4 Ways to Use Geofencing in Digital Advertising

Fencing Focused on the Business Location

As noted, the traditional use of the tactic has been to define a fence around the business. For businesses like retail and restaurants that depend on foot traffic and in-person visits, it’s a great option. One example is fencing a shopping area with a mix of stores and dining options to prompt those nearby to stop. The ad could contain a special discount or offer to tempt them.

Measuring the effectiveness of such a campaign could correlate to clicks on the ad to receive the offer and monitoring increases in foot traffic.

Geofencing Competitors

The second way to use geofencing is to designate areas for ad serving that relate to competitor locations. You can suggest competitive geofencing for a variety of advertisers, including:

• Retail and restaurants: Target people with special deals to persuade them to shop or eat at your customers’ businesses. This can work for any consumer-focused company, including specialty ones like cannabis dispensaries.
• Companies with recruitment needs: Fence competitor organizations with ads that showcase your advertiser’s business as a great place to work with incentives like sign-on bonuses.
• Auto dealerships: Create a fence encompassing dealership-concentrated areas, as many cities have areas where multiple dealers are in one place.

Targeting Ideal Customers in Specific Locations

The third way to geofence is to create fences around places where ideal customers spend time. In this approach, you can work with your advertisers on defining these. Here are some examples:

• Pet stores could geofence dog parks, as animal parents spend lots of time there.
• Specialty retailers for products related to sports or athletic activities could use geofencing around areas where people engage in these activities. For example, popular running trails or parks could be good spots for stores that sell products to this audience.
• Casinos can fence places where tourists stay beyond hotels, like RV parks.
• Recruitment advertising could also use this approach by geofencing trade schools, high schools and colleges to attract talent.

Applying Fences to Specific Events

You can also suggest these campaigns to advertisers that would gain value from serving ads to people at specific events. These would be places with a high concentration of a target audience. There are several ways this can help your customers.

First, they could target events like concerts, festivals and fairs to drive people to their locations. For example, nearby restaurants could push ads with discounts for attendees.

Sports arenas are another option to drive people to restaurants or bars after the game.

Trade shows and conferences are a third way to use this type of geofence. Companies exhibiting could use it to increase booth traffic. Additionally, ads showcasing an in-demand product would keep the brand top of mind to attendees.