You heard it here first: Marketers are now location data experts. Don’t just take our word for it; we have the research to back it up. Cuebiq has again partnered with 451 Research to commission a new series of research papers on how marketers really feel about location data. When we commissioned this research last year, we saw interesting findings around the increase in location data usage and its potential. However, this year’s research shows a major change in how marketers view themselves when it comes to evaluating and investing in location data solutions.
The first paper in our new series, Finding Real Enterprise Value in Location Data, details the relationship marketers have with location data. While last year’s research showed that marketers overall planned to use location data more, this year’s findings showed a change in how marketers view offline intelligence. According to 451 Research, marketers are now using location data to solve challenging problems such as complex attribution, audience creation and targeting, and analysis of trends of large groups of customers.
When asked which attribution features would have the most positive business impact on their companies, 71% of marketers cited the ability to estimate the total incremental visits generated by a campaign and calculate ROI for it.
Maturity Levels Matter When It Comes to Location Data
Another way to think about how marketers use location data to solve problems is by assessing their maturity levels. Let’s look at the five stages marketers place themselves in terms of how fluent they are with using location data:
- Stage 1: The initial planning. These companies are just getting started, either by exploring different options or putting together ideas or proofs of concept to determine what might work in their organization.
- Stage 2: Having a defined set of goals and plans, focused on an organized process for leveraging location data, and a solid understanding of the benefits (and how to measure them).
- Stage 3: Having a set of managed processes that is based on a formal program for incorporating location data into marketing plans.
- Stage 4: These businesses have a strong, quantifiably measured program, with metrics that measure business outcomes.
- Stage 5: A fully mature, leading-edge company that uses location data for sophisticated tasks like attribution, audience targeting and analytics, and considers itself to be best in class among its competitors.
Sometimes it can be hard or expensive to onboard new tools and technology. However, 75% of marketers said that increasing revenue across channels was one of their highest goals in executing an integrated marketing program — and offline intelligence is key to doing that. In order to be successful in leveraging location data, it pays to be an expert (and we hope all our readers are at stage 5). Yet no matter what your current maturity level may be, don’t worry; we at Cuebiq are here to help. Set up some time with us for a quick consultation on location data and the impact it can have on your advertising.
Schedule a Meeting
Use Cases That Have the Most Positive Business Impact
When asked by 451 Research which solutions they desired most, the majority of marketers cited attribution — with 81% saying they are keenly interested in using offline attribution to measure cross-channel behaviors and outcomes. Other use cases include customer profile enhancement, audience segmentation, real-time metrics, competitive analysis, and more. To find out how marketers ranked each use case, download our full study.
In order to take advantage of the benefits of location data analysis, marketers still need to change some of their thinking and processes. While marketers are now for the most part experts, it’s up to them to spread the word about the value of location data to their peers. This is especially important when trying to implement location data solutions across an entire organization. We at Cuebiq hope you enjoy this new research from 451 and that you as marketers continue to spread the word about location data!
