Mapping technology has become an increasingly important part of marketing,with nine in ten marketers stating that they are using, or have plans to use, mapping and geospatial technology as part of their marketing strategy.
The survey of marketing professionals carried out by Vanson Bourne for Google has revealed the growing importance of mapping technology in marketing, with 90% stating that they are using, or have plans to use, mapping and geospatial technology as part of their marketing strategy.
Mapping technology is having such an impact on the marketing function that 62% of those using it said it had forced them to reconsider their product strategy.
Other benefits cited include improved customer engagement (66%), increased web traffic (49%) and higher sales (47%).
Nearly a half of marketing professionals using the technology (46%) say that it improves productivity, and one in five (21%) are using it to combine different sets of data and spot patterns, agreeing that this would not have been possible without being able to visualise information.
One in four of the marketing professionals surveyed say increasing their use of mapping technology is a ‘major priority’, with 72% planning on doing this within the next year.
“The use of innovative mapping technology forms a key part of our marketing strategy and overall user-experience on the Rightmove site” says Rightmove’s commercial director Miles Shipside. “We are constantly looking to improve the spatial search options we provide to consumers, resulting in innovative new tools such as Draw-a-Search. The mapping technologies that we provide not only allow us to provide a better user experience for home-hunters but also allow us to analyse and identify local and national market trends in the way that people search.”
Sanjay Patel, Head of Enterprise GEO – EMEA at Google, says, “We live in an increasingly visual age and people expect to be able to digest information quickly rather than spending time trying to decipher it. It is important that marketers are aware of the potential of mapping technology to help them visualise their data within a geographical context.
Mapping technologies are being used for far more than just showing your customers where you’re located. Organisations in all sectors are harnessing the power of mapping technologies to get a better view of their customers, improve business processes, and most importantly of all, drive sales.”
Clive Longbottom, Service Director at analyst house Quocirca comments: “Data visualisation speaks volumes, and enables end users to reach valuable decisions far more rapidly than wading through tables and written reports. Visualisations of data across easily recognised environments – such as maps – makes this a very powerful tool for users across an organisation, not just data analysts. The easy accessibility and usability of public cloud-based mapping systems now puts this power into everyone’s hands – and should be embraced and used by any organisation where geo mapping could offer greater insights”.
However, despite the enthusiasm for more mapping projects, the research revealed that adoption efforts are being hampered, with nearly one in three marketers citing ‘internal politics’ as a key issue holding back the implementation of mapping technologies.
Methodology
Research was carried out by Vanson Bourne in September 2011 amongst 250 marketing managers. Geospatial/mapping technology was defined as technology which can be used by companies to present geographical information regarding the business to customers and/or staff. The four sectors surveyed for the report were transport, finance, public sector and retail.
Source: www.google.co.uk/enterprise/maps