Geofencing is one of the more successful and innovative digital strategies many retailers have embraced. The approach involves a business specifically targeting anyone in a certain location, usually in or near a store. Already-loyal shoppers often enjoy being contacted in a manner they’re already familiar with — their mobile devices — when they’re on the premises. Even more exciting is the feeling that they get some kind of ‘secret’ promotion or special discount that regular shoppers may not even know about.
But as exciting as geofencing can be to businesses and to consumers, it’s only effective if the potential shopper happens to be within the area which has been digitally ‘fenced.’
However, this type of technology has also been able to expand into something more interesting and innovative that can potentially reach more current or potential customers: addressable geofencing.
Using addressable geofencing, you can target individual homes of those most likely to purchase your product. Businesses can combine household physical data with an address to create a personalized marketing profile of each person living in a home.
Addressable geofencing makes it easy to:
- Upload physical addresses to draw geofences around plat line data in order to build a target area around individual homes or groups of homes
- Improve precision of audience targeting by combining third-party data, such as census info, to gain a better impression share than traditional geofencing
- Tailor custom marketing messages based on audience data
- Track the effectiveness of advertising by matching addressable data with store traffic.
What makes the concept of addressable geofencing better than simply a digital version of direct mail or a traditional segmented email campaign is that you are now able to incorporate other demographic or marketing data into your geofencing effort, making the offer even more appealing and localized to each recipient.
Addressable geofencing is also considered omnidirectional, meaning that customers can potentially be targeted through their mobile devices, desktops, tablets or laptops, or even all of the above, rather than only one.
Many business sectors can find value in addressable geofencing, such as:
- Automotive: A car dealership can target certain homes or neighborhoods based on demographic information and announce upcoming sales. Those in higher income brackets might be interested in messages about new luxury models, which those in lower-income brackets might enjoy learning upcoming entry-level sales or financing information. It could also target individuals based on past purchases or the need to renew leases or warranties. It also can recommend autos suited to geographic areas (more rural areas might enjoy a rugged truck vs. a smaller fuel-efficient coupe).
- Finance: Similarly, neighborhood income information could be used to target higher-income targets with details about financial planning or wealth management. Areas with lower incomes could be targeted with offers about lending, bankruptcy, or credit services.
- Pharmaceutical: Age and family information could be merged with housing information to better segment certain people. Younger families in their 20s or 30s may need certain medical products for babies and toddlers. Or people in their 50s and 60s might be interested in learning about other products to help with age-related conditions (skincare, stamina, dietary aids).
The omnidirectional nature of addressable geofencing can make sure someone sees at least one message on one of their devices, and can also reinforce the excitement of an offer if they see it several times on different devices and channels.
This sort of campaign can even be boosted with traditional geofencing: an addressable message can invite a customer to come to a location to learn more or take advantage of a special sale. Then, once they’re on-site, they can be further targeted.
If geofencing interests you and your businesses as a useful marketing tool, find the right geofencing partner/vendor to get started.
Hire a firm that has figured it all out and spent years refining Geofencing marketing services. Why reinvent the wheel when you can focus your efforts on sales, and let Demand Local handle the work for you.
