Customer Reviews

Location Based Marketing For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))

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If you've been waiting to jump into location-based marketing--Foursquare, Gowalla and more--then this book is what you've been waiting for. I've known Aaron for a long time, and he and co-author Mike Schneider have successfully translated their down-to-earth knowledge of marketing fundamentals to the newest location-based services.

The book is easy to read, and the material and tips contained are easy to apply. I recommend this book to anyone just starting into social media, and especially to those considering location-based marketing programs.

These days, there's a lot of talk about location-based services and marketing via those channels. Some of that information is good and some not so good. I was very happy to hear two people who are very knowledgeable in the web marketing arena, namely Aaron Strout and Mike Schneider, were going to tackle this very important topic in book form.

Location-Based Marketing for Dummies is packed full of useful information broken up into five sections:

Putting a Little "Location" in Your Marketing Campaign - which goes over the different location-based services and how they are used by consumers

Location-Based Marketing in Action - which covers the tactical parts of putting together a location-based campaign of your own

Integrating Location into Other Channels - covering the more strategic aspects of incorporating location-based activities into a larger marketing plan

Measuring Your Return on Investment - there's no point in implementing an online marketing plan of any kind if you don't attempt to measure its success; very important information is in this section

The Part of Tens - which is a collection of lists with a lot of interesting and useful information including some possibly up-and-coming location services

All in all this book is easy to understand and breaks down the information in such a way that it's more of a step-by-step guide rather than just a "for Dummies" book. I very much liked how it was organized to take someone from "zero to sixty" in a short time, getting them going on using location-based services as part of their marketing strategy. It's full of useful ideas and tips to help anyone plan and run an excellent program, complete with coupons and loyalty rewards, if those are desired components.

I especially appreciate the measurement section. All too often we're told that online marketing efforts really can't be measured. This is not true, and I'm happy to see this book includes an entire section devoted to this very important aspect of a successful online location-based program.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn more about location-based technologies and how to use them for business purposes. I think it would be especially useful to the small- or medium-sized business owner or marketing person who is looking to get an edge over the competition. That being said, those with larger companies, especially those with multiple locations, can also learn a lot from this work.

Disclaimer: I requested an advanced copy of the book and received one free of charge to me. This is, still, my honest opinion of the work.

Aaron & Mike do a great job of cutting through the clutter to summarize opportunities in location based marketing for businesses big & small. There are great case studies, anecdotes, and examples everywhere in this book. I highly recommend it for people who want to take advantage of location & proximity marketing opportunities for their businesses.

Having read Location-Based Marketing for Dummies I must admit that the book surpassed my expectations. Initially I figured that I would know most of the material that was going to be featured in the book since I do (disclaimer time) know Aaron Strout very well and the two of us have talked on this topic many times in the past. Secondly, as a B2B marketer I also assumed that the book would not really be practical for my day job. Wrong on both accounts, I guess what they say about "assuming" is still good advice.

Like other "Dummies" books this one is simple to read and provides pragmatic tips and case studies throughout that any marketer can use. Yes, even B2B marketers. The book makes it very clear, location-based marketing is here to stay and starting to figure it out now can give you a personal advantage, not to mention your company, in the marketing battles. But I think what I appreciated the most was the fact that the authors clearly take you thought HOW to make this happen, not just pontificating on what some big brand did with a huge budget.

There is something in this book for every marketer, much of which you can apply to your job as you are reading the book.