Location Discounting via Mobile Marketing

• by Dan Bailey

We’ve all seen them. Home services trucks and workers in our neighborhoods, working on one house while passing out flyers to all the others. Headlines read, “Since we’re already on your street, why not hire us at a discount to fix your home as well?”. A simple idea that any homeowner has probably considered for purchase at some point or another. Service discounts based on location. This type of marketing has been cheap, simple, effective and non-technological. But what if technology could drastically increase the marketing potential and purchasing?

Jake Aull's contact QR code

There is great discussion today about mobile phone marketing technologies. For consumers in the know, mobile opt-ins, Quick Response code scanning (QR – see image shown – one of the 2d scanning options for mobile and other) and sales redemptions are easy operations since one’s phone is always handy and perfect for info storage. Traditional print coupons required visibility in front of the consumer, at the right place and time, and often required the customer to store and remember the coupons for future use. Mobile has improved upon such barriers…

Back to our neighborhood roofers or landscapers. Sure, we as consumers in need can pick the flyer off our mailbox and call, or could even walk down to the neighbors and address the foreman ourselves. This of course requires us to be at home with the time available and not on our way out to work in the morning (which is so often the case). Or, what if the service truck just had a QR code on the side saying: “Scan for neighborhood discounts”?

The QR code, or even just SMS text verbiage (cheaper), could send the consumer to a mobile service or website, to opt-in with address, and request neighborhood discounts. Easily. Even for consumers on the way to work.

The service truck dropping off flyers is typically a one-time deal. Neighborhood consumers either take them up on the offer then and there or not. But opt-ins could be forever… Let’s say the consumer is leaving town for vacation that morning. Or the service team is overbooked that week anyway. Or even if the consumer lives across town, just happens to be passing by, but still has needs of those services… In all three cases mobile opt-ins would be a solution.

Technology data services could be set up to text the consumer as needed; for example the next time the home services team is in the neighborhood. Food trucks have been operating successfully on this model for years. Or customer service phone responders could make home service arrangements with the consumer on her way to work. Such consumer opt-in and location data could even be automated and fed into service truck routing technologies and planning, similar to how PickupPal.com connects drivers and passengers for ride-sharing.

Regardless, mobile marketing would provide multiple benefits on both sides of the fence. For service providers with opt-in customers and marketing savvy, lifetime retention could be achieved. For consumers on the run, receiving location discounts upon availability could provide simplified scheduling.

And there it is – my big idea (I’m not the first I’m sure) for location discounting via mobile marketing. Thanks in part to pcampatl.com the other day for putting my brain onto QR codes and their possibilities. Let me know your thoughts; connect with me:

Jake Aull | Marketing Strategy | Social Media | Digital & Creative
email | @jakeaull | jakeaull.wordpress.com