A time-efficient, cost-effective way to market to an audience that is likely interested in your product or service at the ideal time on a device they are checking nearly 100 times every day…what more could a small business ask for in a marketing tool?
If you haven’t looked into geo-fencing yet, here’s a quick rundown of how it works and how it can benefit your small business.
What is Geo-Fencing?
Geo-fencing is setting up a virtual fence around a geographic location you want to target and linking that location to a mobile device (generally via an app). This allows you to send a notification to mobile users who have downloaded your app when they move into your specified location.
At it’s full potential, geo-fencing can be a powerful marketing tool, providing customer benefits, driving traffic to your business, and even allowing you to gather behavioral data about your customers.
How does it work?
First thing’s first…you must get people to download and hold onto your app. It should clearly provide the user with benefits and/or make their lives easier in some way.
- Provide exclusive promotions and secret events.
- Make them the first to know about new products.
- Keep them current on sales, show times, happy hour specials or a rotating menu.
- Remind them of important recurring tune-ups, servicing or renewals that should take place.
Whatever you decide to promise with your app, advertise it as much as possible and then, keep your promise. If you give users what they signed up for, they are likely to keep your app installed.
If you aren’t quite ready for your own app, geo-targeted advertising can be purchased through existing apps like Facebook.
Targeting Options
Entire City: A broader geo-fence may be useful if you own something like a music venue and you want to broadcast upcoming shows city-wide.
Neighborhood: Maybe you own a business in a mall, a pedestrian area, or a neighborhood dense with alternative choices. You can jump in front of your competition by setting up a geo-fence encompassing the establishment, the main streets and nearby parking areas and encouraging people to visit you while they’re in the area.
Pin-Point: If you run a taxi service, you may want to set up a geo-fence to target people leaving bars or event centers rather than building the geo-fence around your location. Your prospective customers get a reminder of your service right when they may need it the most.
Home Base: You can even target people just when they walk inside your establishment, offering specials, reviews or trend insights to help customers make decisions at the very moment it’s most useful to them.
The possibilities are countless! Get creative and try different targets to see what works best for your business.
Interested in developing an app or getting started in geo-targeted advertising? It’s an exciting step! Give us a call, we’d love to help your business thrive: 303-940-5544