Loyalty Truth

A day in the life with Foursquare has been changing, imperceptibly at times, but lately its reached the Malcolm Gladwell point, I mean the Tipping Point.

The difference I’m talking about has less to do with users and is all about merchants. That’s good news and also a partial answer to the one big question hovering over Foursquare: why merchants have been so slow to capitalize on the opportunity.

Although Foursquare outlines multiple forms of promotions on its page for business, only mayors got all the goodies until recently. Things are changing however. Over a recent 24 hour trek to New York, I encountered a Radio Shack $5 off purchase offer, a drink special from a midtown Thai restaurant – one that I wouldn’t have known existed in the bustling city, and of course the commonly found Starbucks “special nearby”.

Landing back in Fort Lauderdale, my check-in prompted a tip from a local attorney offering help if I got into trouble during my stay (maybe the Chamber of Commerce should shout out that we’re not all about crime down here).

Later, stopping into local eatery Sicilian Oven, I saw several nearby specials including free chips and salsa at Chili’s and a discount on tanning at Casa Del Sol Tanning Spa.

Big brands Pepsi Co and Macy’s have been active with location based marketing trials as well as McDonalds, Starbucks, Bravo and MTV. In the restaurant space, Tasti-D-Lite has become the poster-child for integrating location based marketing with a loyalty program. Even local banks have gotten into the act, with North Shore in Wisconsin the most notable.

Now is the time for local merchants to embrace location based tools to promote themselves and compete head to head with their national-chain neighbors. I’ve written about how to build retail loyalty in 10 easy K’s, and that construct remains sound. Just add location based offers as a delivery channel and the plan results accelerate.

Foursquare, Gowalla and other location based applications offer a more immediate and visible channel to deliver offers and attract customers that otherwise would not have visited. Combine location based offers with a social shopping network like Zavee, and you have a winning combination.

The tools exist for local merchants to step up their marketing at low cost. Maybe the burden is on marketers (myself and others) to make available an understandable go-to-market plan that puts these tools to work for the smaller merchant.

I don’t like feeling guilty, so I’ve created just that. If you’re interested, let me know.