What is Geofence Marketing?

Okay, geofence marketing is not a new strategy necessarily, but it hasn’t been as popular (or affordable) as other digital marketing tactics until recently. Geofencing allows advertisers to show ads to devices within a certain geographical area. It could be a certain address or a virtually defined space around a specific location. Think of an invisible dog fence. You can’t physically see it, but it outlines a space to keep the dog in the yard. Now imagine that invisible barrier, but instead of keeping track of dogs, it keeps track of smartphones and devices in order to show them ads. That is geofence marketing.

How Does it work?

A virtual geofence is traced around an event location where a company wants to build an audience based on their visit to that particular location during a set, scheduled period of time. 

When someone enters the geo-fenced location during the set timeframe, they will then become part of an audience that can later be targeted following the event. As the user visits various apps or websites on their phone or smart device, they will begin to see ads from said company. This person will continue to see ads for 30+ days after they were pinged inside the geofence.

When is geofence marketing helpful?

Tradeshows and Events

Geofencing can be used in a handful of situations. In the before time, (pre-COVID) we had things called trade shows, conventions, conferences, etc. Now, we are starting to see these large gatherings planned once again. What’s great about events like these is normally you have a large venue filled with people who all have a common interest or industry.  

Let’s say you own a business selling truck parts and there’s a trucking convention coming up. Before the convention, you can draw a virtual boundary around the convention center on a geofence platform. All the people that go inside that boundary and have their location service turned ‘ON’ on their phone or tablet can now be targeted with your ads. 

This is a great strategy because you already can assume that most (if not all) the people attending the trucking convention are interested or connected to the trucking industry in some way. This already gives you an advantage in targeting them and it cuts down on wasted ad spend.

Addressable Geofencing

Geofencing can also be used to target certain addresses. That could be a business address or a home address. For example, your truck parts business could acquire a list of addresses for businesses that have a large fleet of trucks — say a garbage collection company. A great potential customer. You can input their address into a geofence platform and target that facility individually. This allows you to serve ads to those inside of the building. Hopefully, showing your ad to the main decision-makers for that business. The ones you want to be in front of.

Many businesses also opt to put a virtual boundary around their own brick-and-mortar store. This can provide a few key advantages for companies. First, people that come to your store will start to see ads after they leave. This will keep your business top of mind. If the customer wasn't ready to purchase just yet, your ads will stay in front of them. When they are ready to pull the trigger on a purchase, your brand will most likely be a contender!

Competitive Geofencing

Another option to consider when setting up your virtual boundary is putting one around your competitor's store. The benefits of doing this are similar to those listed above, with an added plus - your company could be attracting additional customers away from a competitor. What's not to love there? 

Conclusion 

Geofence marketing gives a business a leg up when targeting potential customers and audiences. Running a geofence display marketing campaign doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming. If you or your business is looking to learn more about geofence marketing and how it can help grow your business, contact us here.