The Ultimate Guide to Geofencing Marketing

Intro

Have you given any thought to the notifications you receive when you’re in close proximity to your favorite cafe or restaurant? Let's say you're in the mall and a Starbucks coupon pops up on your phone. As you raise your head, you spot a Starbucks.

Or maybe you've got a discount on a phone cover immediately after buying a smartphone, or an offer for an ACD (automatic call distribution) system right after setting up your contact center?

These experiences are made possible by geofencing marketing.

What is geofencing?

Geofencing has become a standard tool for marketers and businesses as the number of smartphone service providers around the world grows. The market is projected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 25.8% over the next five to 10 years.

(Image sourced from maximizemarketresearch.com )

When coupled with an app, geofencing—a form of location-based marketing—creates a virtual geographical border, leveraging GPS to connect with users within its confines.

Cellular data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, RFID (radio frequency identification), and GPS all work together to pinpoint your location. This information is then used by different smartphone apps to send alerts when you enter or leave a certain area.

You can block off part of the world on a map by drawing a border around the area you want to target. This helps facilitate increased interest in your product or service among local consumers.

What is geofencing marketing?

This tool, like others in a marketer's toolbox, is used to make a company more visible in a certain area. Businesses can target clients with location-based, personalized marketing when they enter or exit a geofenced region.

Companies of all sizes, from national chains to mom-and-pop shops, can benefit from this proximity marketing strategy. The radius of the geographical boundary is adjustable from 200-1,000 meters. For example, a brand can "geofence" the area around its storefront and send marketing messages to people nearby.

When a customer enters a restricted area, they will see an ad that is designed just for them. The user may be presented with this advertisement via voucher, in-app notification, or SMS.

Advertising to a certain geographic area can help in the following ways:

• Brands can increase foot traffic by sending advertisements, promotions, and push alerts to customers' mobile devices.
• Business and community groups sponsoring fairs, festivals, and concerts can utilize it to pique the interest of attendees and draw them to their booths.
• You can use a geofence to lure customers away from the competition by enclosing an area around their store.
• Geofencing helps businesses compile customer data, such as how long they stayed in a store or where they went while they were there, so they can better understand their habits and preferences.

The benefits of geofence marketing

Among other exciting benefits, businesses can effectively drive traffic to physical locations with geofencing marketing.

(Image sourced from sitecentre.com.au)

Here are some advantages of using it to modernize your business.

Improving brand awareness

Boosting brand recognition and driving traffic to your online channels are both benefits of geotargeted advertising.

You can use these advertisements to remind your target audience you exist, are nearby, and are ready to assist them. They will remember your store and brand better as a result.

Personalizing your customer experience

You can also tailor your messages to the specific demographics and geographic region you've selected with a geofence to personalize the customer’s journey.

Collecting information about buyers' habits

When compared to digital marketing, geotargeted advertising provides real-time data for businesses to learn about individuals with a strong intent to buy. Over time, you can utilize this to finetune your advertising and targeting strategies for optimal performance.

Similar to the results of a website audit, geotargeting can provide some enlightening data. Customers' anonymized location data can show which competitors' stores they frequent, whose billboards they may have seen, and which highways or neighborhoods they visit.

This means advertisers can work on increasing their campaigns' effectiveness, or find out if nearby businesses are legitimate rivals.

Boosting customer loyalty

(Image sourced from webfx.com)

If you use geofencing marketing responsibly, you can boost customer loyalty without annoying your audience. If you provide new consumers with a unique experience (perhaps with incentives like discounts), they’re more likely to become loyal patrons.

Incorporating geofencing into your advertising campaign

Understand your audience

If you have any experience with website visitor identification or other customer data collection methods, you know that understanding customers is crucial to driving results.

You must learn about their demographics, including gender, age, interests, and purchasing habits, to finetune your advertising campaigns. What is it about your company they enjoy? How come they immediately thought of you when they needed your product?

Understanding your demographic will help you compose and design ads that resonate with your target market.

Discover what geofence size is best for you

Larger geofences are more expensive to set up, but they may not always be necessary. For example, if your geofence covers a wide radius around your business, you may be wasting money on consumers who live too far away to make the trip in person.

Constructing several smaller geofences may be more effective than a single large one. The maximum distance perimeters should be from your shop is about five minutes.

You aren't limited to only the outside of your shop though. Setting up geofences at events is a viable option in some circumstances. Your small business can use this to advertise its presence at events like music festivals.

Use a compelling call to action

Avoid talking only about your products and services. Advertise in-store discounts or offer incentives for viewers to reply to the alerts. In the same way you would harness the power of user search intent, you should provide them with a compelling reason to visit your business.

Your message will benefit from a direct request for a specific action. This call to action should ideally elicit an urgent response.

In contrast to a generic "40% off everything!" sign, a message like "Last day to claim 40% off PBX phone systems for small business" is significantly more likely to provoke a response.

Leverage other targeting alternatives

With geotargeted ads, you can choose from a number of targeting options to help you reach the people you want to. These include:

(Image sourced from increasily.com)

Measuring the results of your geofencing ads

If you want to know if your geotargeted marketing initiatives are successful, you must keep tabs on the right key performance indicators and analytics. Users can collect data for campaigns using many different marketing tools.

Check out these analytics to see how you're doing:

• Advertisement views or impressions are the total number of times your ad was viewed.
• The ratio of clicks to total impressions is known as the click-through rate (CTR) of your advertisement.
• The CPM (cost per impression) is the price you spend for every one thousand impressions.
• Conversion zone visits are the total number of persons who saw your ad and then went to your store or other designated place.
• How much money was spent on advertising to bring in one customer is expressed as "cost per visit."
• The percentage of passing pedestrians that enter your shop via the front door is known as the "walk-in rate."

Adapt your marketing strategy as you see fit. Try tweaking your wording or advertising strategies if you find your target audience isn't reacting to your push alerts as you’d hoped.

Geofencing marketing best practices

Several factors should be considered to produce optimal outcomes when configuring geotargeted marketing.

GPS accuracy

The success of this advertising technique hinges on its geographic focus. Keep your position precise if you want to reach customers.

Protecting customer privacy

Always keep your consumers in the know about how you're using their location data to deliver their special offers and discounts.

Keep your circle small

A too-large geofence is the most common cause of failure. Keeping everything on a manageable scale allows you to attract more relevant potential buyers.

Target key locations

For example:

• Your business premises
• The competition’s premises
• Events and gatherings
• Universities and institutions
• Hospitals
• Surrounding neighborhoods

Lock in your business growth with geofencing

In the end, geofencing is a useful method for connecting with customers and increasing your earnings. Using this valuable tool will give your company an advantage over its rivals.

Having loyal customers who actively participate in your business' success through click conversions is among the many benefits you can expect.

Use this wonderful tool today to provide time-sensitive discounts to local customers when you're looking to boost foot traffic.