Once upon a time when it came to proximity marketing (sometimes known as Location-based advertising), Bluetooth was the go-to method. Today, the reach and appeal — and potential longevity — of Foursquare (and others) have allowed it to redefine proximity marketing.
Foursquare is a mobile application that makes full use of a cell phone’s global positioning system (GPS). Once loaded, the phone will tell users what’s nearby: restaurants, bars, retail stores, hotels, sites, and various points of interest (to say the least).
For your business, you can entice customers to come to your location when they are “nearby” with discounts or incentives. For example, when you are near a Starbucks an “Offer Nearby” will appear in the application. When you tap it you will see that the “Mayor” of Starbucks (the person who checks in the most) gets $1.00 off a Frappuccino. Likewise, the Pennsylvania Tourism Board partnered with Foursquare to entice summer travelers who visit the Keystone State with unique Pennsylvania “badges” when visiting one of 100 area restaurants, stores, landmarks and other check-in sites.
Other major brands are seeing the value, too. Someone having dinner might be immediately swayed when they see a location two doors down is offering a two-for-one drink specials. Or maybe the Mayor of your establishment gets a free appetizer on their next visit. That brings patrons to your place as they try to out-visit one another to become the Mayor — and earn that reward. The ability for “brick and mortar” businesses to reach out to customers based on their location has taken a giant leap forward. This is more than what’s next. It’s what’s right next door.
Learn More:
Read our blog post about Foursquare
Read about other proximity applications
