Three Ideas for Marketers in a Connected Local World
Sponsored Post by Yext
Idea No. 1: People are local
By 2020, there will be 8 billion people in the world. And every single one of them is local. They open banking accounts at local bank branches. They eat out at their favorite family restaurants. They purchase insurance from local insurance agents. They shop at local malls. They grab food at their favorite QSRs.
People are local. They always have been and they always will be.
Idea No. 2: Connected things are making the world smaller and more local.
By 2020, there will be 50 billion "connected things" accessing hundreds of major internet services in the world. All these billions of devices and computers will make the world more distant right? No! All these billions of things connected to hundreds of services make the world smaller and more local.
People use Google search and maps to find the most convenient bank branch. They find offers from their favorite local restaurant from Facebook. They use Yelp to pick a local insurance agent with great reviews. While at the mall, they see a location ad on Twitter for their favorite luxury retail store on the lower level.
All these services make the world smaller and more local by keeping relevant local information at your fingertips or in your pocket.
Idea No. 3: The cloud lets marketers localize their message
With billions of people using billions of things connected to hundreds of services, marketers have a massive opportunity to add local context to their message across channels.
Search ads enable location extensions. Brands have local pages on Facebook. Mobile ad platforms show different ads based on where people are. Listing sites like Yelp contain specific geodata and content about individual locations. So do the store pages on a brand's own site.
When marketers get their locations' geodata and content in the cloud, they can easily connect it across any platform that can make use of it. In this increasingly connected world, delivering a tailored message based on where people are makes it more likely that they'll show up. The cloud makes it easy.
Bonus Idea: Marketers, not technology, lead in letting people be local
It doesn't matter how many zillions of computers, devices or services are out there – without a brand's location content, all those services would just be empty. In this way, it is marketers, not technology, who are connecting the world, letting people live local lives.
