Spotlight On: Proximity
By MEC
When local apps first appeared in the late ‘Aughts, they triggered a significant change in customer behavior. A simple request like ”
Google Maps would like to detect your location” sparked the realization that we produce data and that data is
currency we can exchange for more valuable content and a better user experience.
Today, we simply expect content of all kinds to be customized according to location but the opportunity for marketers is much richer. Diverse real-time data feeds from physical location to purchase history can be leveraged to make ads more contextually relevant and hence, more meaningful. Beacons and Near Field Communications (NFC) enable finely tuned and targeted messaging based on location and the customer’s relationship with the brand. Together, these technologies have converged to redefine
proximity, a word that traditionally denotes a customer’s nearness to a brand’s offering. Modern proximity integrates geo-coordinates, historical location and myriad customer and real-time data signals to reach a far more qualified audience with a uniquely effective message that far exceeds what can be achieved with simple latitude and longitude.
What is proximity?
Location-based digital marketing is a unique mobile phenomenon that first gained traction with the introduction of the iPhone, which allowed users to share their location in return for more relevant content. The resulting gold rush of local data made it possible for brands to literally
be where the customer is.
Yet, mobile technologies have evolved so rapidly that targeting a potential customer solely on latitude and longitude now seems passé. Today we can target based not only on wherea customer is, but also where he or she has appeared in the past and is likely to appear in the future (i.e. historical location), along with a cornucopia of other real-time geo-spatial and customer-volunteered criteria.
In simple terms:
- Location is the latitude and longitude of a device and the person using it.
- Proximity is the relationship between that device, the unique individual using it and nearby places, things, events, and other real-time circumstances.
Why this is different?
Location is a powerful signal but geo-coordinates alone only reveal so much. Take for example, 40.7577°N, 73.9857°W—it’s valuable to know someone is in Times Square, but Times Square is a different place on Monday morning vs. Saturday afternoon. The customer in question may have different interests based on whether he or she is on the East vs. the West side of the square. And the person who shows up Monday through Friday represents a very different demographic than the one who shows up once a year.
That’s where data comes in. Today we can tap into myriad signals from weather, traffic patterns, current events, and specific place data, to real-time group demographics and a unique individual’s historical location to add a more refined lens to a campaign. These contextual signals combine with lat/long to enable whatis commonly referred to as hyperlocalmarketing, an approach finely tuned to location in a more informed sense of the word. At the same time, sensor technologies like beacons and Near Field Communications (NFC) have emerged, enabling deeper personalization of ads, and allowing customers to take a more proactive role in receiving them. Together, this hyperlocal data-driven targeting and these physical-meets-digital technologies have converged to createproximity, a form of marketing triggered by the presence of the customer in a physical place and contextualized by a variety of real-time data signals, including the customer’s relationship with brand.
To continue reading, please download Spotlight On: Proximity (pdf 2Mb)