On Monday, Mashable, an online marketing publication I now regularly write for, launched How The Fashion Industry Uses Location Based Marketing.

In the article, I discussed how brands and retailers are moving beyond Social Media 101 and experimenting with hybrid models of online to offline marketing. For those of you who are intrigued by location based services, but not yet convinced, here’s the in-depth article.

Hybrid Marketing Models – Creating New Customer Experiences

Location based services like Foursquare and Gowalla are thrown into the social marketing mix; fashion brands are still wrapping their minds around social media. Retailers and brands are going to have to incorporate mobile marketing into their ad spends and marketing strategies.

Luckily, fashion brands, websites and retailers have begun to experiment.

During New York Fashion Week, Conde Naste partnered Lucky Magazine with Foursquare. Foursquare users were given tips about the best places to visit between shows as part of the partnership.  In addition to Lucky branded fashion insider tips, Foursquare users were awarded special badges as they checked into any of the 700 stores featured in the magazine’s fashion directory.

Retailers are using location based services and applications to direct consumers to retail locations in their geographic vicinity. Many offer financial incentives and some offer frequent visitors, or “mayors”, public recognition for their regular visits and financial incentives to continue their patronage.

Marc Jacobs, Foursquare and New York Fashion Week

Fashion giant Marc Jacobs has been one of the few brands that has fully embraced social technology from its onset, opting for cost effective digital marketing methods and cancelling traditional events and parties in order to save jobs of their employees.

Social media is having a positive impact on how Marc Jacobs delivers its brand messages to its customers. For Fashion Week A/W 2010, the brand decided to go beyond just digitally streaming its runway shows; it took the online interactions offline through Foursquare.

During NYFW, Marc Jacobs and Foursquare created the Marc Jacobs “Fashion Victim” badge. Fashion week attendees could “check-in” at any of New York stores or other Marc by Marc Jacobs stores around the country and unlock the badge. Four random people who unlocked the badge in New York were awarded tickets to the Marc by Marc Jacobs show.

One winner, Elaine Ellis, a style blogger who writes The Art of Awkward, was in town for the weekend and changed her flight to attend the show. Her excitement was overwhelming – and contagious. Elaine said, “They [Marc Jacobs] made my dreams come true; there will never been a better day in my life!” Ellis recounts her experience – thanks to Foursquare – on her blog.

Unlike any other fashion brand, Marc Jacobs is working to effectively communicate with its customers through social media; digitally streaming its runway shows via their site was the first step. Incorporating the Foursquare collaboration was an awareness and brand building exercise to establish what was next.

Foursquare’s VP of Business Development, Tristan Walker, sees brands using Foursquare to help guide experiences.  Walker says, “Retailers have to be on brand with their advertising; brands should strive to make the users’ experience match the retail experience they seek to create for their customers.”

Foursquare wants to take online engagement offline – transferring that social experience across multiple mediums and locations. That’s exactly what Marc Jacobs did.

“Marc Jacobs is on brand with their marketing, their efforts made sense for them and their brand. They understand the communities that their retail stores are located in and how their brand fits within that community,” says Walker. “What happened with Elaine is the best example of the type of experiences that Foursquare attempts to create, I was deeply moved by Elaine’s post because that’s what we’re about.”

As with any fashion brand, Marc Jacobs is working on effectively communicating with its customers through social media; digitally streaming its runway shows via its sites were the first step. Incorporating Foursquare was an awareness and brand building exercise to establish what was next.

How Retailers Can Create Online To Offline Marketing Strategies

Walker shared further insights for large retailers, brands or shopping conglomerates hoping to harness the marketing opportunities location-based services offer.

“For a retailer such as The Grove in Los Angeles”, Walker says, “They could follow the model that Tasty Delite implemented. They could sync their loyal rewards program to Foursquare; offering a branded badge for recognition, additional points, freebies and member perks for being a frequent shopper/patron.”

It would be the same for Nordstrom, Gap or any local retailer.  By syncing their loyalty programs with Foursquare, they’re enabling frequent shoppers to share their recent purchases with their communities. When a user posts shopping tips or finds at a particular location, that post is essentially an advertising impression on Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook.

The Future of Location-Based Marketing For Retailers

Foursquare and other location-based services like Loopt and Gowalla offer retailers the opportunity to increase in-store visits and foot traffic. Shari Doherty, marketing expert at Polyvore.com and a consumer-marketing consultant with over 15 years of industry experience in digital entertainment, mobile and location-based services, says:

“The convergence of fashion and mobile technology was previously limited to fun, co-branded mobile phones (like the Juicy Couture T-Mobile Sidekick), but now with the advent of location-based services there are even more exciting opportunities for fashion retailers and brands to deliver entertaining and interactive experiences.

We’re now starting to see more cross-platform experiments that blend social networking elements into the physical store experience. And with the continued evolution of mobile and location technologies  – a “check-in” on your favorite application will unlock even more comprehensive place-based info like photos, videos, reviews and real-time advice.”

If executed well, these location-enhanced shopping experiences can translate to improved customer loyalty, referral and sales both online and offline. Easy to use mobile access to global fashion content and community is a powerful tool to inform, inspire and curate the local shopping experience.

It appears that the event-based marketing model that fashion brands are looking for may work with location-based marketing. Can location-based services and mobile marketing be more effective for retailers than social media to generate revenue, online and offline?
Photos Courtesy of Foursquare, The Fashion Hookup and Marc Jacobs.

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