Erin Hynes

In programmatic advertising, the more relevant an ad is, the more it will resonate with your target audience. Lots of factors, like personalised messaging, will contribute to the relevancy of your ads.

Another strategy? Reach your audience at the exact time, and the exact location, to increase the likelihood of them seeing, remembering, and taking action after viewing your ads. In digital advertising, targeting by location doesn’t just mean targeting users according to where they are online. It’s also possible to target audiences based on their specific physical location, with a geofence, or geo radius targeting. 

A geofence is a virtual fence that encloses a perimeter around a real-world location. With a geofencing strategy, you can personalize your digital campaigns based on your target audience’s offline location.

What Is Geofencing

Geofencing targets users based on the geographic location information of the recipient. This tactic draws a virtual fence around a geographic location, so that users who enter that “fenced” area are served your ads. 

Geofencing is a location-based targeting strategy, but don’t get it mixed up with geotargeting. A geotargeting strategy  uses a combination of factors, which can include geofencing, to reach a desired audience. 

The Benefits of Geofencing

Geofencing delivers several benefits that will help drive campaign performance.

1. Reach your target audience with precision.

You can leverage specific coordinates, or full addresses, including street number, street names, postal or zip codes, states or provinces, or country to create your geofence. As a result, with geofencing, you’re able to narrow your target audience down to a specific geographic location with as much (or as little) precision as you’d like. 

For example,  political advertisers could geofence an entire neighbourhood to get their campaign messaging out to a candidate’s voter base. Or, a CPG brand could geofence a sports stadium to reach sports fans who might want their merchandise for the next big game day. 

2. Personalize your audience’s ad experience.

Consumers and buyers today want personalized marketing experiences, and geofencing is one strategy you can use to provide that personalized message. Leveraging location data can help you create campaigns that are hyper relevant to a target audience, as long as it’s used in the right way. 

For example, during the back to school season, a brand selling back to school supplies can create a geofence around a university student dormitory. This will help ensure the back to school campaigns are served to the people who are actually returning to class. 

3. Drive conversions in relevant environments.

Brand awareness is the first important step in the marketing funnel. It is the moment in which a consumer or buyer becomes aware of your brand, and from there, they can be nurtured toward a purchase. 

With geofencing, you’re able to serve ads to relevant audiences, in a relevant environment where that ad is likely to resonate. For example, a restaurant inside a mall could geofence that mall, serving ads to people shopping. 

This way, their messaging would reach people who are, at that moment, considering buying a meal. That brand awareness has the potential to drive sales. 

Implement Your Geofencing Marketing Strategy

Ready to get started with a geofencing marketing strategy? These tips will help you build your strategy, and then implement it. 

1. Develop your intent for the geofencing campaign. Set goals and decide whether your campaign will run on desktop, mobile, or both.

2. Decide which ad formats to run your geofencing campaign with. Whether you choose display, native, video, digital out-of-home, or another format, the key is to ensure the format will work in the environment where your audience will see it. For example, if you’re targeting a mall, you will want to select mobile-friendly ad formats.

3. Craft ad creative and messaging that will resonate with your target audience. You’ll want to make sure the ad is contextual to the environment it’s seen in. For example, if you’re targeting an airport, referencing travel will make the ad relatable to viewers.

4. Decide on the specific geographic location that your geofence will target. You’ll set the perimeter, the “trigger,” and defined actions for your geofence. Get your campaign up and running through your DSP or programmatic partner.

5. Once your campaign is in flight, be sure to monitor the results! Analyzing campaign results mid- and post-flight will provide insights that you can leverage to improve your geofencing campaigns.

Leverage a retargeting strategy to re-engage users who have shown interest in your brand or product.

Geofencing FAQ

What is a geofencing campaign?

A geofencing campaign involves setting up virtual boundaries around a geographic point or area in order to target audiences that are in that physical location.  

How do you set up a geofencing campaign?

Set up a geofencing campaign by leveraging programmatic technology. You’ll input location data, such as an address, lat and long coordinates, or a postal code to create the perimeter around the area you would like to geofence.