What is Geofencing Advertising?

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2 Minutes Read

Geofencing (also known as proximity marketing) is the process of triggering an advertisement or message when consumers enter a geographic location. This technology lets marketers and advertisers set up virtual fences around a precise geographic area, down to the contours of a building, to trigger targeted ads.

Geofencing lets you target people on a hyper-local level, down to the individual building (such as malls, retail centers, and competitors) or individual events (such as trade shows, conventions, concerts, and sporting events).

Many industries have adopted geofencing marketing as part of their marketing and advertising strategy. When you target specific buildings or hyper-targeted-areas for your marketing campaign, you can often reach your target market more effectively than when you just focus on locations within a small radius of your locations. Geofencing allows you to build virtual fences around locations where your target audience most likely visits.

For an urgent care center offering occupational medicine services, targeting large employers in the area may be the ideal strategy by which to build awareness and direct response.

A personal injury lawyer who wishes to advertise at hospitals and ERs might find that the best way to reach accident victims and build awareness of their law practice is through targeted ads.

Geofencing enables marketers to deliver location-based messages to customers based on their physical activities and the places they go.

Perhaps your target audience includes people who are in the market for a new vehicle. They have demonstrated their intent by visiting car dealerships, and people with a demonstrated high level of intent are more likely to become engaged customers.

Geofencing can increase engagement with your advertising if you target your audience carefully.

 

Benefits of Geofencing:

  • Geofencing is a location-based technology that does not require physical beacons.
  • Geofencing allows marketers to deliver ads to users at a specific location, making the technology much more effective than a broad online ad campaign.
  • Advertisements can be served through over one million applications and websites.
  • Advertisers can target the users when they are at the geofenced location.
  • Advertisers can continue to target users after they leave a geofenced location.
    • Geofencing caps the number of days that a person can see your ads, but if that person clicks on your ad and visits your website, you can retarget the person for up to a year.

What Geofencing is not:

  • Geofencing is not the same as 1-mile radius targeting or even 1-block targeting.
  • Facebook claims to have a location solution down to 1 mile, but geofencing should designate a more precise area than simply a radius around your business on a map. 

Interested in Geofencing Advertising? Contact Iron City Media today to learn more.

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David Dobson

Creatively curious marketer talks about all things marketing, video editing, and video marketing.

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