Chances are you’re a smartphone user. Most of us are these days. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, smartphones are an ever more important part of our daily lives. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an iPhone owner, an Android user, a Blackberry supporter, or sport a Windows Phone – we’re all virtually "always on" and increasingly slaves to our phones’ notification lights and sounds.
Don’t worry, I’m not about to launch into another rant about inconsiderate mobile phone users blabbering away in cinemas and public conveniences! Rather, I want to talk about the increasing ‘local creep’ our smartphones subject us to. You might have noticed it already – our smartphones seem to know more and more about our daily routines and what we’re up to. GPS-enabled and constantly checking our current location, our phones now remember where we parked our cars (I have still to figure it how exactly my phone knows that I’ve driven somewhere in my own car rather than in a taxi), or pop up reminders based on where we are ("Back in TECOM? Try out this fab new coffee shop!"). As a borderline geek, I’m fascinated by this technology, as Joe Average I’m a little creeped out by it, and as marketer, it makes me see dollar signs in front of my eyes.Forget privacy concerns for a few minutes and let me elaborate on the marketing opportunities ‘local creep’ offers. We all like to know what’s going on around us and many smartphone users are also keen app enthusiasts constantly using mobile apps to check in, upload pictures, and share content. Hyperlocal Marketing – a nicer word for ‘local creep’ enables marketers to tap into this and use a smartphone’s GPS data to geographically target audiences for the purpose of delivering relevant ads. If you own a business that relies on local footfall, you can surely see the attraction of this technology. Equally, if you organise large events or trade shows, hyperlocal marketing offers you new ways of engaging visitors and participants. Using an appropriate ad buying platform, you can create your very own marketing zone using GPS coordinates and target a large number of smartphone users that pass through it. Your marketing zone could cover a building or an office complex only, or it could be a little larger and cover an entire block or neighbourhood.Naturally, you can also find out when somebody who has left your marketing zone returns the next day, week, or year. Think targeted loyalty building. Think not wasting money marketing to people who never frequent the area you’re doing business in. In general, think much better use of marketing budgets.It’s not all bad news for consumers, either. Over the years, we’ve grown used to being advertised to virtually wherever we go and many of us see advertising as a necessary evil. It’s what keeps Facebook free, let’s us buys newspapers and magazines for very little money, and listen to the radio in our cars. The problem isn’t advertising. The problem is untargeted advertising for products and services we don’t need or want. Hyperlocal marketing could fix this and ensure that we’re seeing more adverts for stuff we actually need or want right now, right here. You know, useful stuff, like where the best restaurant is in the area you’re staying in while on holiday or that there’s a branch of your favourite coffee shop just a few blocks away.Keep an eye on hyperlocal technology and marketing, because it’ll change the way we consume and the way we access information in the coming years. Your smartphone remembering where you parked is only the first step. Soon, it might also remind you that the supermarkets you usually shop in runs a special offer on your favourite breakfast cereal or that the travel agency down the road has just launched a discounted deal to that holiday destination you’ve been checking out online last week. The future is hyperlocal. Excuse me while I go and try to find my car. You see, my mobile battery died a few minutes ago.By Martin Kubler