The Power of Geofencing

The Power of Geofencing and
How to Add It to Your Marketing

Mobile marketing has been taken to the next level with geofencing, which gives companies the ability to advertise specifically to potential customers within a certain geographic radius. Geofencing constructs a virtual boundary around a business location using a combination of technologies, including:
  • GPS
    The Global Positioning System is a network of satellites orbiting the earth that can triangulate an individual’s location to an accurate degree.
  • Radiofrequency identifiers
    Bluetooth technology contains small computer chips that use radio waves to connect.
    Beacon technology works with location services in smartphones and alerts apps when you approach or leave a location. It uses a Bluetooth signal that can tell when you’re close to a beacon, such as a checkout counter in a retail store.
  • Geofencing
While geofencing has actually been around for a while, the popularity of smartphones and mobile devices now makes it incredibly valuable as a marketing tool for business owners.
Geofencing offers a world of possibilities for mobile users, from interactive shopping lists (and reminders to pick up milk) to home security systems, garage door openers, automatic coffee pots, limited-time offers for your favorite restaurant, or a suggestion for a new restaurant you haven’t tried before. For marketers, the focus is on push notifications and mobile advertisements that can be tied to a business location.
There is no doubt that hyper-targeted, location-based marketing is going to be the next big thing in digital marketing. Now is the time to get started. Let’s first look at the benefits of geofencing, and then we’ll discuss how you can be a proactive marketer with this technology.

3 Benefits of Geofencing for Marketing

It’s clear that geofencing is a powerful tool, but perhaps one of the biggest beneficiaries is online marketing since it allows marketers to take their efforts to a new, localized level. Here are some of the benefits of marketing with geofencing.

  1. Enhance Local Sales 
    Local optimization, or the ability to rank high in local searches, is extremely valuable for most businesses (and their SEO). If you are making efforts to improve your local performance, you need to look into geofencing. Since it is a location-based system, you can target local customers in a defined geographic area. One way to do this is by sending promotions via push notifications to customers in your area. You can easily change promotions each day or have limited-time offers that will lead to increased sales from local customers.
     
  2. Increase Analytics and Tools for Metric Analysis
    Local sales can be difficult to measure. What is it that brought a customer into your shop? If you don’t have the chance to survey every customer who walks through your door, this can be difficult to connect to your online efforts. However, if customers are coming in with your promotions from geofencing, there are several metrics you can measure, including their sales, how long they are in your store, and how often they visit your business. All of this can be valuable information that adds depth to your analytics.
     
  3. Provide Personalization for Customers 
    Another benefit of geofencing is that it allows you to collect data can personalize customer offers. It gives you demographics about the local population, including what kind of offers interest them and gets them in your store. If you look at purchase history and realize that local customers prefer a certain product, you can alter your promotions accordingly.