What is Geofence Marketing and How do Digital Ads Work

Company advertising and marketing have changed a lot in the last 25 years. The most effective ad campaigns are now digital because people are spending so much of their time online, either through a desktop PC, tablet, or smartphone.

If a business wants to reach customers, they now have more dynamic ways to do it, including using digital marketing that can serve up contextual ads and information based on where a user is located at any point in time.

69% of internet users research products and services on their mobile devices.

For local businesses that want to optimize lead targeting, provide an enhanced experience for customers, and entice a storefront visit when someone is nearby, geofence marketing is the way to do this.

Imagine being able to offer a special coupon using a push notification when you detect a customer is a few blocks from your store. Or having the ability to serve up digital ads to people in your town that might be searching for the types of products you offer.

Uses Location to Trigger Ads & Information

Geofence marketing is a form of location-based marketing where you basically fence off a specific geographical region that you can then use to trigger ads and customer information when users are within that zone.

This type of marketing also helps you avoid casting too wide a net and spending marketing dollars advertising to customers outside your service area.

 

How Does Geofence Marketing Work?

Geofencing works off two main data points: 1) Where a user (or rather, the user’s smartphone) is located; and 2) A geographical region that you designate.

With these two data points, you can then serve up a wide variety of different marketing and information to users when they step inside that geofenced region.

Geofence marketing relies on several technologies:

  • Wi-Fi
  • GPS
  • Radio-frequency identification (RFID)
  • Bluetooth

Using those technologies can allow a marketing campaign to trigger based on when a user’s mobile device enters or exits the geofence boundary.

How Can Companies Use This Information?

There are several ways that geofence marketing can be used with digital ads to make your marketing more effective and more targeted, not only to users but also user activities.

SMS Notifications

Many companies are now using SMS marketing, which requires people to opt-in to receive text messages from a business.

These are often used to alert customers of new sales and send coupons, which is why users will opt into these for businesses they frequent.

Using geofence marketing allows you to get more contextual with your customer interactions. For example, if someone is eating dinner at a nearby restaurant, you can send a text about your new frozen yogurt flavor with a 20% off coupon to entice them to visit your shop for dessert.

Push Notifications

Push notifications provide similar capabilities as SMS, only they are received through an application rather than by text. For example, many users enable push notifications on their phones for apps like Slack or Facebook.

If you have a company mobile app for your products or services and people have notifications enabled, you can use geofence marketing to send push notifications when someone is inside that designated boundary.

Digital Ads

If you are a local business, then it is important to optimize for mobile searches. 88% of consumers that do a local search on their smartphones will visit or call a shop within 24 hours of that search.

Using geofence marketing with your pay-per-click ads on Google, Facebook, or another site can help you reduce unnecessary spending on people too far away from your city to be a viable lead. Instead, you can laser-target your ad spend based upon location.

This location-based marketing also allows you to serve up digital ads based upon location factors to make them more relevant to the person. For example, if you have two locations in neighboring towns, you can serve up city-specific ads that are more relevant to each user.

Flexibility to Get Creative With Your Marketing

Because you have the ability to geofence according to any geographical boundary, you can set a small fence around your business or a larger one of several blocks.

You can serve up creative ads or messages that are more relevant to a user and enhance their interactions with your company.

You can even use geofencing to target mobile searchers who might be walking into a competitor’s location and not realize your shop has lower prices and is right around the corner.

Here are some ideas for where to set up a geofence:

  • Your city
  • Your retail location
  • Colleges
  • Events
  • Hotels
  • Downtown or tourist areas
  • Neighborhoods
  • Competitor locations

 

Want to Find Out How Geofence Marketing Can Work for Your Business?

Twin State Technical Services can help your Quad Cities area business explore the most advanced Search Engine Marketing & Digital Marketing Technologies to improve lead conversion and return on investment.

Contact us today for a consultation. Call 563-441-1504 or contact us online.

 

References linked to:

https://www.tsts.com/web-mobile-development/digital-marketing/

https://www.oberlo.com/blog/mobile-usage-statistics

The Shift to Ecommerce: Improving Buyer Experiences Across Industries – Twin State Technical Services (tsts.com)

https://www.tsts.com/web-mobile-development/website2app/

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/local-seo-stats

https://www.tsts.com/digital-marketing/pay-per-click-management-sevices/

https://www.tsts.com/digital-marketing/graphic-design/

https://www.tsts.com/digital-marketing/search-engine-marketing/

https://www.tsts.com/contact/

 

 

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