Revolutionary, or Big Brother Technology?

The idea of location-based marketing, or the ability to customize one's marketing efforts to those within a specific geographic location, is quickly gaining traction. Research suggests that consumers are ditching their PCs in favor of mobile devices as their primary means for accessing the internet, and marketers are looking for an opportunity to capitalize on this trend. But is this technology really what it's all cracked up to be?

Location-based marketing technology does have its benefits. Marketers can increase the likelihood of impulse buying, for example, by issuing real-time discounts with specific timelines. They can also deliver dynamic offers to consumers over time based on previous purchasing behavior. Consumers, on the other hand, can quickly hone their searches (i.e. for a chinese restaurant) to a few restaurants within a specific area of town.

The roll-out of this technology, however, must be carefully executed and closely regulated. In order to protect consumers' privacy, and to avoid fears of "big brother" all messaging related to location-based marketing should be opt-in only and spammers must be punished. Marketers must respect consumer preferences (when to be contacted, where and by whom) to reap the potential benefits of location-based technology.

Regardless of any promises made by marketers to respect/protect consumer privacy, we live in a world where surveillance (internet, video, audio, etc.) is ubiquitous and unpreventable. Gaining the trust of consumers is essential to the success of location-based marketing. With companies like FourSquare and social media giants like facebook entering this space, the fate of this marketing technology will soon be realized

Relevant Articles
http://www.metamend.com/article-location-search.html
http://moconews.net/article/419-some-rules-for-location-based-marketing-why-geofencing-goes-too-far/