The rise of mobile usage in the United States is generating increased attention on geo-fencing. This tactic allows marketers and advertisers to target consumers based upon their geographic location, but it is not always as easy as it sounds. One mobile advertising industry study found that 4 out of 5 Americans expect mobile ads to help them find a brand/product nearby, with 50 % even looking to mobile ads to influence a change in brand support. Geo-fencing is popular, but how can you effectively map out your strategy?
Know Your Consumer
This holds true for all aspects of marketing and advertising, and brings its own twist to geo-fencing. If you’re going to build an effective geo-fencing strategy, you need to understand the mobile usage of your consumers. What do they use their devices for? Do they frequently search from their device? The answers to these questions provide a good starting point.
Get Outside YOUR Box
Thinking outside the box in this sense means looking at consumers outside your immediate local area. Building geo-fences to market toward customers only within the area around your business limits your reach, and fails to challenge competitors outside the local area. You need to build your geo-fences around the customers you are targeting, not just your company’s physical location.
Call-to-Action
Your geo-fencing campaign shouldn’t just exist to spread the word about your brand, but also to prompt action from the consumers viewing your ad. Each time your brand appears on their mobile device, the ad needs to generate interest and push consumers toward action with a coupon offer, limited-time sale, or other urgent message that peeks the interest of the consumer.
Incorporate Along with other Targeting Techniques
Geo-fencing alone isn’t going to drive business, generate phone calls, and boost revenue. It should be used as part of a comprehensive targeting strategy that also features context targeting, day-parting (time of day your ads appear), and retargeting to focus on new consumers.
Read More: 3 Tips on How to Target Your Audience
Be Transparent
No one likes a snoopy neighbor, and that goes double for companies that invade the privacy of consumers. When you’re reaching out to consumers looking to grab their business, it is important to clarify for them what your company will do with their private information. Consumers love discounts and coupons, but not at the expense of their privacy.
Optimize
Last but not least, don’t set and forget your geo-fencing strategy. Make use of data and analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of your campaigns. Is your brand mentioned more on social media? Are your deals shared by thousands or not? What about user engagement? Use data analytic tools to evaluate your campaign and tweak your geo-fencing strategy as required.
Read More: Tips to Build a Better Geofence for Your Small Business