Think about this: what if you could send super specific ads to folks who hang out at your competitors’ places? Like, imagine someone’s checking out gadgets at another tech store and suddenly, their phone pops up an ad from your store offering a sweet deal on the latest smartphone. That’s what geofencing lets you do. It’s a tech tool that’s not super famous yet, but chances are, you’ve already seen ads powered by it without even realizing.

Geofencing sets up a virtual boundary—kind of like an invisible fence—around a location. When people enter this zone with location services turned on their smartphones, they start getting targeted ads. It’s a nifty way to turn people who might be just looking around into real customers for your business.

Understanding How Geofencing Powers Up Your Ads

So, what’s the deal with geofencing and how does it actually work? Well, it starts with picking a specific spot on the map—this could be anywhere like a street corner, the building of your competitor, or even the finish line at a big race. Then, we draw a virtual circle (or a fence, if you will) around that spot using GPS. This is what we call setting up a geofence.

Once this geofence is active, anyone who walks into this area with their phone’s location services turned on can be targeted with ads. These aren’t just random ads; they’re super specific to what you might be interested in. You could be walking past a coffee shop and suddenly see an ad on your phone for a discount on a latte from that shop. These ads pop up through various channels—think mobile apps, Google’s wide-reaching ad network (including YouTube), and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

What’s really cool is that these ads can be programmed to keep showing up on your phone for a while, even after you’ve left the geofenced area. This could be for a few days, weeks, or even months. It’s a way for businesses to keep nudging you, reminding you about that coffee shop or whatever else caught your eye.

Businesses can even set up geofences around their own locations. This way, they can see if people who visited their competitors come by their store afterwards. It’s a smart tactic to measure how well their ads are working and to understand customer behavior better. There are tons of ways to use geofencing across different industries, and I’m about to dive into some specific examples that show just how versatile it can be. Stick around!

How Geofencing Works Wonders in Retail

Let’s say you run a car dealership and you’ve got a rival dealership just down the road. What if you could make sure that whenever people visit that rival, they get ads on their phones showing your amazing deals, like a “low price guarantee” or a “no money down” offer? That’s geofencing in action. You can set up this digital boundary right around your competitor’s spot. When folks are checking out cars there, they’d get your ads instead, maybe even noting why your cars are a better pick, like having a better safety rating.

And here’s the cool part: you can actually keep track of how effective these ads are. If you notice more visitors popping into your dealership after they’ve been to the rival’s, you know those ads are working.

Now, imagine you’re not selling cars but running a bank. You could set up a geofence around other banks in your area. People near those banks might start seeing your ads for free checking accounts or some sweet deals like cash back on closing mortgage costs. These ads could encourage them to hop online and sign up for an account or swing by your branch. It’s a smart way to pull in some traffic and get new customers rolling in.

Using Geofencing to Snag Awesome Recruits

So, imagine you’re a hospital looking to hire some stellar new nurses. There’s a big nursing job fair going down a few states over, and you think it’s the perfect spot to find your next great hires. Here’s where geofencing comes into play. You can set up a digital “net” around the place where the job fair is happening. We did this for a hospital client recently during the two days that the job fair was buzzing with activity.

What happens next? For the following two weeks, everyone who hit up the job fair and entered our geofence started seeing job ads from our hospital on their phones. We could track loads of useful info from this, like how many people checked out the ads, which states they were from, and how many ended up visiting the hospital’s job openings page on their website.

And the best part? You can use this same tactic for just about any gathering spot where your ideal recruits might be hanging out—be it another industry event or even right outside a competitor’s office. It’s a super effective way to get your openings in front of the right eyes, even if they’re not actively looking your way yet.

Using Geofencing for Branding and Sponsorship

You know how at big events, like marathons, you see all sorts of branded stuff everywhere? Well, geofencing is a super cool tool that lets sponsors get even more creative with that. Imagine you’re sponsoring a huge marathon. 

By setting up a geofence—basically an invisible boundary—around the finish line, you can trigger special perks for anyone in that area. So, when someone snaps a selfie with their medal at the finish line, they could use a Snapchat filter that shows off your brand. 

It’s a neat way to get your logo and website out there, and it makes the event more interactive and fun for participants.

Using Geofencing at Events

Picture yourself at a football game or a concert. With geofencing, retailers or even the stadium itself can send out targeted ads just to fans at the event. 

Say a fast-food chain offers a free team beanie when you buy something and show your game ticket. Or maybe the stadium flashes an ad about buying tickets for the next game or grabbing VIP passes before anyone else. 

It’s all about making the experience more exciting and personalized for everyone there.

Interested in Geofencing?

Geofencing isn’t just some high-tech buzzword; it’s a game-changer for marketing. We’ve seen awesome results from using it in our campaigns, and we’re eager to share how it might help your business shine too. 

Thinking about giving it a try? Hit us up! Whether you’re just curious or ready to dive in, we’re here to talk about all the ins and outs of geofencing