ABIResearch: Location based spend to top $1.5 billion in 2015

Brands may not be spending a large amount of advertising budgets on location based advertising now, but just wait a couple of years. According to a new report from ABIResearch the location based mobile ad spend should reach $1.8 billion by 2015.

by Kristina Knight

Why? Because as more consumers make the switch to smartphones, spend more hours with their mobile units and make more purchases from mobiles brands are following them into the space. Plus, the technology for mobile location based advertising is improving.

Brands can now utilize GPS, WiFi and Cell-ID to determine where consumers are and what they are clicking upon. For their part, consumers like this type of advertising because, in most cases, they opt in to receive mobile alerts, coupons or ads for certain brands, types of products or offers.

"It's still early days and there's no single 'right' approach to location based advertising," said Neil Strother, Practice Director. "This remains a very fragmented market that is full of experimentation....Some people might be put off by the 'Big Brother' aspects of this, but it's really about the value exchange: if you care about getting discounts or being rewarded for shopping, is the value exchange high enough so that you'll accept having your whereabouts known to these companies in return for the business."

How can brands capitalize on location based advertising? Here are Strother's tips for location based success:

• Establish marketing goals for the campaign
• Analyze the mobile and location habits of your target consumer
• Launch, measure, refine and then start again

In point of fact, research from JiWire indicates that more than half of mobile consumers want location based advertising options. In addition, several platforms are adding location based options. From retail alerts from the likes of ShopKick to geo-fencing to send specific ads to consumers who cross a 'boundary', brands are already pushing into the location based mobile realm.