Adding memories and passion to location is the killer says Kate Imbach Mobile Marketing Director of Skyhook Wireless

When Kate Imbach from Skyhook Wireless said to me that it’s “not just location” I smiled but looked confused. Here I was interviewing the Director of Marketing of a location company but I wasn’t hearing what I had anticipated.

So, I said, “I am not sure I get you, if it’s not about location – then what is it about?”.

Kate smiled and said, the dynamic of discovery was just one part of location. What was happening was the ability to find exact location was spawning new business, analytics and promise to the mobile enterprise.

I asked for some concrete examples.

Kate said, that two great examples were with banks or with the music industry.

Banks
Offering a bank location or ATM location finding service was important. But often people want a record of where they were or where they drew money. Using an application with location not only can you find a bank, you can record the money taken out and the time of the transaction. This is an additional security measure and can actually help keep on top or on track of finances.

Shazam
The other dynamic is for the music industry. But not for consumers for record companies brands and agencies. For example, Shazam is now allowing users to tag where they downloaded or requested a song. This adds “memory” to the song for the user.

But for record companies and agencies they can use the tool to see where discovery of new music is taking place. Is in the hottest clubs, or record shops or just by chance on the radio? In dense cities or if the application was available for free then music gurus could chart which bands were rising in popularity and in which locations. Or if marketing campaigns were successful or not.

Statistics

10 million coupons were redeemed in Q1 2009 -this is a 25% increase from 2008. 

In the above picture with the jeans showing a shopping based mobile locations advertising campaign  – 17% of users clicked “find shop in your nearest location” rather than “find shop online”.

This shows that people shop online to get good deals but if the good deals can be found in nearby shop – they are eager to travel.

Conclusion?

So, location plus applications can be the Ivy League of mobile moving forward. But the potential is not about just finding or being found. It’s about enabling business models and advertising and also new ways of buying or researching. The power of “where” gives power to marketers, advertising agencies, brands, the music industry and enterprises allowing them to make money or move strategically with access to new a new knowledge database.