What is Geofencing ? by James McCarthy
With so many events held in Volusia County each year , how best to leverage those events in support of your business should be top of mind . One resource to consider : Geofencing .
Geofencing is a tactic used by businesses and events to target advertisements at a consumer based on their physical location . The location can range from a single address , commercial building or neighborhood . Geofencing an event is a great way for a business to target large groups of people with similar intent .
How could businesses use Geofencing to target an event ?
Let ’ s take a look at two examples . Recently many local hospitals have been hosting job fairs to fill positions . We can make some assumptions about the people who attend a job fair :
1 . They are proactively looking for a job 2 . They are looking for a job at a hospital or in the medical field
3 . We know the area where they are looking for work
Knowing this information provides digital advertisers with the capacity to target those attendees based on attending the job fair . An example of this could be an online job board targeting those specific attendees with display and video ads related to medical positions and opportunities .
A second example involves an event that took place recently in Daytona Beach - Welcome to Rockville . This event was estimated to attract ~ 40,000 daily attendees . Again we can make some assumptions about the event and attendees .
1 . Attendees enjoy concerts and social events 2 . Attendees may enjoy drinking 3 . Attendees may have discretionary income
Is Geofencing a good marketing channel for small businesses ?
As with most good questions , it depends . In this instance , it depends on the business and marketing campaign objective . There are lots of small businesses that could certainly increase brand awareness in the area with a well-crafted , targeted , location-based marketing strategy .
Examples of small businesses using location-based targeting :
• A marketing firm geofencing local chamber of commerce
• A personal injury firm targeting auto repair shops
• A pet grooming company targeting the homes of pet owners
Can you track conversions with a geofencing campaign ?
Yes , a good geofencing campaign can provide traditional conversion tracking with a pixel on a website and also offers an additional conversion tracking method . You are able to geotarget the location where a conversion location takes place . This way you can use the customer ’ s physical location to measure the success of a campaign and conversion . For example , if your campaign is medical recruitment , you could measure a conversion based on a candidate showing up for the job interview . No website pixel is required .
What is the goal of a geofencing campaign ?
All marketing campaigns largely fall into two categories - ROI and Awareness . Geofencing does a wonderfully efficient job of building awareness for brands . It can assist ROI campaigns such as paid search campaigns since geo-campaigns keep your brand top of mind .
Knowing this information , multiple small and medium businesses could target this event . One example would be a large brand , such as an alcohol company or an event ticketing company . Smaller businesses might be local criminal defense law firms marketing DUI services .
James McCarthy is a digital marketer and entrepreneur , including being the founder and CEO of Placement Labs , an innovative Marketing , Web Design , and SEO company located in Daytona Beach , Florida .
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