As brands and agencies face increased pressure to understand human behavior across a rapidly changing consumer landscape, advances in location-based data analysis have made mobile the number one tool for gathering insights into where people go, the things they do, and what they buy. Mobile’s ability to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds, and ultimately measure advertising effectiveness, has opened new, exciting doors for marketers. Today, the searching, shopping and in-store visitation that make up the purchase funnel among consumers, is more often than not, accomplished with a ubiquitous supercomputer in hand: the smartphone.

This ubiquity has also raised consumer expectations for a personalized shopping experience; in fact, in 2014, consumers spent an average of 2 hours and 51 minutes with mobile devices each day actively engaged with their devices (eMarketer). Yet, to date, mobile ad spend continues to lag when compared to the increase in mobile engagement. According to eMarketer, mobile accounted for 37.7% of digital ad spend and only 10.8% of media ad spend last year.

With mobile at the center of vasts amounts of data, it’s perplexing that this resource continues to remains relatively untapped.  Unlike desktop and tablets, mobile devices enable real-world insights both inside and outside of the home, as well as before, during, and after the point of purchase. When corresponding movement, visitation, and purchase data is gathered, it can be pieced together into one cohesive consumer journey, which can then be used to plan, execute and measure a data-driven marketing strategy.

Why the hesitation?

Until now, brand and agency hesitation around using mobile as a sensor for consumer behavior has been understandable: the vast amount of data to process and organize in a way that’s digestible for marketers, who don’t have a PhD in computer science, is a non-trivial problem to overcome. But, this valuable data is undoubtedly becoming the focus of advertising technology because it can deterministically define the consumer journey. Furthermore, if brands can better understand consumer behavior, they can be more responsive to, and respectful of, consumers’ preferences and the cadence of messages and brand storytelling that will delight them.

What is a practical example of this potential?  Let’s say you’re a major auto brand looking to promote a new luxury SUV with extra trunk space, and a somewhat elusive, hard to define audience such as dog owners is your target. Rather than unleashing a campaign directed at a mass, imputed version of the target, wouldn’t it be significantly more productive to narrow your audience to in-market auto prospects, who frequently visit dog parks, purchase pet food, and who make $150K or more, with a mobile creative that touts “Plenty of room for man’s best friend”?

The Answer is in the Data

Here at PlaceIQ, we continue to develop data science technology that helps the industry interpret and act on the massive data sets that will allow brands to move in a personalized, customer-centric direction. Constant innovation of intelligent ways to understand consumers, in a privacy-friendly way, is necessary to holistically visualize and measure the consumer journey. The marriage of mobile-enabled location data and third-party data (auto ownership, TV viewership, retail purchases, current weather conditions), has made it possible to reach unique audiences based on what appeals tothem, where they dwell, where they work, and where they dine, shop, go for fun, etc. Mobile also has the power to measure advertising effectiveness based on physical, real-world responses to advertising, or in other words bringing the consumer journey full circle.

It’s truly exciting to imagine our industry three to five years down the road, when digital marketing plans are built with real-world data and behavioral insights at their core. Although our industry is shifting away from one-size-fits-all interactions, and toward a customer-centric strategy, consumers are smart – just like their phones. In order to help brands gain and maintain one-on-one relationships at scale, while meeting the ever-evolving expectations of consumers, data and the technology needed to organize it will need to be a high priority in the marketing planning process.

Industry research makes it clear that this convenient and intimate medium won’t lose momentum anytime soon. Along the same lines, the measurability of mobile is leaving brands and agencies with less hesitation regarding the data mobile provides, and its ability to be leveraged for a deeper understanding of consumer behavior.

Interested in more on mobile, and cross-device challenges? Download the full ebook to read more from Duncan McCall and other thought leaders in the mobile advertising space.