Nicole Genchur – GroundTruth

4 Consumer Trends to Watch in 2024

Nicole Genchur — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 13:00:00 +0000

The start of a new year often gives people the excuse to start a new hobby or build a new habit. Whether that habit lasts through the end of the year is another conversation entirely! For marketers, following the trends in changing consumer behavior and spending is critical for building successful marketing campaigns.

At GroundTruth, our mission is to use real-world behavior to help marketers deliver real business results. To help all of our customers achieve that success, we’ve identified 4 main consumer trends that should inform the way companies build their marketing and advertising strategies for 2024. Even if these don’t impact your industry directly, they will impact how your customers see your messaging and react to it. And we think that makes them important for every marketer to know.

So without further ado, here are the top 4 consumer trends marketers should watch for in 2024.

1. Smartphone Spending Continues to Grow

For the first time, total smartphone-based spending will top $1 trillion in 2024. Between in-store tap-and-pay transactions and internet-based (wallet, app, and browser) smartphone retail sales, a total payment value of $1.185 trillion is projected over the next twelve months. When you compare that to the $7.548 trillion total projected retail sales, you start to see just how many customers will make their purchasing decisions with their phone.

Additionally, most customers are expected to pay with digital wallets as younger generations drive tap-and-pay. In 2024, roughly two-thirds of US smartphone users will use a mobile wallet app for their transactions, up from about half in 2021. This marks the first year that approximately half of Gen Z users (49.8%) will tap-and-pay, following in the footsteps of Millennials (63.0%). For marketers, understanding these consumer spending trends on smartphones can help segmenting mobile advertising audiences based on location, which in turn helps boost conversion rates and improves mobile Return On Ad Spend (ROAS).

2. Digital Discovery Is Critical, but Physical Stores Still Matter to Customers

While consumer spending trends are important, consumer behavior trends will also be key for 2024. Consumer behavior shows that consumer spending is still higher in physical stores.

Retail and brand sites (including mobile apps) collectively drive greater awareness, but stores are still highly relevant in most product categories, even those with high ecommerce sales rates (according to eMarketer/Insider Intelligence proprietary survey of 1,447 consumer goods shoppers). One of the key differences between online and in-store discovery is shoppers who find new brands and products inside the physical store are more likely (31.5% of shoppers) to make an immediate purchase compared to shoppers browsing online retail sites (19.1%) or brand sites (10.4%).

In-store discovery is also highly relevant in categories where “touch-and-try” shopping is popular. The ability to try on and physically evaluate products is likely what has kept stores relevant in categories like furniture and home goods, beauty, and clothing. According to The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, Q3 2023, 84.4% of retail sales occur in-store.

In terms of 2024 marketing strategies, this consumer trend suggests an omni-channel approach that reaches audiences online and off can give you an advantage when it comes time to make their purchase.

3. Connected TV Viewers Officially Surpass Traditional TV

In 2024, CTV, or non-pay TV, viewers (the sum of cord-cutters and cord-nevers) will surpass traditional TV viewers for the first time. We’ve seen habits trend in this direction for a while, but this year marks the official switch. Also, important to note that time spent with connected TV (CTV) by US adults will be within one hour of linear next year, at 2 hours and 3 minutes (2:03) and 2:48 per day respectively, according to eMarketer forecasts.

Again, this 2024 consumer trend toward CTV underscores the importance of omni-channel strategies, whether you are running awareness campaigns or targeting conversions. To ensure you reach audiences with the right frequency and on the channels they are most engaged with, consider how to incorporate CTV ads with your existing plan.

4. AI Will Be Part of Everything

Not everyone has welcomed AI with enthusiasm. Skepticism is still high in a fair number of consumers. However, in 2024, companies will integrate genAI capabilities into the apps and products that we all use all the time. Whether we like it or not (and whether we notice or not), generative AI will be part of the buying experience.

What does the trend toward generative AI mean for marketers? Being thoughtful about what tools you use and when to create an exceptional experience will help turn consumer into repeat customers.

Putting It All Together

While there are many more 2024 consumer trends, these top 4 are key for your marketing success. This year brings incredible opportunities for smart marketers to use all the tools they have at their disposal to bring customers into their stores and drive purchases. By connecting to new CTV audiences, building omni-channel campaigns for target audiences, and creating memorable experiences in your stores and online, 2024 can be your best year yet!

If you want to get started building your best advertising strategy, contact GroundTruth today!

The post 4 Consumer Trends to Watch in 2024 appeared first on GroundTruth.

7 Effective Hyperlocal Marketing Strategies

Nicole Genchur — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 15:05:00 +0000

Let’s say you are running a massive organization and want to reach potential customers. How would you go about it? Chances are you will use your immense resources to launch a stunning national ad campaign. After all, with your marketing insight, we know you could create an excellent campaign that connects with your target audience, stirs emotions, and influences their buying decisions. However, what if you are running a small company instead? Do you know how to reach potential customers? You can develop a national campaign, but without the same resources as the larger companies, this approach may not get the same results. As many small companies have discovered, national campaigns can be a wasted investment, as they are costly and may spread too wide for a small company’s marketing efforts. So, what should a small organization do? As a local business owner, most of your revenue comes from the people who can easily walk or drive to your store. Instead of going wide with your advertising efforts, it makes more sense to use hyperlocal marketing strategies to win over potential customers.

What is Hyperlocal Marketing?

Hyperlocal marketing is an advertising strategy that targets a particular area with localized and relevant promotions. With the rise in mobile device usage worldwide, hyperlocal marketing has become even more important for marketers looking to win over potential customers. According to Google, “shopping near me” searches increased by over 200% from 2016 to 2018. On top of that, a 2022 SafariDigital report discovered that 97% of users searched online to find a local business. With findings like these, it’s no wonder more small businesses are incorporating hyperlocal advertising in their marketing plans. Want to leverage hyperlocal marketing in your promotional efforts this year? Here are 7 key hyperlocal marketing strategies and tips you need to know to reach your target audience more effectively.

Tips For Successful Hyperlocal Marketing

Optimize Your Business Listings

You haven’t optimized your online business listings yet? Well, get on it! Those listings can influence whether your company appears in the right place when people search for your specific product/service. Make it a priority to update your Google My Business and Yelp listings, and make sure business information on your social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) is up to date. As well as your business name, address, phone number, and website, make sure you enter business hours and any other information that helps people decide to stop by. Do you happen to have a business with multiple locations? Here’s a hyperlocal advertising tip! Create a specific landing page for each location! By having designated pages for each business location, you can use them in your business listings for even better hyperlocal targeting!

Localize Your Content Marketing

Listen up, marketers! Content marketing is an absolute must for any hyperlocal advertising strategy. After all, relevant and high-quality content engages visitors, raises brand awareness, and builds customer trust, leading to more visits and sales online and offline! When crafting copy for hyperlocal ads, make sure you are leveraging the language/terminology most common in your locality. For example, does the consumer in your targeted area say bucket or pail? How about a faucet or a spigot? Pants or trousers? As marketers, you need to know the correct wording and use it in your content! Getting it right makes content much more enticing for your target audience.

Target Your Search Advertising.

Since you know that your target customers are searching for local information, you need to target your ads accordingly. In case you don’t know, search ads are keyword-based, which means these ads must target the best keywords related to location and product/service. You can also hyper-target your ads to only people in a particular area. For example, if your business is a local pizzeria, you would create a search ad campaign targeting consumers searching for “pizza delivery in [town]”, allowing your business to reach people in that town actively looking for a quick slice. To make hyperlocal ads even more effective, seed relevant and up-to-date copy throughout your channels! Whether it’s a microsite or a business blog, ensure that when people follow your search ads to your desired destination, the page greets visitors with content that relates to them!

Utilize SMS Marketing

According to the Pew Research Center, 97% of Americans own a cellphone. Why does that matter for your hyperlocal marketing strategy? SMS marketing has become an integral part of hyperlocal advertising efforts! SMS messages have an open rate of 98% compared to 20% in emails, , plus consumers tend to act on them quickly. If you’ve got a local event or offer, using this hyperlocal marketing method,paired with location technology, is a great way to increase foot traffic and sales.

Send Relevant Email Marketing to Your Users.

Even though we just said SMS messages have a much higher open rate than email, don’t underestimate the potential of email marketing for your 2023 hyperlocal advertising efforts! . Most marketers already use some form of email list segmentation, allowing them to quickly send relevant emails to potential customers. With hyperlocal targeting, you can make your emails even more relevant by sending different offers and promotions depending on your email recipients’ location. The more relevant your emails are, the more likely people will open them and act. For example, if you know a snowstorm is coming to a particular area, it’s a great time to update those customers about winter gear.

Use Location-Based Advertising & Weather-Based Targeting to Show The Right Ads at The Right Time

Want to take hyperlocal marketing one step further? Use location-based advertising and proximity targeting to serve ads to people based on where they are now, where they have been, or where they will go. For example, if someone walks past a shoe store and sees an ad with the right offer, they might turn back to have a look. Consider combining this hyperlocal advertising tactic with weather-based targeting, as it can further target the right ads to the right people at the right time. In case you’re a bit cloudy on weather-based targeting, it is a digital advertising tool that pushes ads to users based on the weather conditions in their location. Think of it just like the corner stores that put out their umbrella display when the sky turns gray.

Take Advantage of OOH Advertising

Out of home (OOH) advertising brings businesses full circle back to where advertising started. In some respects, it’s the original location-based ad! In the past, a retailer might pay for an ad on a nearby billboard, or run a promotion near the store. But now, marketing around your locality has gone digital. Today’s OOH advertising uses the power of mobile location technologies to serve up relevant ads in high-traffic local areas. With this hyperlocal targeting strategy you can reach consumers not just in a certain town, but on a particular block. You can even transform your out-of-home idea into a DOOH campaign, increasing local traffic and sales.

Conclusion

As you can see, hyperlocal advertising can really help make your product or service much more relevant to your local customers, ultimately driving sales and encouraging repeat business. Now, go forth, marketers! Use these hyperlocal marketing strategies and tips to help your small company be the talk of the town!

Interested in creating an effective hyperlocal marketing campaign? Contact GroundTruth to see how you can better reach local audiences.

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Five Travel Trends Impacting Florida Tourism

Nicole Genchur — Wed, 24 May 2023 07:34:00 +0000

Travel Insights For Your Marketing Strategy

VISIT FLORIDA estimates that Florida welcomed 137.6 million visitors in 2022, an increase of 5% over 2019 and 13% over 2021.

The data makes sense. With summer coming soon, many are looking for a beach getaway, often heading towards the warm and welcoming state of Florida. With its pristine shores, exciting theme parks, and countless cultural attractions, no wonder millions of visitors go to the sunshine state every year.

Why is travel behavior research important?

Are you marketing or promoting a specific location and its benefits? Is your target market also looking to soak up some Florida sun, marketers? In the spirit of us fantasizing about our own beach getaway, GroundTruth observed over four million visits to top Florida tourist destinations between July 1 and September 30, 2022, to collect real-world behavioral insights during a peak travel period. Using these insights, we can make predictions about what is coming up for summer 2023.

So, get ready for this upcoming summer season and check our 2023 Travel Insights Spotlight on Florida! Keep in mind, we can also still apply the following insights and recommendations to other travel destination strategies.

Our top 5 Florida travel insights from 2022

Looking at Florida as an example, here are the top 5 insights we can use as learnings from 2022:

20% of Florida travelers reside in the Northeast

The top visited Florida tourist destinations are:

Universal Studios – average dwell time: 106m
Walt Disney World – average. dwell time: 109m
Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park – average dwell time: 60m

3 out of 4 travelers stayed overnight

41% of Florida tourists are over the age of 55

70% of tourists visiting Florida were new visitors

Florida travel marketing advice for 2023

Target the correct demographic

Use persona targeting to reach the right audience. In the example of Florida travel, nearly half of its tourists last summer were over the age of 55. That trend is continuing this summer too. With your target market in-mind, consider tailoring your marketing outreach and messaging to align with that market’s interests.

Real world behavior influences peak travel times

Theme park, zoo, and entertainment center data shows us that as entertainment and recreation brand interest grows, so does peak foot traffic. Take note of growing summer crowds and tailor your messaging to them to influence conversions.

Fight for your share of the market

The growing trend of new visitors to Florida means making sure your brand stays ahead of others. Consider working with a location partner to reach your current and prospective customers anywhere, at the right time.

Travel insights conclusion

Travel insights often fly under the radar for most marketers. However, our Insight Team’s findings demonstrate how real-world behavior can help predict marketing trends, inform strategic business decisions, and provide insights into brand loyalty and new customer growth opportunities.

Are you looking for the right data to make your ad campaign stand out during peak travel periods? Contact us here to see how GroundTruth can help your next marketing plan reach new heights.

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Geotargeting 101: What Is Geotargeting?

Nicole Genchur — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 15:30:00 +0000

Picture this: you can show your favorite digital ads to your target audience based on their precise geographic locations. From shopping centers to food establishments, your digital ads will appear before the eyes of local and potential customers. Even your competitors’ home turf would not be safe from your freshest digital-based campaign! It sounds like a marketer’s dream, right? Well, thanks to the magic of geotargeting, this dream is now a reality!

This guide will explain what geotargeting is and how to geotarget to get more attention from your audience. It shares information on the effectiveness of geotargeting, as well as geotargeting marketing examples you can use for inspiration.

Ready for your next advertising campaign to hone in on your target market? Let’s start with the definition of geotargeting.

What is Geotargeting?

Geotargeting (also called geotargeted advertising) is a type of advertising that uses location data to reach consumers with messaging appropriate to their locality and behavior. This technology displays content based on an automated or assumed knowledge of consumers’ location.

Let’s say you run a quick service restaurant. When consumers opt-in to location services for your QSR app on their phones, geotargeting advertising lets you show ads based on their actual location. So, the next time your target consumers are close to the restaurant, you can show digital ads to them and encourage them to visit.

Here’s another example. A car repair shop or auto dealership might run a geotargeting advertising campaign to show a certain ad to people who are within 10 miles of the shop’s location. Geotargeting advertising is even more specific. When consumers opt-in to location services for apps on their phones (such as a retail or restaurant app), geotargeting advertising lets you show ads based on their actual location. For example, if you run a quick service restaurant or clothing store, you can show ads to target consumers who are close to the premises and encourage them to visit.

In a nutshell, geotargeting helps advertisers create more relevant, targeted promotions for consumers, resulting in increased engagement.

How Does Geotargeting Work?

Wondering how geotargeting software works? First, it detects users’ locations. This is either specific, using GPS, or slightly broader, using cell towers. Second, the software or app uses this information to decide what information to show those users. There are two main ways to geotarget consumers:

Geotargeting App

The first, mentioned earlier, is via a geotargeting app. This is any app that uses location-based marketing. For example, when you sign into a food delivery app, you’ll see options that are close to your location. And when you search for “dentists near me” in your maps app, the results are an example of geotargeting in action.

Geotargeting Software

You can also use geotargeting software to better reach your target audience. For example, GroundTruth offers geotargeting advertising services, which include three important targeting tools. These are audience targeting, location targeting, and weather targeting.

Audience Targeting

GroundTruth’s audience targeting technology helps you to:

Target ads to people who have visited a category, brand, or location within a certain time period.
Use behavioral targeting by including data on both demographics and visitation.
Create custom audiences by including data on consumer shopping habits and other behaviors.

Location Targeting

Geotargeting advertising also relies on location targeting. This gives additional insight into how customers behave in particular localities. Here’s what’s included in GroundTruth’s location targeting service:

On-premise mobile location targeting: A geomarketing tool that lets you know where your customers are. This tool can adapt your geotargeting advertising campaigns depending on whether your audience is nearby, in the parking lot, or in your store.
Proximity targeting: A geofencing technology where you show promotions to people near your target location.
Neighborhood targeting: Ad technology that relies on demographic and visitation behavior within an area to show the right promotions.

Weather Targeting

Weather affects customer behavior – you don’t buy umbrellas when it’s sunny out, do you? This insight is exactly how weather targeting can enhance your next ad campaign! Use GroundTruth’s weather targeting to show promotions that match the audience, the location, AND the prevailing conditions. You can use audience targeting, location targeting, and weather targeting to run many types of geotargeting advertising promotions. GroundTruth’s data shows that in-app ads are particularly effective, but you can also use mobile push notifications, SMS messages, and display ads on digital billboards.

Geofencing Vs Geotargeting

We get it – it’s pretty easy to mix up geofencing and geotargeting. Both are location-based marketing techniques that deliver ads to customers, but there is a fundamental difference between the two. Geofencing creates a virtual boundary around a specific location, allowing marketers to target consumer devices within that set boundary with ads, offers, and so on. Geotargeting, on the other hand, delivers ads based on their target market’s geographic location, identifying their specific locations through IP addresses, GPS coordinates, and proximity marketing.

Is Geotargeting Marketing Effective?

There are several reasons why incorporating geotargeting into your marketing strategy makes sense. First, the potential audience is huge. In the US alone, 81% of people own a smartphone, and the percentage is even higher for young consumers. Among millennials, nearly all (94%) possess a smartphone and allocate more of their leisure time to using these devices instead of watching TV. Research from MarTech Series reveals that 83% of marketers find their campaigns are more successful when they use location data. In addition:

Geotargeting technology can help marketers win more business and improve customer relationships. Because it’s based on customer behavior, marketers can understand and meet their customers’ needs, resulting in greater campaign engagement.
Geotargeting is particularly effective for increasing online traffic and foot traffic.
Using location data is proven to make marketing campaigns 80% more effective. If you know where potential customers hang out, it’s easy to show them the right promotions at the right time.

Geotargeting Examples

Wondering how to use geotargeting in your upcoming strategy? Check out a few successful client examples of geotargeting taking marketing campaigns to the next level:

Ulta Beauty used geotargeting to boost the effectiveness of new store openings. The beauty retailer leveraged location and behavioral insights to reach potential customers who were near competitor shops and would be most interested in learning about new stores. Stores supported with GroundTruth’s location insights outperformed the others, reaching their weekly visitation targets 43% faster than other stores.
Toyota leveraged GroundTruth’s neighborhood and location data to identify audiences most likely to shop for a new car and to encourage them to visit nearby auto dealerships. The campaign resulted in 1,200 visits to specific dealerships and additional visits to smaller dealerships not targeted in the geotargeting advertising efforts.
Warrior Sports used visit optimization and behavioral audience targeting to allocate its media budget to tactics that drove visitation rates. Through reaching and engaging an untapped audience of fitness enthusiasts, the month-long campaign earned 33% more visits to specific retail locations than the previous campaign approach.

Conclusion

As our 101 guide shows, geotargeting can be an absolute game-changer in an advertising campaign. Through leveraging location-based ad technology, you can reach the right audience at the perfect location, earning your business higher awareness and profits. Now that you know what geotargeting advertising is, the benefits of geotargeting, and the technology behind it, it’s time to set your sights on how to incorporate it into your marketing plans! Aim for the stars, marketers!

Think geotargeting is right for your campaign? Learn more about how GroundTruth’s self-serve advertising platform can help you build your geotargeting strategy.

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Do Limited-Time Offers Provide Effective Results for QSRs?

Nicole Genchur — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 13:55:00 +0000

Do you believe fall is incomplete without a pumpkin-spiced latte? Do you rush to buy that movie-inspired burger meal before it’s too late? Well, as you can see from the long line of people waiting to try the limited-edition ghost chili burrito, you are not alone! Limited-time offers have been a tried and true tactic leveraged by many fast-food chains to make their desired customers salivate.

How do QSRs use limited-time offers?

For those who don’t know, a limited-time offer (LTO) is a promotional tactic to offer a special product or service for a short period of time. By stores providing a deal for a limited time, LTOs create a sense of urgency and exclusivity, encouraging people to take advantage of the unique offer while they still can. Ever since restaurants discovered that limited-time offers could help generate awareness and boost sales, LTOs have become a quintessential part of the QSR industry.

Sure, we all may suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out), but can limited-time offers actually get your desired customer through your door? In this blog post, we will analyze proprietary GroundTruth foot traffic data to determine if consumers’ real-world behaviors shift when QSRs introduce limited-time offers, such as limited-edition holiday cups or new breakfast items. So grab a snack, and let’s discover the truth behind those tasty deals:

Did limited-time offers drive more traffic to QSRs?

1: Wendy’s French Toast Sticks

Back in August, Wendy’s announced the addition of a new breakfast item, French Toast Sticks, to its menu. Fast-forward to National French Toast Day (November 28th), and Wendy’s celebrated by offering a free four-piece order with any breakfast purchase until December 4th.

Real Business Results
Real business results: The week that French Toast Sticks made their debut, foot traffic increased by 10% compared to the three weeks prior.¹

2: Starbucks Holiday Cups

Starbucks added extra cheer to the winter by offering holiday beverages at U.S.-based locations on November 3rd, such as their signature Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, Toasted White Chocolate Mocha, and Chestnut Praline Latte. Starbucks also brought back some of their cold coffee options for the holidays too, like their Iced Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Latte and Irish Cream Cold Brew.

Real Business Results
Real business results: Visitation to Starbucks cafes increased immediately upon the release of their holiday favorites. Foot traffic to all Starbucks locations was 26% above average on 11/5, just a few days after the arrival of the seasonal, limited-time holiday cups in to stores. ¹

3: Halloween Pails at McDonald’s

What is the most iconic Halloween trio? The Sanderson Sisters from Hocus Pocus? Nope! It is McBoo, McPunk’n, and McGoblin from McDonald’s! The beloved Halloween-themed Happy Meal pails returned to participating McDonald’s restaurants ahead of Halloween this year. Although the buckets were available starting from October 18th, most customers waited until Halloween day to pick them up at McDonald’s, along with a tasty holiday treat.

Real Business Results
McDonald’s restaurant saw a 32% increase in foot traffic on Halloween compared to the same day the week prior. ¹

Conclusion

As you can see from our data, limited-time offers can turn up the heat on quick-service restaurant foot traffic. The value of LTOs doesn’t just stop there. According to the March/April edition of PYMNTS’ Digital Divide series, the research found that 26% of QSR customers consider the availability of promotions or deals when deciding between restaurants. Outside of foot traffic, savvy advertisers can leverage this LTO insight to help drive QSR app usage and boost off-hours sales as well. So, marketers, if you need to spice up your QSR brand, you may want to add a side of LTOs with your marketing plan.

Are you looking for the right insights to enhance customer experience and increase brand awareness? Contact us to see how we can get the data you need to take your marketing strategy to the next level.

1 GroundTruth Visitation Data

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GroundTruth Insights Spotlight: In a Struggling Economy QSRs can Benefit from Understanding Real-World Behavior

Nicole Genchur — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 10:42:00 +0000

Summer and Fall have come and gone. So now that we’re entering Winter, and slipping deeper into an inflation-induced spending deficit, deal seekers are emerging at a time when consumers are looking to save wherever they can.

The impact of this shift is that loyalty is becoming harder and harder to come by for QSRs when consumers are shifting their buying from experience buying to more of a savings approach. So what brands are QSR restaurant patrons going to and which competitors are they switching to? What audience “type” do these customers fall into?

In the latest QSR Insights Spotlight, we highlight the trends surrounding QSR switchers and the impact they are having on major QSR brands. In our analysis, we see customers are switching their loyalties based on a few key factors: inflation increasing the cost of goods, a general weariness of recession warnings, and a preference for summer favorites such as tacos and sandwiches, and more.

GroundTruth observed visits to over 30 top QSR brands to demonstrate how real-world behavior can help predict marketing trends, inform strategic business decisions, and provide insights into brand loyalty and new customer growth opportunities.

Important insights for marketers:

15% of Chick-Fil-A customers switched to Burger King, while only 4% of Wendy’s customers switched to Burger King
McDonald’s and Chick-Fil-A audiences are both more likely than average to be seen at Grocery and Convenience stores
McDonalds has seen a strong increase of patronage from the Working Moms and Beach Lovers audiences

Down in the dumps about the lack of QSR loyalty? Here are a few ways QSR marketers can win back customers who are moonlighting with competitor brands:

Drive traffic during specific dayparts – Increase traffic to your locations during specific mealtimes.
Target value customers – Reach budget conscious customers with special offers, coupons and more.
Promote new limited-time offers (LTOs), especially during the holidays – Drive awareness of LTOs and steal share from key competitors by reaching Competitive Loyalists.
Understand brand overlap & churn – Understanding the invisible “competitor” presents a tremendous opportunity to slow churn and drive new loyal customer growth.

For more foot traffic stats and consumer trends, check out our latest Lean: Insights Reports to uplevel your marketing and branding strategies. Want more QSR Insights? Check out our latest QSR Insights Brief.

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GroundTruth Insights Spotlight: Summer Retail Trends Reveal New Shopping Patterns Among Consumers

Nicole Genchur — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 16:25:00 +0000

As vacations and family outings begin to wind down, we look back at how the retail industry fared during this past summer and the impact conservative spending is having on in-store visitation. In this latest Insights Spotlight, we analyze visits to more than 250 top retail brands from June to July 2022 to uncover shifts in buying habits that are likely to continue impacting marketing decisions for the rest of 2022.

Important retail insights from this past summer for retail marketers:

Top trending retail brands from Party City to Lululemon
Retail foot traffic trends by retail category
Average time spent in retail stores between May and July
Audience spotlight on discount and luxury shoppers brand preferences and points of interest

Our Insight Team’s findings showcase how location insights help predict valuable customer trends, inform strategic business decisions, and provide insights into brand reach and growth opportunities. For more foot traffic stats and consumer trends, check out our latest Lean: Insights Reports to uplevel your marketing and branding strategies.

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5 Mobile Marketing Strategies & Tools for 2024

Nicole Genchur — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Are you using mobile marketing to drive foot traffic yet? You should be. The global pandemic changed the way people shop. To get customers’ attention and drive foot traffic, being where your customers are is now more important than ever.

Increasingly, that place is on mobile. On a global level, time spent with shopping apps on mobile devices increased by 45% in 2020 compared with the previous year as brands continue to invest in their app strategies.

In this in-depth guide, you’ll learn what mobile marketing is and discover some of the key mobile marketing tools and strategies you can use to drive foot traffic to your store.

What Is Mobile Marketing?

Mobile marketing is the process of marketing and advertising to consumers using smartphones and tablets. Typically, mobile advertising strategies take advantage of mobile device features such as push notifications and location awareness to deliver more timely and relevant ads.

The stats show that mobile devices represent a large and growing segment of online activity. There are more than 6 billion mobile phone users worldwide, with subscriptions expected to grow by “several hundred million” in the years to come.

In addition, mobile devices — smartphones in particular — are now an essential part of the shopping experience. According to Gartner, in 2021 smartphone sales continue to increase. Studies also show that 79% of smartphone users have made a purchase online in 2022.

And it’s not just about purchases. Shoppers are using mobile devices for research before buying. In the retail space alone, mobile commerce sales — commercial transactions made via mobile phone — are expected to reach 10.4% by 2025, which is more than double the pre-pandemic numbers. In other words, there’s a great opportunity to reach potential customers with time-based, location-based, and personalized messages.

5 Mobile Marketing Strategies

When you’re setting out to create your mobile marketing strategy, there are a number of options to consider. Some of the most important types of mobile marketing strategies include SMS marketing, social media marketing, location-based marketing, proximity marketing, and in-app marketing. Here’s how these mobile advertising strategies work.

1. SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is marketing via text messages. It’s also known as text message marketing or text marketing. This is a permission-based mobile marketing strategy in which brands send promotions, deals, coupons and other alerts straight to potential customers’ phones via text messages of 160 characters or less.

One of the reasons SMS marketing is such a powerful mobile advertising strategy is because text messages have high deliverability, open and engagement rates. The stats show that:

SMS open rates range from 90-99%
90% of SMS messages are opened within 3 minutes
Click-through rates can be more than double that of email

That’s likely because most people have their phones with them most of the time, and because they get push notifications for incoming text messages, making those harder to ignore.

Since text messages are so short, many marketers include a link where recipients can get more product information, or a code that triggers a follow-up message. One best practice for SMS marketing is to avoid overusing it; this tactic is most effective for time-sensitive promotions.

2. Social Media Marketing

Many smartphone owners use them to access social media. Statista shows that globally, Facebook has more than 2.8 billion monthly active users, with YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram close behind. With all of those users in one place, it makes sense to use social media as one of your main mobile marketing strategies.

Social media makes it easy to create a personal connection with your customers via comments and messages. You can also increase brand awareness and boost your conversions with customer referrals and recommendations.

Though some companies choose to focus on organic social media posts, it’s increasingly common to use social media advertising to guarantee that you’ll reach the right customers. Some options include:

Facebook ads, or boosted (promoted) posts
Promoted tweets on Twitter
Shoppable or promoted pins on Pinterest
LinkedIn ads or promoted posts

Typically, this mobile marketing strategy lets you create an audience with demographic information, and set campaign goals, budgets and durations.

3. Location-Based Marketing (GPS)

Location-based marketing uses the GPS function on smartphones to help marketers show promotions and relevant content according to users’ locations. Sometimes location-based marketing is called geotargeting or geolocation marketing.

Research shows that the global location based advertising market, which was already valued at more than $62 billion USD back in 2019, is expected to grow at a rate of over 17% from 2022 to 2027. This type of marketing results in more engagement and a better response, because it is more relevant to where mobile users are and what they are doing.

For example, you can show a promotion for a restaurant to someone who’s in the area and encourage that person to visit the restaurant. Coach used location targeting to drive thousands of visits to its stores, so this is a proven way to increase foot traffic.

4. Proximity Marketing

Proximity marketing is another form of location-based marketing. This lets you use Bluetooth to figure out where potential customers are, and target them with appropriate promotions.

One example of this is beacon marketing, which relies on physical Bluetooth-enabled devices in or near stores. These send short-range signals to mobile devices, which people see when they are near your location. This is another proven way to drive foot traffic. Toyota used proximity marketing to attract more customers likely to buy at local car dealerships.

5. In-app Marketing

Smart marketers can’t ignore the app market. According to Business of Apps the top five apps include TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram — but there are hundreds of thousands of other apps, which is why in-app advertising has become a key mobile marketing strategy.

Types of in-app advertising include:

Display advertising like banners that appear at the top or bottom of a mobile screen
Native advertising, which are promotions styled to mimic the app environment
Video ads
Interstitial ads, which appear in between app actions. For example, sometimes these ads appear when moving from one game level to another

5 Mobile Marketing Tools for Success

The five mobile marketing strategies above will get you started with targeting mobile device users. Now, we’ll tell you about the mobile marketing tools you’ll need to use these strategies effectively.

The 5 mobile marketing tools you’ll need include GroundTruth Ads Manager, geofencing advertising, weather targeting, audience targeting and brand insights.

1. GroundTruth Ads Manager

GroundTruth Ads Manager is a single platform that allows you to reach up to 120 million monthly visitors with mobile marketing. The technology is third-party verified and allows you to target potential customers based on the places they visit and the stores they shop in.

Customization options include distance, direction and click-to-call and you can use GroundTruth’s cost–per-visit model to ensure you only pay when someone actually visits your store. GroundTruth Ads Manager makes it easy to track progress with in-depth location analytics.

2. Geofencing Advertising

Geofencing advertising is another important form of mobile advertising which creates a virtual boundary around a location. For example, you can use this to identify a building or shopping area. GroundTruth uses its proprietary Blueprints technology to ensure that your geofence is accurate.

Once you create your geofence, you can show mobile ads to people who fall within the area and who meet your criteria. This approach combines GPS with audience insights to help you improve the efficacy of your mobile ad promotions. This is an accurate and highly scalable form of mobile advertising.

3. Weather Targeting

The weather affects consumer behavior. Sometimes people may choose to stay in or go out, and at other times it affects what they buy. Either way, you can use weather targeting to make your mobile marketing even more effective.

GroundTruth’s network of weather sensors is highly accurate, allowing you to target mobile advertising according to prevailing or expected weather conditions. You can serve ads depending on UV index, wind, temperature, and weather alerts. You can also combine weather targeting with other forms of location data to make your ads even more relevant and actionable.

4. Audience Targeting

Ever wondered how to leverage offline behavior to increase foot traffic? You can do this with audience targeting. This mobile marketing tool lets you reach customers based on factors like:

Demographics
Online and offline behavior
Past and current behavior
Interests
Location

The result is that you can reach customers with mobile marketing at the time when they’re most likely to buy. For example, if a customer has visited your brick and mortar store, you can send them an offer based on their behavior in-store. Or you can send a message to someone who’s out and about based on how they interacted with your website.

And you can combine audience targeting with location marketing and geo-fencing to make your mobile marketing even more targeted and relevant to your potential customers.

5. Brand Insights

One of the best ways to increase foot traffic to your store is to understand what’s really happening with your visitors. GroundTruth’s brand insights tool provides location analytics and other insights including market share, foot traffic, brand affinity and more. This can help you really hone in on the right mobile marketing campaigns to attract your perfect audience.

Our Takeaway

Even with years of mobile marketing already behind us, research shows that customers are still responsive to relevant targeted mobile promotions. The mobile marketing strategies and tools listed above will help you deliver what customers expect to drive foot traffic to your store.

The post 5 Mobile Marketing Strategies & Tools for 2024 appeared first on GroundTruth.

GroundTruth QSR Insights Spotlight

Nicole Genchur — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 12:01:38 +0000

This summer, customers are looking to get outside of their home and treat themselves to favorites such as fast food hamburgers or iced coffee from coffee shops. The QSR Insights Spotlight takes a look at visits to over 30 top QSR brands from May to June 2022.

The QSR Insights Spotlight takes a look at visits to over 30 top QSR brands from May to June 2022.

Top insights we uncovered:

Popular QSR’s such as Jimmy John’s and Chick Fil A saw significant increases in foot traffic from May to June.
47% of customers traveled 2-5 miles to get to their favorite fast food spots.
Patrons stayed close to home with 78% of QSR customers traveling less than 5 miles to eat at fast food restaurants.
Morning diners gravitated towards typical quick breakfast options such as coffee and doughnut shops. Evening diners were seen to visit gyms and, as a summer special, ice cream shops.

Our Insight Team’s findings showcase how location insights helps predict valuable customer trends, inform strategic business decisions, and provide insights into brand reach and growth opportunities. For more foot traffic stats and consumer trends, check out our latest Lean: Insights Reports to uplevel your marketing and branding strategies.

The post GroundTruth QSR Insights Spotlight appeared first on GroundTruth.

Emerging Tech & Consumer Trends: What to Expect in 2022

Nicole Genchur — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 06:07:19 +0000

Emerging Tech & Consumer Trends: What to Expect in 2022

Due to the constant need for brands to adjust their plans in real-time, planning cycles have become more of a sprint than a marathon.

Whether planning for three months or for three years, understanding the variables that shape the marketing space is key to making informed decisions and scalable plans to drive performance for your brand, whether that is in-store visits, digital clicks, or overall brand awareness.

In this webinar, you learned:

How disruptions and innovations in the media landscape will impact both marketers and consumers
Which consumer trends are expected to shift and evolve, and how that will shape customer experiences
Ways to set your brand up for success by understanding current trends in order to future proof your marketing approach

Watch Recording

The post Emerging Tech & Consumer Trends: What to Expect in 2022 appeared first on GroundTruth.

Year in Review: 2021 Insights and Marketing Strategies for 2022 – Part 2

Nicole Genchur — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 13:00:59 +0000

What can we expect next year? While we may not have a crystal ball, we can take stock of this past year to help uncover industry trends that will impact 2022 marketing strategies.

In Part 2 of this series, we look back at industry insights from GroundTruth’s 2021 Lean Series to look forward to what we can expect in 2022 in the retail, CPG, and restaurant verticals.

From foot traffic trends and industry analyses we can better understand:

What consumer trends were a moment in time versus those that are here to stay.

Which industries will likely enter the new year with challenges versus those who are entering the new year with momentum.

What new media channels have emerged this past year as effective ways to reach and engage consumers.

How marketers should be thinking about where and when they make their marketing investments.

Missed part 1 of the Year in Review? Check out the blog here to get insights into the automotive and travel industry to help inform future campaigns.

The “Work from Anywhere” Revolution Changed Cafe Culture and Restaurant Patronage

Taking a look back at our 2021 Lean: Restaurant/QSR Brief, we can see that work-from-home trends have changed normal foot traffic patterns which are likely to continue in 2022. The shift in coffee shop and QSR dining visitation at the beginning of 2021 reveals how much these changes affected surrounding QSR’s restaurants, and coffee shops that rely on corporate workers’ patronage.

2022 Prediction: As traditional work environments expand and stabilizes, a growing number of remote workers will likely continue to work out of cafes, homes and offices. These changes will still drive demand, just at different times throughout the week. Not only has the “work from anywhere” culture changed where work gets done, it has changed when people snack and fuel up and will continue to do so in the years to come.

2022 Marketing Strategy: To accomodate and adapt to foot traffic trend changes, restaurants will need to continue being flexible especially when it comes to offering curbside pickup and food delivery options. Expectations surrounding sanitation practices, contactless payments, and online ordering will give an edge to those businesses that are able to offer and market these options.

Differing work schedules and tricky capacity limits will require restaurants to think beyond traditional services. For example, restaurants should be monitoring foot traffic trends to optimize business hours and employee scheduling in order to better accommodate capacity limits and customer wait times.

Having a strong social media presence that reaches core audiences and regular customers will also grow in importance in 2022 for real-time engagement and promotions.

Interested in getting a real-time pulse on 2022 foot traffic trends? Check out GroundTruth’s Foot Traffic Tracker for foot traffic trends by category, state, zip code, custom timeframes, and more.

Don’t forget to download The Lean Insights Brief: Restaurant/QSR for a comprehensive look at 2021 restaurant trends to help inform 2022 campaigns.

The Retail Industry is Revitalizing from 2021 into 2022

Since shoppers didn’t get the chance to do much in-person shopping in 2020, a resurgence of foot traffic to shopping malls skyrocketed in 2021.

Holiday shopping predictions from GroundTruth’s 2021 Holiday Strategy Guide revealed that the 2021 holiday season had a strong presence of in-person and online shopping. While digital media still played a major role in the purchase funnel, the in-store experience continued to be a priority for shoppers. Digital media as a channel can prompt shoppers to browse online, and then ultimately check out however they prefer.

2022 Prediction: Hybrid buying behaviors will continue to grow in popularity in 2022. Because of this, we know that some shopping trends that will stay for 2022 include convenience features such as QR codes to scan and purchase items, virtual try-on, buy-online, curbside pickup, and same-day delivery. Consumers are also increasingly bouncing between apps, websites, and in-person shopping for inspiration, ordering, and fulfillment.

2022 Marketing Strategy: Simply put, don’t rest on your laurels. Hoping that consumers will come to you could negatively impact your business and give your competitors an opportunity to lure them away. Consider implementing these techniques to win over retail customers in 2022:

Boost Brand Awareness: Focus on Cross-Channel Targeting to reach core audience groups across multiple screens. Measure the impact of marketing campaigns on driving visits to brick-and-mortar stores.

Increase Consideration: Leverage tactics like Custom Audience Targeting or Conquest Targeting to help reach loyal patrons or gain share of market from competitors.

In-Stock Targeting: With direct insight into stores’ inventory, dynamically turn media on or off based solely on your product availability at nearby surrounding stores. Drive shoppers to stores with in-stock inventory to ensure that they get their shopping done in time and maximize media spend.

On-Premise Targeting: Reach consumers on the retail lot or within a specific store to incentivize them to purchase a particular item once they’re through the door.

Location Audience Targeting: Reach shoppers based on past behaviors to stay top-of-mind during the last-minute dash. If driving them online, include a dynamic countdown for shipping cut-offs to help build urgency and promote conversion. If driving them in-store, messaging limited-time offers or in-store availability of in-demand items are effective strategies.

Make sure your brand is reaching the right audience, from the right location. Check out GroundTruth’s full range of omnichannel targeting capabilities and see what location targeting can do for you.

Don’t forget to download The Lean Insights Brief: Retail for a comprehensive look at 2021 retail trends to help inform 2022 campaigns.

CPG Industry Trends: Challenges Will Continue Into 2022

Supply-chain issues have truly made buying the everyday items we need much more challenging.

In the first half of 2021, total U.S. media ad spending grew by 32% year-over-year to reach $130 billion. In fact, GroundTruth data from The Lean Insights Brief: CPG reveals that for the first time in July 2021, the number of ‘repeat visitors’ outpaced ‘new visitors’ to retailers since July 2020.

2022 Prediction: With the continuation of supply chain shortages, those 2021 marketing investments to get consumers back into stores and increase brand loyalty are at risk in 2022.

2022 Marketing Strategy: With consumers traveling an average of 10-more miles to retailers than they did in 2019, GroundTruth’s In-Stock Local Ads allow brands to dynamically serve ads based on product availability at nearby stores to reach shoppers who are willing to drive the extra mile for products.

GroundTruth is combating the supply chain challenges by providing a new feature to our technology: the In-Stock Product feature. Click here for more information about GroundTruth Local Ads.

Don’t forget to download The Lean Insights Brief: CPG for a comprehensive look at 2021 CPG trends to help inform 2022 campaigns.

Industry Trends 2022: The Future is Bright

Although Retail, CPG, and Restaurant businesses are constantly shifting, there are still so many opportunities for them to thrive despite a new and always-evolving consumer landscape.

GroundTruth is committed to providing critical insights into the latest visitation trends and audience data that represent true buyer intent. Make sure to leverage these tools to help stay ahead of these 2022 industry trends. For example, brands can use our foot traffic tracker to analyze consumer behavior, our omnichannel platform that offers 360 degree targeting, and our in-stock local ads to help customers locate their favorite brands – even during a supply chain setback.

Missed the first part Part 1 of our Year-in-Review blog series? Check out Part 1 to learn more about Automotive and Travel Industry Trends and to get insights into 2022 predictions and marketing strategies.

The post Year in Review: 2021 Insights and Marketing Strategies for 2022 – Part 2 appeared first on GroundTruth.

Year in Review: 2021 Insights and Marketing Strategies for 2022 – Part 1

Nicole Genchur — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 13:00:16 +0000

As agencies and brands take inventory of this past year and the many twists and turns that the year brought, we take some time to look back at industry insights from GroundTruth’s 2021 Lean Series to look forward to what we can expect in 2022.

From these foot traffic trends and industry analyses we can better understand:

What consumer trends were a moment in time versus those that are here to stay.

Which industries will likely enter the new year with challenges versus those who are entering the new year with momentum.

What new media channels have emerged this past year as effective ways to reach and engage consumers.

How marketers should be thinking about where and when they make their marketing investments.

Automotive Industry Outlook: Look For A Strong Jumpstart in 2022

Although the auto industry continues to work through chip supply issues and the ramifications of COVID-19 from this past year, there are still several consumer-related trends that are pointing to a strong recovery in 2022. These include the behavioral shifts related to the way consumers research and shop for a car.

For example, the pandemic-driven trend of spending less time at the physical car dealership and more time browsing car options online led to a strong uptick in omnichannel car purchases this past year.

Don’t forget to download The Lean: Auto Insights Brief for a comprehensive look at 2021 trends in the auto industry.

2022 Prediction: The consumer changes from this past year look to be here to stay. In fact, these shifts could help evolve and improve the in-store experience in several ways, leading to a more efficient sales process in 2022 and beyond for dealerships. What’s more, the combination of limited car inventories and the average age of cars rising to more than 10 years old is surfacing a new consumer segment who is looking for auto shop and auto parts choices. For example, DIY auto brands, such as Napa Auto Parts and AutoZone experienced significant growth in 2021 which many industry experts believe will extend into the early part of 2022.

2022 Marketing Strategy: Heading into 2022, an integrated marketing strategy will go a long way. During a still-uncertain time, it’s important for auto related marketing campaigns to maintain their reach no matter where potential customers are spending their time. Adding CTV and social media to your marketing mix can help ensure you are reaching consumers no matter where they are.

Read our 2022 Consumer Travel Trend Insights.

With a growing market of consumers with older cars on the road, service departments and DIY auto brands are in a unique position to engage with this growing segment. Layer your CRM data with location-based audience data to help understand and reach your customers at important maintenance timeframes.

Travel Industry Trends: Still Flying High, But Don’t Buckle Up Too Fast For International Travel

In 2021, the travel industry experienced a much needed resurgence as consumers all across the US took flight and hit the road for some much needed R&R. Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Chicago topped the list for trending travel cities. This could have been due to the low amount of Covid-19 cases in these locations at the time of travel. That certainly was the case for Chicago.

The popularity of travel to these hotspots could have also been because of the proximity to major neighboring populations of people. We know that Atlantic City is a coastal city located very close to New York City. We can infer that many New Yorkers opted to take trips this past summer to neighboring vacation destinations such as Atlantic City. The travel uptick to Las Vegas could be a reflection of fewer Covid-19 safety regulations in the city at the time and because Americans were itching to get back to their favorite party city after being cooped up inside for so long.

Don’t forget to download The Lean Insights Brief: Travel for a comprehensive look at 2021 travel trends.

2022 Prediction: International travel restrictions could spark more domestic travel. While a new COVID-19 variant is contributing to a slow down in overall travel, recent international restrictions are likely to benefit domestic travel. That’s good news for the U.S. consumer economy as travelers look to alternative vacation options such as cruises, amusement parks, resorts and even outdoor travel opportunities within the US.

2022 Marketing Strategy: For travel marketers, flexible and performance-driven advertising strategies will be critical to reaching their customers in 2022 with travel options that meet their lifestyles. Using offline behavioral audiences can give marketers the insight they need to better target relevant travelers such as outdoor enthusiasts, regional travelers and those looking for family vacation destinations. Marketers can also use weather-related advertising to reach consumers with seasonal related travel recommendations. Finally, creating a positive and personal booking and travel experience will continue to require flexible booking and cancellation policies and last-minute getaway packages.

Stay Tuned for Part 2

This concludes part 1 of our Year in Review Series. Tune back in next week to read Part 2 and learn about how high-impact verticals: Restaurant, Retail, and CPG got through 2021 and the key tactics to track for success in 2022.

Haven’t downloaded your Lean Insight Report yet? Check out our extensive library of Lean Insights Reports to get insider details about the consumer trends that impact marketing trajectory and ROI.

The post Year in Review: 2021 Insights and Marketing Strategies for 2022 – Part 1 appeared first on GroundTruth.