It’s no secret that technology is getting more advanced by the minute. The great thing when it comes to digital marketing is we can often use those advancements to our advantage. We’ve previously talked in depth about SEO, social media marketing, and email marketing. Each of these topics is important for a business’s online presence. But what about when you want to put a lot of firepower behind one event, location, or time frame? One of the things we’ve been able to utilize in recent years is something called geofencing.
A typical campaign uses several different means of targeting – behavior, interests, and location. However, there are some situations where a person’s behavior and interests are not as relevant as simply having target ads shown to any person in a specific location.
Geofencing is defined as setting up virtual boundaries around a point or area that can track whenever someone with a mobile device crosses them. This means that as soon as someone crosses that virtual line, they are highly likely to be targeted by your ads.
When would I use geofencing?
- Geofencing is a fantastic tool to use for events – you can set a boundary around the event center and hotels that event goers are staying at. If you’re one of many vendors at that event center, geofencing could give you a leg up on visibility.
- You can also use geofencing as a tool to combat your competitors. Say, for example, that you’re a hardware store with a competitor across town. If you know your prices are better than theirs, you could set a boundary around their store so that shoppers are likely to see your ad on their phone while within that boundary and choose to shop with you instead.
- Say you are promoting a rock concert. You could go the traditional route and target anyone with an interest in rock music and several other factors. But if there just so happens to be another rock concert at a large venue 30 miles away, it may be smarter to target that venue on the date of that rock concert. You could be sure anyone in that building already has an interest in not only rock music, but in attending concerts as well.
How can I use it?
- You can target areas as specific as a city block around a business, a grouping of hotels, or even an event center/building.
- If you want additional targeting, you can even get more specific within that boundary. For example, if you’re targeting an event center with thousands of people, but two distinct events are taking place the same day, you could choose to show ads to only people who are both inside the building and have an interest in woodworking.
- Once someone has seen your ads, they are subject to retargeting. This means that your ad will be shown to the same person several times if they are a potential customer, even after they leave the area where you have geofencing set up.
Online advertising can bring in an entirely new group of customers that would have never been exposed to your business otherwise. Whether you’re specifically interested in Google Ads or just want to see what options are available to you, reach out to [email protected]. She can help you determine which avenues are right for you!