: No Marketing Strategy Is Strictly For B2C, Even Location Based Marketing!

Location based marketing is a strategy that all business to business (b2b) companies should learn to take advantage of to generate their b2b sales leads . Location based marketing was initially made popular by mobile apps such as Foursquare and Gowalla. It allowed businesses to make patrons out of previously casual customers by offering various promotions and discounts to individuals who frequently “check-in” at their locations.

This marketing strategy is extremely effective for lead generation because it entices even complete strangers to visit the business location and try out products and services that are most popular. The customer generated “tips” offer objective insights into the offerings of the specified establishment; these tips are basically reviews that are consulted by other users.

Location-based marketing is most popular for business to consumer (B2C) businesses, especially for restaurants, cafés, spas, hotels and the like, but it can also be used by b2b businesses. Utilizing LBS (location based services) is a must for any business, b2b or b2c and regardless of industry. Hundreds of profitable opportunities will be lost to your company if you fail to provide accurate business information on sites such as Google Places, Foursquare, and Facebook Places.

As with b2c businesses, location based

marketing

can be leveraged for your business leads generation. Think about business networking events. You can “tip” about a business networking event through an LBS channel such as Foursquare or Google Places to alert small- and medium-sized company managers, executives or directors in the vicinity, such as a popular coffee shop, mall, or restaurant. Your attendees can be rewarded with their favorite coffee or the house’s specialty dessert. Your company’s best reps must be tapped to be present at the event to maximize this networking opportunity. If successful, this marketing strategy will be similar to a cold calling campaign, and your appointment setters no longer have to struggle getting past stubborn gatekeepers because the event in itself is already a b2b appointment setting campaign as well.

(Speaking of popular coffee shops and hotels, affiliating with the establishments where your b2b sales leads frequent will undoubtedly offer highly profitable business opportunities in the future.)

Another way that LBS can be leveraged for your b2b is to use it to announce your company’s presence when attending a business conference. Checking-in at the actual conference location is a great way to form a connection with your business leads who were also present at the conference. It also informs them that your business is active in the business world. By “announcing” at the conference location that you are open to networking , you are more likely to attract businesses who are also interested in networking .

Market research and competition analysis can be effectively accomplished using LBS channels. By following your business sales leads , you can gain helpful insights into their habits that you can refer to for future lead generation marketing campaigns, or perhaps interact with them on a more personal level. By following your direct competitors, you can observe their actions such as how they interact with their customers; learn from their mistakes and improve on their successes.