Location based marketing has been mooted for sometime as the panacea of customer relationship marketing (CRM). Foursquare may just have cracked it and monetised its income stream in the process.

I checked into China Town when I nipped out of the office for lunch and discreetly in the corner of the screen was a link to nearby Hummus Bros. The link had a two-for-one offer for the local Mayor.

I get to visit a new place for lunch. Hummus Bros get a customer. Foursquare receives ad revenue. Everyone’s happy. If I visit regular and grab the Mayor’s title I’ll be rewarded with discount.

Drew Benvie has posted some ideas for how Foursquare could develop if its builds a critical mass of users and opens up its API.