Location Based Mobile Marketing for Small Businesses

Location based mobile apps such as Foursquare and SCVGR are another way for small businesses to reach customers that are actively using their mobile devices to update friends and followers about what they are doing including being your customer. Whether you want your business to be included in location based mobile applications or not, it is highly likely that your business is already listed as these mobile web apps pull information from popular business listing sites including Google places.

There are several marketing strategies that a small business owner can implement to make the most out of these types of mobile marketing opportunities. Creating formal and informal specials to customers using these apps can help increase your company’s exposure through their viral nature by getting more customers to check-in and share comments, reviews or basic information about your brand or company with their friends through social sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Sponsored Deals

Businesses can work closely with a location based app company such as Foursquare to promote a special deal to customers directly through the app. This can be a very effective way of marketing to potential customers that are near your business. People in close proximity will receive information about your promotion. This type of paid advertising promotes the deal to all users in the region and requires a person to click the check-in button in order to receive the coupon which will in turn provide your business with demographic details about the people visiting your location for the advertised special.

Special Location Based Promotions

Another strategy that can be less cost intensive is to provide discounts or special deals for customers that choose to check-in through any number of different mobile apps. Simply create a nice marketing flyer and place it near the cash register or online check out cart that proclaims “Check-in on Foursquare” or “Check-in on Facebook” and receive “XYZ” discount or special offer. This can help a business quickly begin to trend in the local area making other users of these apps more likely to see your business.

This type of marketing is relatively inexpensive and customers generally have no problem saying something nice about a business they frequent that is also giving them a deal on one of their favorite products or services. One of the keys to being successful at marketing as a small business owner is to keep looking for trends such as location based apps and thinking how to tap into those communities of users without having to shell out the big bucks that a formally sponsored marketing campaign would cost.

Give location tagging apps a try for marketing your business to local customers and get them engaged with the brand online by actively supporting the company simply by checking-in or making a nice comment about your products or services.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Develop a Mobile Strategy Find New Customers

joint venture marketing

joint venture marketing

Consumers are utilizing mobile devices more than ever today for online shopping, sharing photos, videos and messages. Developing a mobile marketing strategy with a joint venture marketing partner is an excellent way to reach customers and connect with these consumers in a fashion that’s innovative and can provide a rich engagement between customer and the brand. There are several ways to participate in the growing mobile marketing industry and find new customers that fit specific demographics. Partnering with an app development company or creating an ad marketing campaign is the easiest method of quickly reaching audiences of the iPhone and/or Android market. Another method could be developing an app either with a partner or on your own. It’s not always an easy choice which path to go and larger companies may experiment with both options.

Advertise / Sponsor

By far the easiest method of engaging with the mobile app user community is to become an advertiser or sponsor with a mobile app or mobile advertising company that can provide impressions on thousands of different sites in a fashion similar to Google Adwords. Mobile networks provide a platform that will allow you to place ads in a multitude of different locations. Work with a joint venture partner that’s seeking to gain access to specific demographics and create a co-branded marketing campaign or sell a solution that both partners can benefit from through the ad campaign.

Top 5 Mobile Advertising Networks

1. Admob by Google very large network
2. Mojiva has the capability for a small business owner to create a page easily that will display on mobile devices well
3. InMobi Large network that delivers rich content ads
4. ValueClick Large mobile and iPad presence
5. MilleninalMedia Long standing mobile advertising platform

Sponsoring an app can also be part of a joint venture marketing agreement for both parties to find new customers. There are dozens of mutually beneficial marketing scenarios that could present themselves depending on the industry of the company seeking a mobile strategy to reach a target audience. Many app developers also benefit greatly through promotion of their apps and may be interested in doing shared marketing to each other’s customers for a period of time. Most developers are not large companies with significant resources and could likely be open to creative marketing strategies. These types of trades for marketing can be done on a one to one basis with independent mobile developers that have an app that fits your niche as well.

Depending on the app developer there may need to be a financial payment for advertising for a period of time on a free app, however this can still be an effective way to saturate a brands presence with a targeted demographic.

Build

Building an app can be tricky. In order for it to be successful the app needs to be providing true value to customers on several levels instead of just being an app to promote a brand or product. With the right marketing partner an app can be created that drives interest in both the app and then subsequently the company which in turn leads to finding new customers that are willing to buy. An app can cost anywhere from a few hours of time to $25,000 plus, so it’s wise to think a strategy through completely and brainstorm how you and your partners plan on rolling out the app to existing customers and a wider audience as a whole.

Easy Solution

The quickest and easiest solution is to use a service like Appmakr that can help anyone develop an app with no coding required. There are several precise steps that must be followed but an app can be built quickly with many different modules available from video to rss feeds.

Full Service

Hire a mobile development team to take the project from start to finish. This is the wisest solution but will cost you in resources. This is why developing a co-branded solution with a joint venture marketing partner is the best approach to reduce the costs on both parties. As long as the relationship has been structured properly then everyone can benefit from the creation of a mobile app to reach and engage with the right potential new customers.

christian fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A joint venture marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more joint venture marketing Strategies join his free report on joint venture marketing.

joint venture marketing

joint venture marketing