Location Accuracy - Stop using it as an excuse not to do targeted mobile campaigns.

For years I have been hearing the "last meter" argument for "why mobile marketing data doesn't work and should be avoided". Nearly every time I hear it I roll my eyes and think to myself "please stop". For years this has been the excuse not to make the leap to do mobile marketing in general or make the leap into other useful things like in store beacons, mobile apps, etc. The truth is like anything else you have to be selective about your data and know the source. The excuse that location data is not accurate enough to execute a campaign on is no longer valid and that is not dependant on the use case. There is one valid excuse in all of this and we will get to that later. Here are the things to remember when using location based data for your marketing program;

1. How is the data collected? This is one of the single most important questions you should be asking. How the data is collected will determine 90% of how accurate the location data is. If the data is collected through a bid stream or some other downstream method the chances are good the location may have been changed to make it easier to sell. What does this mean? If I am at "Sally's flower shop" in a strip mall chances are the exact location I am at does not come up often in a request for audiences. But if I change that location to the Wal Mart across the street or at the end of the strip mall, then that user fits nicely into a much larger group of users that can be easily sold. The location is still "close enough" unless you are Sally wanting to remarket to visitors of her flower shop or FTD wanting to know who visits local flower shops in their network. At that point, that visitor has become invisible to them.
2. Be clear on the fields that are included. This will tell you a lot about how much has gone into thinking about location accuracy. Information like how many points past the decimal is collected on Lat and long and is there a location accuracy score? Is it background or foreground information? What type of event is collected (wifi, beacon, GPS, etc.) will all play into the accuracy of the information you get as well as if it is raw log data from the source or has been collected some other way.
3. Be clear on your use case. If you are using the location data to show that someone frequents a competitors location vs. you want the ad to be served as they are near your location or competitors, this will make a big difference in how accurate you need to data to be and when the campaign is delivered. Starbucks is a good example. My Gold card typically pops up about a block to two blocks from the actual store with my balance as opposed to the Apple notification I only get once I am in the actual store near a product they are featuring.

Taking just these three steps can eliminate the need for excuses and get you the data you need to execute campaigns at the right time and place with the right message, just as marketing has been promising to be able to deliver for ages. Once you can do that it is all up to the offer or message and creatives to do the rest to get the attention of the ever wandering consumer. If you are delivering an Omni-channel campaign it is also good to note that following a mobile message with an email will help your conversion rates in some cases up to 2x.

Datastreams' Ingage 360 Allows you to have a complete view of your target consumer with records that are all opted in, and consumers can be targeted offline by postal and telemarketing efforts, online by keyword, interest, and intent. Audiences can be targeted by intent to purchase categories, IP Address (B2B & B2C), and by a device (desktop, tablet, and smartphone). Data can be licensed for append purposes, marketing purposes, and hygiene & verification uses. Datastream will also enhance and enrich a company’s existing records through their Ingage 360 platform.

Datastream has a competitive edge licensing their data because there is a large appetite in the current market for a marriage of digital identities to households. The Consumer Master File is built from active online consumer and business audiences and can be traced back to a postal address. You can also find our data on platforms like LiveRamp data store, Lotame, and others. For custom requests, or to find out more contact us. We specialize in helping you make sense of your data, engage and convert the right audience.. ([email protected])