Technology

LocateAware or LA as we like to be known have developed a truly 21st century solution to the age old problem of how to get new customers at the times when you need them most.

We do this by providing our client businesses with access to an internet web based portal, and with their own client account they can generate through our easy to use dashboard their own advertising and marketing campaigns.

Once the client has decided on the offer they want to make and created their Zapcher (a voucher which needs to be redeemed quickly as defined by the client), they then set the location they want it to be offered in. Say the city centre or within 5 miles from their premises, it’s a very flexible system!

Once they launch the campaign any of their customers or any one else with the LA app switched on will be able to view the Zapcher that’s being offered and take up the offer.

To ensure that the Zapcher is going to be acted upon or to get further information the customer can call the offerer or vice versa, the customer can even ask the system for directions to take them to the place of business that the Zapcher comes from

So exactly how does it work?

There are essentially two elements to LA:

1. The Consumer User Experience

The user gets a FREE app (in the usual way from the iPhone app store or Android market place) that sits on the phone that allows them to access offers based on who they are with special relevance to where and when they are accessing the app.

The user on opening the app gets the choice of choosing which categories of offer they are interested in (e.g. Travel, Dining, Retail, Media) and they then are sent related offers based on their exact location. Their exact location is provided by utiliing the location awareness built into their phone/tablet mainly Global Positioning System but also cell phone triangulation and Wifi infoprmation can be utilised.

Once they have chosen the offer that suits them best they are sent a form of electronic voucher (we call them Zapchers) which they can redeem when they purchase the good or services they have chosen.

The Zapcher is time sensitive, whether it’s a hotel room, a discounted meal, a spa treatment or one of a myriad of other specials you have to be able to take advantage of them either immediately (or within a time frame as specified by the vendor on the Zapcher.)

2. The Vendor/Supplier Experience

LA is a truly powerful tool in the mobile marketing mix. It delivers the ability to deliver real time offers that make commercial sense to customers who actively looking to purchase, and that are truly local to them.

Using a cloud based portal, the vendor can use their dedicated LA dashboard to schedule the offers that they wish to promote.

Not only can they react to their prevailing conditions in real time (hotels can market their inventory, restaurants can look to fill un-booked covers, beauty saloons can schedule in immediate treatments etc.) but they do this knowing that they are marketing to local potential customers that are looking for such services.

The vendor can choose the radius they wish to cover to market too, they can also choose to market to specific locations from the LA location library such as airports, train stations, sports stadiums, concerts, car parks etc as part of the location choices they get from the fully features and intuitive interface. They can also schedule or choose to market given certain other conditions such as weather or special events.

The possibilities are vast, for example its hot at Wimbledon for the tennis local business could market just to the location of the venue anything from special deals on sun cream through to strawberries, hotel rooms through to hats. The Rolling Stones are playing Hyde Park and a new band think the Stones is demographic is applicable to them so they choose the Hyde Park location to target a special offer.

The permutations are as boundless as the imagination!