Location intelligence is the basis for location-based marketing. It’s an umbrella term that references using different tools and strategies to utilize location data. This type of intelligence is available across all kinds of software and is excellent for making data-driven decisions. It’s a brilliant way to run your business more effectively, so congratulations on taking steps to research this strategy.
Using location data isn’t just about pouring over maps. It is an advanced way of drawing trends and conclusions from geographically-related data. This is particularly helpful for businesses that operate over a wide area, like shipping internationally. It’s excellent for chains, too, which can use this intelligence for branch comparisons and customer purchase patterns.
In this guide, we’ll take you through all the essentials of using location data. Get ready for a thorough introduction, including the main benefits, a definition, what to budget, and artificial intelligence (AI) software adaptations. There’s loads to learn when using a location intelligence platform. Give us 10 minutes, and we’ll get you up to speed.
What Is Location Intelligence Software?
Location intelligence software is a technology that uses geographic locations to help business decision-makers. It can provide insights into purchase patterns, customer demographics, and other geospatial data. It can be great guidance if you find yourself making many location-related decisions. It provides you with the information to make more informed decisions, which is always valuable in business.
You can find this technology in the form of downloadable software and online tools. Much of the software is free, or you can find subscription-based options. For those with a much larger budget, there are also custom options on the market. Location analysis software is massively flexible; you can find the best choice for your business.
Using intelligence software that analyzes location is a fantastic way to build the foundation for other strategies. For instance, you can use it to run promotional campaigns better or target your ideal customers through social media marketing. Even tools like Facebook ads allow you to target a specific location. It really pays to have some insight into your geospatial data.
Location analysis software is a great tool for the right business. It provides an excellent pathway to location data marketing down the line, but hold that thought. We’ll cover the main benefits of location analysis platforms in a second.
Now you’ve got a solid understanding of what a location intelligence platform is, what about its benefits? In this section, we’ll establish exactly why you should care so much about intelligence data.
Of course, all of these benefits are reliant on other factors, too. For example, a good restaurant location strategy starts when you open your restaurant. If you’ve paid attention to the importance of location from day dot, you’ll notice better results and quicker.
With that in mind, you can see how businesses experience these benefits at varying extremities. There are four main categories to keep in mind.
1. Identifying Growth Opportunities
Location-driven intelligence software is fantastic for identifying growth opportunities. You have a different level of insight into your business’s customer experience and a bigger overview of its operations. Because of this broader business analysis, you’re in a better position to spot growth opportunities.
Think of intelligence software as taking a look at the bigger geographical picture. By looking at the bigger picture, it’s easier to spot patterns. You can see what parts of your business you should invest in. For instance, if a small store in your chain attracts many customers, you may invest further in expansion.
2. Optimize Your Supply Chain
Another massive benefit of intelligence software is that it helps you optimize your supply chain. Using geographical insights, you can factor in public transportation routes and factory or supplier proximity.
Incorporating that sense of geography is fantastic when visualizing your supply chain. It’s a much clearer way of optimizing it and boosting your business success.
The better your supply chain, the more efficient your business is. You’ll have fresher products, fewer costs, and better ideas over stock monitoring and management. It can even help you to become more sustainable. Most businesses can benefit from location analytics in this field.
3. Site Selection
If you want to expand your business, having location analytics can help you decide on site selection. This is great for chains or even new businesses just starting. If you decide on a physical business location, geographical data is a godsend.
You can quickly narrow down even a large bunch of options with location intelligence tools. These tools help you learn about the density of customer locations, the proximity of competitors, and even consumer behavioral patterns. Having all these details before selecting your site sets your business up for success. Who doesn’t want that benefit?
4. Better General Decisions
Location data can also help you make better general decisions, especially when customers are relevant. Those insights into customer behavior help you better understand your ideal customer profile. You’ll understand their purchase patterns, like who buys what, where, and when. You can see the foot traffic metrics and understand how your customers function in the area.
You can make better general decisions because you understand your target demographic better. This impacts decisions like product design, menu revamps, and even your hiring process.
You’ll know exactly what candidates your ideal customers need and would warm toward. How much a good location intelligence solution can transform your understanding of your business is radical.
What Is Artificial Intelligence? Location Intelligence With a Twist
When it comes to artificial intelligence, location intelligence gets even better. AI is a simulation of human behavior using technology; it’s currently trending, so you’ll have heard of it.
It ranges from tools like ChatGPT to that slightly ominous Snapchat robot chat and massively advanced analysis advice. Nowadays, AI can be found in everything and at all levels of advancement.
AI location intelligence is excellent if you want prompts and suggestions. It takes in the facts and statistics from the analysis part before drawing its own conclusions about your next steps. You don’t have to listen to its advice, but objective analysis can be helpful. It’s nice to have a summary and basic framework when making data-driven decisions.
AI also lays the foundations for other location-related strategies, like proximity marketing. It’s a good type of location-based analytical software to choose from to explore strategies further. It’s like a launchpad version of software and extremely action and solution-orientated.
How Much To Budget for Intelligence Software
Everything comes at a cost. You may need to set some money aside when budgeting for intelligence software. Here’s a rough breakdown of what to expect.
- Free software: There’s plenty of free software on the market. You can get essential intelligence software for nothing, which is ideal for starting out. If you don’t need anything too advanced, you can make a start with nothing but time invested.
- Budget-friendly software: If you want a step up from the basic software, you can opt for subscription-based software. Most subscription software costs $20-30 monthly and gives you a premium experience.
- Custom software: Custom software is great if you want a personalized system for your business. You can pay anything from $20,000 upwards to millions. This is only for companies with a large (read huge) budget for location marketing. It is a tax-deductible expense, though, which you may wish to consider.
Beambox: How WiFi Links With Location Intelligence
Location analytics are fantastic as they provide more insights about your customer base. They operate on the basis that knowledge is power, and they fill a unique section of geographical-related questions. So, how does WiFi relate to location analysis? It’s a great question.
In short, WiFi marketing is a way to use your guest’s WiFi to access data for further analysis and marketing. Creating a captive portal prevents guests from immediately accessing your WiFi network. Instead, they have to comply with a pop-up form of your creation. Only once they complete the form can they access your network.
This is intelligent leverage, as you can ask for anything from email addresses to customer feedback. If the prospect of location-based analytical data already entices you, why not access even more data to analyze? You could collect feedback or demographic details. All of the data you collect can help shape your business’ future and improve the success of your operations.
With the right software, this data even funnels automatically into a single dashboard. This means you can easily monitor results and extrapolate patterns and trends from clear data presentation.
At Beambox, we run an all-in-one marketing platform. It’s fabulous for setting up captive portals for data collection and a significant next step after you organize location intelligence.
Start your Beambox free trial today and use data analysis for the better. You never know how data could shape your future; you’ll be more informed and capable of making better business decisions.
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