Have you ever wondered why you receive push notifications when you pass a specific location? Perhaps you received a coupon on your mobile device when you entered a local business, or maybe a text that asked how your visit was after leaving a business location. All of these instances describe businesses that are using a location-based marketing strategy called geofencing marketing.
With the rise of mobile users across the United States, geofencing marketing has become an effective digital marketing strategy for large and small businesses alike.
What is Geofencing Marketing?
Geofencing marketing is a location-specific marketing service that local businesses use to engage their target customers. Local businesses target users by sending relevant messages to smartphone users that enter predetermined virtual boundaries or geographic areas. This mobile marketing strategy gives local businesses the opportunity to interact via mobile devices with customers and potential clients who are nearby.
How Do Location Services Help Local Businesses?
Marketers can send product offers or specific promotions to consumers’ or potential customers’ mobile devices when they trigger a search in a particular location, geographically, whether this be in a mall, store, or even neighborhood!
The market constantly changes, and customers find themselves swamped with irrelevant ads.
Geofencing gives businesses the opportunity to capitalize on two of the most important aspects of the buyer’s journey when they intersect: time and location.
What is Geofencing?
Geofencing is a location-based marketing tool that, when integrated with a mobile app and GPS coordinates, creates a virtual boundary around a specific geographical location. Marketers can use GPS technology to send push notifications to consumers inside the virtual boundary.
Learn more about the geofencing definition.
What Does a Geofencing Marketing Strategy Mean for Your Business?
What does an investment into geofencing marketing mean for your business, though? This location-based form of digital marketing means you deliver the right message at the right place and time. This form of advertising is a powerful way to connect with both new and preexisting customers.
Need to know more? What are some Examples of Geofencing?
How Does Geofencing Marketing Work?
Successful geofencing marketing works by creating meaningful interactions between a local business and local customers. Businesses can capitalize on this mobile marketing strategy by combining technology with precise customer targeting techniques, along with genuine, personalized marketing messages.
Geofencing Technology
The marketing strategy begins with geofencing technology, which uses beacon technology, GPS, or even IP addresses to build the geo fence.
When app users enter the virtual boundary, the mobile or geofencing app sends a push notification to their mobile devices. Geofencing marketing experts can send these target audience members special ads or messages.
Geofencing Targeting Methods
By using highly localized and hyper-targeting methods, the geofencing strategy produces fewer but much more qualified leads when compared to other advertising methods. Because of this, geofencing campaigns lead to higher quality clicks and a better ROI (return on investment) and ROAS (return on ad spend).
The geofencing advertising strategy relies on meeting your customer’s needs right where they are. This relies on you, as the business owner, really understanding what your local customers prefer and harnessing the power of “near me” searches to garner more foot traffic–that is if you are running the geofencing marketing campaign yourself.
Professional Geofencing Marketing Services
When you work with an experienced digital marketing agency, you’ll reap more of the benefits of geofencing marketing campaigns without the need to collect data yourself.
At Digital Logic, we already understand how to quickly compile location data and marketing metrics. This helps your local business skip the “trial-and-error stage” that can cost your business more than you’re willing to pay in some cases.
Data collection of search analytics and demographics play a critical role in ensuring success for a geofencing marketing campaign.
How Much Does Geofencing Cost?
One of the most often asked questions we receive is, “What’s the cost to geofence?” or “How much does geofencing cost?” The answer–it depends.
Much like web ad costs, several factors determine the cost associated with a geofencing marketing campaign.
Cost Influences for Geofencing Marketing Campaigns
Typically, the price for geofencing marketing ranges from $4 to $15 CPM (cost per thousand impressions). However, several factors affect the price, including impression volume, advanced targeting features, and the ability of your digital marketing agency.
Use our cost per thousand calculator.
Geofence Size and Numbers
The size and number of geofences will influence the cost of your geofencing marketing campaign.
With larger geo fencing areas, the CPM is lower because the volume is increased, and with smaller geo fencing areas, the CPM is higher.
Reporting Data for Local Performance
Also, take into consideration the level of reporting you expect from your geofencing advertising investment.
Not all geofencing marketing services are created equal.
Some marketing companies are completely transparent and in it to genuinely help small business owners, while others are not. Certain companies will give you a breakdown of the impressions per location, while some will only give you an overall campaign total.
At Digital Logic, we use the Google Analytics platform to monitor the success of our geofencing promotions. (We provide a free Google Analytics tutorial here.)
While we do monitor metrics, such as ad impressions and online conversions, if your business goal is to attract customers locally, we will ensure that were are targeting users that will help to increase your company’s foot traffic.
Data Layering for Geofencing Campaigns
How much data layering do you need to receive the most benefits of geofencing marketing?
Behavior and demographic targeting, as well as re-targeting options, usually come at a cost. These options are normally well worth the investment, as they further ensure the success of your campaign by really honing in on your target audience.
Can I Use Geofencing Without SEO?
As more businesses shift their marketing budgets to digital advertising, mobile marketing and local SEO should be part of this mix.
Location-based marketing is one of the best ways to increase local sales while maximizing a tight budget.
The benefits of geofencing certainly do not take away from the benefits of SEO.
Both geofencing marketing and SEO campaigns can have extensive impacts, especially for legal marketing and marketing for medical practices. An effective geofencing marketing strategy will help convert those top-of-the-funnel consumers who have shown interest in your local business or purchase intent.
For example, “I am injured and in the emergency room now.”
What is SEO?
SEO is short for search engine optimization. This marketing strategy focuses on optimizing your website so that search engines, like Google, are able to understand them more easily.
The difference between organic and paid search is that with SEO, you’re optimizing your website to rank organically over time, and with geo fencing or PPC ads, you are paying for a searcher to see your website or marketing message once.
When you have a solid SEO strategy, you’re more likely to rank for several high-impact keywords. The same potential customers who saw your ads from your geofencing campaign will be more likely to visit your search listing, regardless of whether they searched for your branded or non-branded keywords.
Furthermore, Google gives preference to ads based on their quality score.
Your quality score is comprised of the expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. The more relevant your landing pages are to your ads, the higher your score will be. The higher your quality score, the less you’ll have to pay upfront to reach the local population, essentially.
SEO helps ensure that your quality score is high and your CPC is low.
Why Use Geofencing Marketing?
Last but certainly not least–why should you start geofencing marketing? Why does geofencing get business owners so excited, and how can it help you?
There are four major benefits to adding geofencing marketing to your current marketing strategy:
Reach Target Audience Efficiently
The biggest advantage of geofencing marketing is that your message becomes increasingly more relevant to your target audience.
By reaching out to those who are geographically “close” to your business or retail store and layering other context-targeting data on top, you’re much more likely to see conversions from geofencing marketing strategies than if you were simply casting a net with your online efforts.
Use Digital Marketing Budget More Efficiently
Higher quality leads lead to more effective marketing budgets. With geofencing advertising, you’re able to reach out to the audience who is the most likely to convert for your particular business.
When you’re able to personalize customer offers, less budget is spent on less relevant customers.
Advanced Data Analytics With Geofencing
If executed correctly, geofencing marketing campaigns can bring about a whole new world of data.
With the right marketing team, you’ll be able to collect very valuable data on your target audience, traffic patterns, duration, and messaging effectiveness.
Better Advertising Attribution With Geofencing
Geofencing marketing bridges the gap between online advertising and action.
You’re able to see when the consumer saw the mobile ad as well as the next actions taken by the consumer. This data can help improve your marketing strategies across the board, which will improve your marketing ROI quickly.
Location-Based Marketing Answers
Now that we’ve covered the basics of geofencing marketing for business, we’ll cover a few more of our frequently asked questions about location-based marketing strategies.
How Do You Set Up a Geofence?
If you’re using geofencing marketing to promote your business locally, the first step is setting up the geofence. Geofences can be as small as 200 meters to 2,000 meters, in general.
The next step includes creating an optimized landing page, followed by scheduling target audience-appropriate mobile campaigns, custom URLs, forms, and/or games.
Then, using the data collected from those marketing efforts, you’re able to fine-tune your geofencing marketing strategy.
We provide more information here: How to Set Up a Geofence
Does Geofencing Marketing Work On Social Media Platforms?
Many social media platforms allow local businesses to harness the power of location data and local searches to reach more local customers. The two most common platforms for geofencing advertising right now are Facebook and Snapchat.
We provide more information for Facebook geofencing and Snapchat geofencing in separate blog posts.
Does Geofencing Marketing Rely on Location Accuracy?
Yes, your geofencing marketing campaign heavily relies on the target consumer’s accuracy of the location.
However, with today’s technology and radio frequency identifiers, professional marketers can pinpoint and detect whether or not a mobile user is within your geo fencing boundary.
Work With One of the Best Geofencing Marketing Companies
If you’re interested in our geofencing marketing and advertising services, contact us to discuss your marketing goals. Most of the time, with our services, geofencing is only one part of a more comprehensive campaign. We help you reach your business goals and get customers and the lowest possible price.
Learn more about our digital marketing services, like our PPC management service or our SEO service, or drop us a chat below. At Digital Logic, we also offer free SEO audit services!
