The launch of ‘Facebook Places Deals’ has brought real-time location-based marketing to a potential audience of 500 million people. Janet Titterton, director at Collinson Latitude, a global provider of ancillary and incremental revenue products and services with successful experience of developing successful smartphone apps in the travel sector, says:
“Real-time, location-based marketing has been coming to the boil since the arrival of the smartphone and branded applications. Developing customer loyalty and ancillary revenues depends upon connecting with individual customers at each stage of their journey, making smartphone technology one of the most valuable tools currently available in bringing that experience to life. The key is developing the means to deliver as much customer insight as possible in order to exceed their expectations through the range of products and services being offered to them. Where Facebook scores strongly is that instead of simply saying ‘here are the locations where you can spend your loyalty points’ it can rank those locations according to the scores, notes, suggestions and recommendations of people who hold trust and authority – namely friends, family and colleagues. Achieving this measure of personalisation is increasingly going to become the measure of success for ancillary revenue programmes.”
