Many apps and mobile sites are able to track a user’s location; moreover many consumers are actually allowing their location to be tracked! Consumers find these location features useful when using looking for directions, finding places of interest near their current location, reading reviews, and comparing prices. When consumers are willing to share their location, marketers are able to target smartphone users near their business.

A 2014 study by MarketingLand.com shows that while there was a decrease in “checking in” on social media outlets like Facebook and Foursquare, consumers did tend to prefer content that was personalized based on their current location. Therefore, businesses should make sure their mobile apps take advantage of those preferences.

For example, Taco Bell recently ran a mobile ad campaign that would alert users when they were close to a Taco Bell location as well as when it was 2pm, in order to take advantage of their 2pm happy hour special.

Your company may benefit from location-based mobile marketing by creating a mobile app which contains your operating hours, contact information, relevant blog posts or tips, Yelp or Google reviews, and links to your social media channels. Be sure to enable location tracking as well as push notifications to take full advantage of all that location-based marketing has to offer.

To get consumers into your physical storefront, consider integrating QR codes, click-to-call, and coupons. If you’d like to offer special discounts for your mobile users, develop your mobile app with geo-fencing in mind. For example, setup a geo-fence one-mile around your physical storefront. When the consumer comes within the radius, they can receive push notifications alerting them to an announcement or special offer that you’ve created.

On the other side of geo-fencing is geo-conquesting, which allows you to target your competitors’ locations. So it is important to begin your location-based mobile marketing efforts as soon as possible so you don’t lose potential customers to your competitors who are already taking advantage of this type of marketing.

As with all marketing, the more you test out different location-based marketing strategies, the better the level of engagement you will receive. You will soon find which niche is more responsive, which will allow you to spend more time, money, and effort to focus on that target audience.

All in all, you need to make it worth it for the user to download your company’s mobile app and grant you the permission to send them push notifications. Don’t abuse your power and invade their space with lackluster messages; make the notifications useful in order to build a loyal customer base.