The Mobile Marketing Association's report on the use of location based data raised concerns about data accuracy, but overwhelmingly marketers are quite happy with their mobile targeting efforts to date. You could argue this is a bit like the fox guarding the hen house, but in my view marketers are more likely comparing mobile success to other types of campaigns, rather than having a good sense of how effective mobile marketing can be.
My view is that big data + location + geoenrichment is what will move the needle. There are plenty of opportunities to impact behavior that don't involve intercepting the user in the moment at the precise location. Looking at more data points over time to derive context. For example:
- Is that person buying groceries every day or are they buying breakfast or dinner?
- Are they at the gas station for gas, service or food?
- Are they looking at new cars or getting one serviced?
Patterns, anomalies and more contextual information will reveal more about true needs than simply location.