distant future. As we all know, retail it has started to lose ground to e-commerce. For many clothing companies for example, brick and mortar shops in big cities are by now more a sign of physical brand presence, while the big part of the revenue comes from online sales.
On one hand, geolocation could be seen as an opportunity to revitalise retail. It can do so by capturing foot traffic and directing it to the physical stores. Beacons can be a tool to achieve the same result. These technologies could be even more effective when combined with the so called time limit marketing mentioned in the article — a way local businesses can promote targeted offers to local clients just for a short, limited amount of time.
On the other hand the constant and rapid development of augmented reality and virtual reality technologies might end up playing in favour of e-commerce, eventually erasing the need to be physically present in a store completely. What if we could see exactly how a sweater looks on us — size, colour and cut — or on our avatar, just while we’re sitting on our couch or cooking some dinner? Only the future will tell.
For now, we recommend you check out the Fortune article by clicking on the link below:
fortune.com/2017/02/06/geolocation-marketing/
Andrea Ballini
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