Location . . . wherever it makes sense

Finally got to watch the webinar that Placecast put on and there was a portion of the presentation that really got my attention. It was the Sonic Burgers case study. They used location based SMS marketing to attract customers which is going to increase in popularity with businesses like Placecast. What they did that I thought was interesting was allow for other venues to act as triggers for the SMS messages, so instead of subscribers just receiving messages when they’re near a Sonic, they receive them when they are somewhere participating in something that may require a quick meal. A sporting event or a movie theater. This seems obvious once you think of it but I have to say I’ve never thought of it that way. I’ve never thought to extend the behavior to other locations. This makes places like the Pepsi Center a hotbed for being spammed to death with location based offerings based. SMASHBURGER NOW! Users are going to have to prioritize who they want offers from and in what order.

This reminds me of a conversation that was shared with me years ago. The person who produced a television show told the marketer that they were competing with other television shows in that time slot. The marketer looked at them and said; “No. You’re in competition with ever other way someone could spend that time. Surfing the web. Going out to eat. Seeing a movie. Reading a book.” Very curious to see how this plays out.

Now that I read that last paragraph, I’m not sure why the concept of location wherever it make sense reminded me of that story but I’m not going to erase it now.