Anytime that I talk about geofencing, people get extremely excited. What better way to target and grow my audience! But then as we go through the steps, many elements of this amazing online advertising opportunity can get lost in the shuffle. In short – how would you like to draw a line or ‘fence’ around your competitor’s waiting room, then deliver targeted ads to anyone who enters that area with a discounted invitation to come and visit your business? Think of the possibilities here!

As we have seen, many people don’t take advantage of this great online advertising tool – therefore, the team has urged me to write a blog that is basically a “Geofencing 101” to help everyone out there who could benefit from this geographic fencing tool understand exactly how it can explode their business for pennies on the dollar.

Geofencing, a location-based marketing technology, is opening up a world of opportunities for strategic marketers and small business owners alike. Geofencing gives your business the ability to target people who have visited a specific geographic area, not just a zip code (that’s geotargeting).

You can put your geofence anywhere: stores, events, conferences, competitor locations, and of course: YOUR BUSINESS.

Geofencing can help companies increase awareness of their companies to new and existing customers. It can also help drive traffic to websites, and foot traffic to their physical locations. It also works for both products or services with or without brick and mortar locations. All types of companies have a unique opportunity to reach potential customers if they can get into their target audience’s thought processes.

When we’re working through options for geofencing campaigns for our clients, we start with a list similar to this:

• What other products does your target audience buy?
• What stores could you foresee selling products in?
• What stores does your target audience shop in?
• Who are your direct competitors?
• Who are your indirect competitors?
• What types of activities does your target audience do?
• How far would your target audience drive to visit your location?

Let’s explore some examples together. First, we’ll start with location-based companies.

One way brick and mortar stores can use geofencing to their advantage is to retarget people who have already visited their store. This is a great way for businesses to stay top-of-mind!

1. Senior Living Communities.

We’d recommend setting fences around all of your local competitors. Home health agencies could be another option, as they would become a referral source for you. Adult daycare centers would be another option we’d look into for the same reason.

By fencing your competitors, you would not only be capturing everyone who currently lives in those competing communities, but also everyone who is visiting and taking tours. Isn’t that powerful?

2. Dental Practices.

Since we know dental insurance plays a factor in who a patient chooses to see, we’d suggest taking your targeting one step further by only including dental offices who accept the same types of insurance as you.

3. Yoga Studios or Fitness Studios/Gyms.

First, we’d suggest fencing other local yoga studios, pilates studios, or fitness centers. Next, we’d also think about where your target audience might buy health and fitness supplements and vitamins nearby.

4. Nutrition Products.

We’d recommend targeting places where your product could be sold, such as nutrition centers and vitamin stores, but also expand this to gyms and fitness centers. Your marketing campaign may also benefit from targeting fitness expo events, marathons/race weekends, fitness competitions, etc.

5. Athletic Wear.

We’d recommend targeting places such as fitness and dance studios and gyms. We’d also suggest stores where your (or similar) products are sold. Another tactic would be to use fences during fitness expos and competitions.

6. Hair Care Products.

You could target beauty schools and major hair salons. This would be for both using your products in their locations, as well as presenting a re-selling opportunity. The thought process we have for this one is: if a consumer is paying to go to a nice beauty salon to get their hair done, they might enjoy recreating that beauty salon experience in their own home with your products.

To generate results in an online advertising campaign, you need someone to measure the results on a regular basis and make adjustments to the campaign. If you’re noticing one adset tanking, or one adset generating tons of results, change something! Turn off weak-performing ads!

So, does geofencing seem like it could help you hit your goal, or be a great addition to your marketing plan? Yes? Great! If you have any questions about geofencing and how it can help your company hit your marketing goals, reach out to our team of Go! Agents.