Creepy or Not? Geofencing & How It Affects You

It is without doubt that mobile advertising is overpowering traditional desktop. Many businesses are shifting gears toward targeting very specific audiences based on their interests, location, behaviors, and other individual characteristics. Mobile geofencing is one of the many tactics small and large businesses are utilizing and with endless advances on the digital front, there are a number of ways to hone in and reach the best audience for your business objective. So let’s skip the small talk and jump on in.

Geofencing. We’ve all heard different variations of what this term means, but many don’t necessarily have a clear depiction of what it is. Geofencing in its simplest terms is a location-based mobile advertising feature that allows advertisers to set boundaries to trigger specific audiences based on pre-set location coordinates. Advertisers draw a custom perimeter around a specific location in which the technology can then monitor when people exit or enter this predetermined area. From here, ads or promotions can be sent directly to users’ phones, and since smartphones are so prominent in everyday life, this is a prime way to reach your target audience.

Okay… But How is Mobile Geofencing Done?

Determine which geographic location you wish to target. Ensure the location makes the most sense for your business whether you choose to target local residents, people in a specific state or span 10-15 miles out. Maybe your a local business and want to use mobile advertising right here in Rhode Island? Although small, geofencing locally is achievable! 

2. Establish the boundary by an administrator or developer

3. As customers navigate into your geofencing area, they are triggered with an ad directing them one step closer to conversion

4. Conversion zones allow advertisers to track the number of people who come to your location after visiting another geofenced location. This is determined after an ad is served

So What Are the Benefits of Mobile Geofencing for Your Small Business?

1. Highly targeted- With mobile geofencing, you can target very specific audiences by demographics and geographics. Not only does this give your small business a better idea of who to target and who to exclude, but it gets more granular into making improvements to your messaging strategy and content.
2. Budget-friendly- It’s cost efficient! You’re creating a geofence around a particular location rather than trying to reach a broad audience. You pay when that customer walks into your geofenced area.
3. Mobile- Customers receive notifications directly to their device. 95% of Americans own a cell phone are on their cell phones and according to New York Post, we check our phones 80 times per day, so what better way to reach them than mobile?
4. Increased sales- With geofencing, you can see exactly how many customers are entering your storefront and send them notifications for promotions that they can then act upon. Your sales will increase and you gain insight as to where to make future improvements.

5. Serving the right content to the right customer- Movile geofencing allows you to serve the most effective content to your target audience based on their demographics and shopping behaviors all while gaining new and valuable information to implement in the future.

6. Connect with your customers- Geofencing allows you to reach current or potential customers right in the proximity of purchase. According to Sales Force, 53% of shoppers visit stores right after receiving a location related alert so geofencing is perfect!

But What About Competitors?

Of course we can’t forget about what our competitors are up to. Whether you’re a restaurant or a doctor’s office, it’s important to keep an eye on what competing businesses are doing digitally. But how exactly can we do this?

Geo-conquesting- With geo-conquesting, you can create a geofence around a competitor’s location and well, steal their customers! How’s that for high tech? You can create a geofence in any given area, particularly that of your competitors, and serve them ads to persuade them to come to your store/ business instead. Many popular brands like Outback Steakhouse and Chrysler are actively implementing this in their mobile advertising efforts. Outback Steakhouse used geo-conquesting to send promotions to customers within a radius of casual dining restaurants directing them to a landing page with the Outback restaurant nearest them. Geo-conquesting allows advertisers to set up a geofence in a competitor’s location and serve ads while potential customers are there, driving them right to your door.

Okay, So What’s the Difference Between Geofencing and Beacon Technology? They’re Both Forms of Mobile Advertising…

Yes, this may be the case but they are not the same. Although they both use a customer’s geographic location to serve them ads, they differ in how they target people based on their location. Let’s explore further.

Geofencing:

Geofencing is GPS based and requires setting a boundary to send messages when people enter a given perimeter. Customers are served customized messages or promotions as they enter this zone.

Beacons:

Beacon tech is proximity based and hardware is installed in order to implement them. Through bluetooth devices, customers receive push notifications when they are within a particular area.To sum it up, geofencing is best for targeting large areas and does not require any additional hardware whereas beacons are suitable for smaller indoors areas with bluetooth after installing hardware. Beacons are primarily used in retail stores like Target and Walmart, so as a local small business seeking new customers, geofencing is the affordable and effective mobile advertising option!

How Do I Know if Mobile Geofencing is Right for My Business?

• Gain and maintain customers– If you’re looking to gain new customers and maintain their business, geofencing might be the golden key to doing so. With geofencing, you can gain valuable information about your customers that helps you understand and make modifications to how you communicate with them

• It’s the future– Geofencing is one of many staples of future mobile advertising efforts that small businesses like yours are implementing so now’s the time to hope on the bandwagon and reach more of your target customers
• More conversion– Do you want an increase in sales? Well geofencing is a step in that direction providing you the ability to send customized ads and promotional messages to shoppers within your geofence

Geofencing could be a great way to draw new customers right to your business front or better yet convert them into users of your product or service! If you’re interested in other mobile advertising techniques or just want some small business tips and tricks, check out our SEO blog or Small Business Marketing blog! This can all be overwhelming as a small business owner, but DDL Advertising is here to help!Sources: Salesforce, Forbes, Podcast: Geofencing for Small Business: Targeted Mobile Advertising Justin Croxton