How Location Strategies help Small Businesses
By: Moumita Mukherjee
Tags: Search, Small Business, Location, Technology, Marketing

It has taken centuries for the traditional marketing to evolve into what we call today as ‘Modern Marketing’. Science and technological advancements have changed the way customers look at the products and services. Somewhat similar is what has happened with the businesses who have moulded the way they have been doing business.

‘Digital’ is the new way. Business enterprises which have agency partnerships, big brands and deep pockets have taken to various digital channels to showcase their products and service range and attract new and potential customers. But, this outcasts the small businesses who are bashed due to low financial backing.

Hence, marketers are now looking up to what is known as ‘ Location based Marketing’. This involves varied usage and implementation of ‘Location based technologies’. It is a technology which utilizes the geographic data and information available to provide services or information to the users.

Various location based technology include GPS (Global Positioning System), Wi-Fi, Geofencing, Beacon and NFC (Near Field Communication). GPS Technology can help the small businesses to track and monitor the company vehicles fleet (if any). Some small businesses who have a large Salesforce can deploy GPS Systems to track the performance and effectiveness of the salespeople. This would help in effective monitoring and controlling the business operations. Small E-Commerce companies can use GPS system to effectively track the delivery status and notify the customers accordingly. This would, in the long term, lead to effective relationship with the customers. Since, this is a cost effective solution, some small businesses have already started to adopt it.

From Starbucks to Departmental stores, every small or large business is now using Wi-Fi as a mode to gain more customers. Nowadays, free Wi-Fi access is being given to the customers by almost every small or big store. This has led to increased sales as reported by the companies themselves. Since, every penny matters for small businesses, Wi-Fi is a must have element in the business bundle. The small stores or restaurants can offer free wifi on all days of the week or only on weekends, depending on the footfalls. Wi-Fi should also be included in the Business communications bundle as it is a cheap way of conducting meetings, virtual conferences etc.

‘Geofencing’ an important technology has been able to gather a lot of attention of the businesses, whether big or small. It is a technology, involving creation of a virtual fencing around a specific area. Any customer/potential customer, upon entering the fenced zone, receives a push notification. Geo-fencing is gaining a lot of popularity, especially among the small businesses, as a lot of customers can be targeted at one go and a plethora of data can also be gathered about these potential customers. For example — Owning a ladies’ boutique was never so easier. The owner of the boutique can use geo-fencing to target all the potential women by sending push notifications once they enter the zone. The notification can be about offers, new range etc. Geo-fencing has seen a lot of popularity among the small businesses in the developed countries already. More small businesses are taking to geo-fencing to expand business and customer base and the results have been applaudable enough.

‘ Beacon ‘, a technology, first launched by Apple is one of its own kind. Beacons are basically, wireless transmitters, usually small, sending signals to the smart devices nearby. To be precise, the Beacon technology is one of the recent developments in the field of ‘Location based searching’ The small businesses can leverage this technology by installing Beacon hardwares, and developing applications, which when installed by the customers would pave the way to numerous marketing and advertising opportunities for a large customer base. Beacon technology can be used by small businesses to identify the behaviour and attitude of different customers towards their offerings. This will lead to product differentiation and developments. Since small businesses have lesser time and capital, they would know which product is best adopted or liked by customers. With the help of Beacon technology, they would also know what kind of promotions to be given to whom and when. This would enable them to focus more time on building strong relationship with the customers and expand the customer base eventually.

NFC (Near Field Communication) means the enabling of communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm or less. NFC basically is used to share files of small sizes. Since small businesses are new to the market, they always see trust issues in the eyes of their customers. Hence, NFC helps the customers to pay contactless and since it is secure, the customers are relieved and the small businesses can move forward towards the next step of customer delight. Since NFC provides a hassle free experience, it saves time, which is not available in ample amount to any small business. NFC tags are also an easier way of resolving customer queries. Managers can also track the employees. Hence NFC is a great technology to save time and resources.

Hence, location based technologies can prove to be a great partner for small businesses in building up their competitive advantage, growing their customer base and in turn revenue. With every new technology or an advancement coming up, these small businesses are taking a step towards growing their businesses. The one thing that should be the sole agenda for these firms should be to leverage and give importance to the adaptation to location based technologies for greater reach.

- MOUMITA MUKHERJEE