Location-Based Marketing Tips for tiny Business Owners

Imagine receiving a text communication that your favorite online shop is hosting a pop-up occurrence in your city. It comes at just the correct period. You were in town and looking for something to do that weekend.

That precise targeting is a outcome of location-based marketing. Using period and place data, businesses can respond to weather conditions, local events, and person behavior patterns to serve customers the most fitting marketing material.

Here’s how location-based marketing works.

What is location-based marketing?

Location-based marketing (LBM) uses online and mobile device data to target users based on location or location history, helping brands deliver more relevant content to potential customers. Companies can use real-period location data to inspire customers to receive a specific action. For example, a local business might use location-based advertising to notify a customer that they’re less than half a mile from a boutique.

LBM can boost customer engagement. “So many elements of our lives are digital—the way we shop, communicate, connect,” says Anna Decilveo, head of merchandising and brand partnerships at Shopify. “LBM gives brands an innovative way to cut through that noise and connect with their customers locally.” 

5 types of location-based marketing

1. IP targeting
2. GPS targeting
3. Geofencing
4. Geoconquesting
5. Beaconing

With LBM, companies either collect location data and deliver messages through their apps or purchase ad space and location data from third-event providers. Here are five ways companies can borrowing this data:

1. IP targeting

IP address targeting uses a target customer’s distinctive IP address to determine their specific location. Google uses IP targeting, for example, to collect users’ IP addresses and display local listings in Google search results when a user searches for “Thai restaurant” or “parks near me.”

You can set up location-based targeting in Google Ads to deliver content to users in a specific geographical area.

2. GPS targeting

GPS targeting works similarly to IP address targeting but uses GPS data to target users. Through this way, you can deliver personalized messaging to app users via push notifications.

If there’s an unexpected cold snap in one of your target regions, for example, you might send customers in the area a communication like, “Feeling chilly? Visit our online store for 20% off cozy knits.”

3. Geofencing

Geofencing uses GPS technology to make a virtual border around a specific area, like a physical store or occurrence space. For example, you might geofence a conference your target spectators attends and then send targeted messaging to users who enter the geofenced area.

4. Geoconquesting

Geoconquesting involves geofencing competitor locations—like their retail store or local occurrence—and encouraging users to consider your brand as an alternative. Geoconquesting campaigns often propose promotions or discounts to incentivize customers to choose your corporation over another.

5. Beaconing

Beaconing is similar to geofencing, but instead of using GPS coordinates to make a border, the area revolves around a connected device (a beacon). Also called proximity-based marketing, consumers receive messaging when they arrive within the range of the beacon technology.

3 tips for using location-based marketing

1. Gather buyer data
2. Localize creative
3. Optimize timing

Here are three tips to assist you schedule and implement location-based marketing campaigns:

1. Gather buyer data

Location-based data collection can assist you comprehend customer behavior and optimize your location-based marketing schedule. “Review customer segments to identify which locations are most relevant to your brand,” Anna says.

If you’re struggling to reach a specific customer segment, for example, you might analyze location data and discover they attend upscale farmers markets. You can then employ hyperlocal marketing, a highly concentrated LBM schedule, to target the parks or specific blocks that host these markets.

Where consumers spend period also provides valuable insights into their needs and preferences. Combining location data with other marketing intelligence can shape your overall marketing schedule, improving customer experiences and boosting brand engagement.

2. Localize creative

“Develop creative that is specific to the economy,” Anna says, adding businesses view better results when they “include products that are bestselling in that location,” and “tailor language and assets so they talk to nuances of the city.”

Localizing creative assets and refining marketing strategies for different markets takes period, but it can pay off in more personalized connections with your brand. “It’s worth the additional attempt to make localized creative, both assets and copy, instead of using generic creative across cities,” Anna says.

3. Optimize timing

Consider when you desire customers to receive your messages. Is it as soon as they enter a specific occurrence space? Or correct before they realize they’re hungry for lunch? Maybe it’s a day or two after an in-store visit.

Timing your campaigns can profit better results, avoid wasted spend, and preserve spectators depend. Here are some scenarios to consider:

• Retargeting visitors to your store. You might geofence your store and deliver targeted messages to visitors at 11 a.m. two business days after their visit. This schedule allows you to target existing customers with promotions and reach out to casual browsers—even if you didn’t gather any of their information.

• Minimizing privacy concerns. Imagine receiving a dating app advertisement the instant you walk into a divorce attorney’s office. Ethical location-based marketers regard user privacy by anonymizing data and informing users of location-sharing options—but sure real-period ads can still make consumers uncomfortable. Consider delaying delivery to minimize privacy concerns.

• Targeting occurrence visitors. Many locations have different visitor sets throughout the day. declare you’re geofencing a conference occurrence space; you’ll have access to folks setting up the occurrence in the days before it starts, access to attendees during the occurrence, and access to only a few people at night. Choose your period frame to maximize reach with the correct audiences and avoid wasted ad spend.

An example of location-based marketing

Companies can use LBM to design innovative, interactive brand experiences. Consider the following location-based marketing example:

In August 2024, cult-favorite beauty brand Glossier promoted the release of its brow product Boy Brow Arch with an LBM-powered scavenger hunt. Four days before the community launch, the corporation put up gigantic branded posters containing distinctive QR codes in Los Angeles, recent York, and Chicago. Customers who found the posters could scan the QR codes through Shopify’s Shop app to gain early access to the product. The Shop app would then direct winners to the nearest Glossier store, and Shopify’s location-based technology ensured that only users who located a poster could access the product.

“Layering on an interactive encounter that’s distinctive to the location and economy—like we did via the Glossier scavenger hunt—provides an unexpected and exciting touch,” Anna says.