If you want to connect with your target audiences based on their location, geofencing is one of the most effective strategies you can use. Using geofencing technology, you can send locally targeted ads, promotions, and other content to people where they’ll truly resonate.
In this blog, Briana Miller, Ignite Visibility’s VP of Paid Media will guide you on what geofencing is and how you can use it to elevate your national to local marketing efforts.
What You’ll Learn:
- What Is Geofencing and How Does It Work?
- Geotargeting vs. Geofencing: Understanding the Difference
- What Is Geofencing Used for?
- How to Implement Geofencing for Marketing Success
- Costs of Geofencing: Is It Worth It?
What Is Geofencing and How Does It Work?
Also known as Geographic Information System (GIS) fencing, geofencing is a specific kind of location-based marketing tactic that can deliver targeted ads or messages to mobile users within a set geographical area. With it, it’s easy to target a specific geographic location in different ways.
The content that advertisers can deliver may include:
- Ads and offers
- Push notifications for mobile app users
- SMS text messages
- And more
Some companies also use geofencing to create interactive experiences. Perhaps you’ve heard of mobile games like Pokémon Go, which famously use geofencing to deliver augmented reality (AR) experiences to app users when they’re in certain areas.
In short, geofencing is about engaging audiences in direct connection with their physical location.
How Does Geofencing Work?
Now, how does geofencing work?
GIS fencing entails setting up designated virtual parameters of specific coordinates, creating a kind of “map” that limits geofencing experiences to the area within those parameters.
It uses a combination of technologies to create these boundaries, including Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, Wi-Fi, radio frequency identification (RFID), Bluetooth, and cellular data, enabling geofencing software to deliver various types of marketing content or other experiences to local mobile users.
For instance, a retail store could send a notification about a local discount or sale when mobile users with the store’s app are within a designated geofence. The store could also indicate the nearest location to help customers find it in their area.
My Expert Opinion on Geofencing
Locally targeted marketing is essential for any business with brick-and-mortar locations or specific service areas. In addition to geotargeting with location-specific ads, I’ve found geofencing to be a potentially invaluable tool for marketers to get the most from their campaigns.
This marketing method has been and continues to be a favorite among many brands because of the results it gets. By connecting with local audiences more directly, geofencing technology can greatly increase engagement with local audiences and drive more sales in the long term.
Just consider the following stats from PREDIK Data-Driven: The average click-through rate (CTR) for geofenced audiences falls at around 7.5% (a massive increase from the 0.35% average for all display ads); geofencing strategies can also yield a 20% increase in in-store traffic; and location-based marketing in general has led to increased customer engagement for 8 out of 10 marketers.
With the right approach to your campaigns, marketing geofencing can do wonders for your brand, helping you build an instant connection with potential customers in target locations and keep them engaged more consistently.
Geotargeting vs. Geofencing: Understanding the Difference
While they work similarly in the use of location-based audience targeting, it’s important to understand geotargeting vs. geofencing and how they differ.
Geotargeting refers to a location-based marketing strategy that targets people within a specific geographic area, such as a city or metropolitan area. Meanwhile, GIS fencing is a tactic that targets a fenced-in location based on very specific parameters.
Also, geotargeting tends to push locally targeted and responsive ads across the web as opposed to the more intimate direct messaging and notifications seen with marketing geofencing.
Both of these techniques have their advantages when it comes to local marketing.
While geotargeting is great for building more brand awareness with local ads and leading prospects to convert at a later date, geofencing is more about getting instant results through more immediate engagement.
For example, a coffee shop might use geotargeting to launch display ads to reach coffee drinkers within a city, promoting the brand. At the same time, that same shop might use push notifications to let local mobile users know about a promotion with a coffee shop coupon, encouraging customers to “buy now” at their nearest shop.
What Is Geofencing Used for?
With a better understanding of how geofencing works, what is geofencing used for? Here are some of the potential applications for this marketing method:
Retail Marketing
Retail locations can use GIS fencing to promote their locations and offerings, such as newly opened locations in the target audience’s areas or specific deals.
In many cases, retail stores use this technique to send SMS texts or notifications advertising limited-time offers and coupons for certain products, using fear of missing out (FOMO) to create a sense of urgency among local customers.
This hyper-targeted local marketing can supplement other local ads and content to continually engage potential and existing customers.
Event Promotions
Businesses can also use geofencing software to promote certain types of events, such as the launch of new business locations or offerings, sporting events, concerts, festivals, workshops, seminars, charity events, and many others.
Notifications and SMS messages can indicate when and where the event will take place and maximize engagement and attendance.
One example involves a multi-location sandwich franchise that used cross-device matching to advertise the launch of its new delivery service, which was a much-sought solution amid the pandemic. Audiences saw video ads promoting the launch to encourage more customers to take advantage of this service.
Competitor Targeting
Companies can steal their competitors’ business by using geofencing around competitor locations.
For instance, Burger King launched its Whopper Detour campaign to send push notifications about an even better deal from BK when visiting a McDonald’s location.
Ads instructed customers to download the BK app, enable location services, and go within 600 feet of a McDonald’s, where the BK app would then allow customers to buy a Whopper for a whopping one cent.
This campaign applied to thousands of McDonald’s locations to generate more business across the country.
How to Implement Geofencing for Marketing Success
How does geofencing work for marketing? Let’s dive into the steps to help your business make full use of this technique:
1. Define Clear Campaign Objectives
First, figure out what you want to achieve with your strategy. There are plenty of goals that can guide your efforts, such as:
- Boosting store visits and foot traffic
- Increasing sales and conversions
- Getting more app downloads and website traffic
- Encouraging more overall engagement
- Keeping customers loyal with better retention
- Maximizing event attendance
2. Identify Target Geographic Areas
Next, you can decide on the specific geofences you want to set up to reach audiences, which will largely depend on your goals.
For instance, if you’re opening a new location and want to drive more traffic to it, advertise it within a certain radius of that particular location.
Meanwhile, nationwide sales could target many geofenced areas across all locations.
Depending on the campaign, you can set up your geofence using either a radius within a certain area or a custom geometric shape with more defined borders.
3. Choose the Right Geofencing Software or Service
Certain factors can help you decide whether to go with geofencing companies or software to help you develop and launch your campaigns.
If you have the skills to get the most from it, you might benefit from purchasing geofencing software and developing a full campaign.
However, if you have neither the time nor the resources, or if you want much more than software to help you get the most from your campaigns, consider getting services that help you make full use of this software.
Geofencing companies can provide you with in-depth solutions that can go beyond basic geofencing, with the ability to help you with marketing and advertising.
4. Design Location-Specific Ads and Offers
With your campaign prepared, you can begin designing location-specific ad copy and visuals, with offers tailored to each location.
Certain geofencing companies that specialize in marketing could also help you with creative design and ensure you get the best results from your efforts. They can work with you to personalize messaging and images to speak more directly to target audiences.
5. Monitor and Optimize Campaign Performance
There are several techniques you can use to optimize geofencing to get better results with your efforts:
- Dynamic Geofences: User behavior in certain areas can impact geofences, with certain types of engagement influencing the kinds of offers and ads people see. For instance, a retail chain might push time-limited offers to each customer based on their purchase history and interests, driving more local foot traffic to specific stores.
- Integration With Loyalty Programs & CRMs: Offer rewards to existing customers and maximize engagement with loyalty program integration, such as specific discounts in certain areas that are exclusive to program members. Meanwhile, CRM integrations can help you factor marketing geofencing into your sales funnel to optimize lead conversion and sales.
- Competitor Conquesting: As mentioned, many companies use geofencing technology to drive business and engagement away from competitors. Setting up parameters around competing locations could allow you to promote offers and other exciting deals that make you more appealing. For example, a gym might target customers leaving a competitor’s location to promote an even better membership deal at a nearby location, perhaps advertising specific features that make them the better gym, such as lower prices or better equipment.
Costs of Geofencing: Is It Worth It?
You might also wonder about the cost of geofencing and whether it’s worth the investment.
Generally, there are two primary cost models, depending on whether you get software or work with a service provider.
Software comes with subscription costs in most cases, which can range anywhere from around $50 to $500 per month, depending on the scope of your campaigns and the features you need.
Meanwhile, geofencing companies will charge for campaign setup and management, which can cost considerably more but with the potential for even higher return on investment (ROI).
In any case, you’ll likely find geofencing to be more cost-effective in any case compared to traditional ads, as you can develop campaigns with more control and ease of budget adjustment.
As your needs change, you can efficiently pivot and scale your campaigns to maximize ROI and make the most of your budget.
Take Full Advantage of Geofencing With Ignite Visibility
If you would like to succeed with geofencing for your business, it helps to have experts who can fully implement these and other marketing solutions to help you succeed.
Ignite Visibility offers some of the most reliable location marketing solutions to connect with audiences at the national-to-local level, with GIS fencing contributing to holistic campaigns implementing local SEO, paid media, and more.
When you turn to us, you get:
- Access to the most effective geofencing marketing tools to set up geofences in nearly any location
- In-depth market research to identify target audiences and personalize ads
- Integrations of geofencing into CRMs and comprehensive marketing campaigns
- Continuous monitoring and analytics to help with continuous optimization
- And more!
Want to get started with a campaign today? Connect with our experts to learn what we can do for you!
