Geotargeting uses a customer’s location via mobile or website IP address to deliver relevant ads and content. It is beneficial to business owners who want to restrict their marketing efforts to consumers in a particular geographical area.

Geotargeting’s effectiveness increases with the increase in mobile phone users and as location data becomes more accurate. Note that it is not just mobile data that you can leverage for a campaign. You can seek help from companies like https://www.samba.tv/business/audience, for accessing a global footprint of addressable smart TV devices with first-party viewership data. Such technology and data can optimize your campaign reach, maximize frequency, and drive ROI from connected TV and digital media.

But it is important to note that communicating clearly to a far-off target audience can be rather tricky. To begin with, reaching out and catering to different users across the world can affect server load time, which is enough to make you lose some customers. So, to successfully resolve this issue, you could utilize a content delivery network. By creating eye-catching content and delivering it from servers closer to the end users, a content delivery network could greatly improve load times and improve user experience. Now, in case you are using mobile-based geotargeting, here are tips for using geotargeting information to reach your target audience.

Find a venue where your target audience has specific needs.

Before launching a geotargeting campaign, it is best to identify a venue where your target audience has specific needs. For instance, stadiums, airports, malls, and universities are common venues to target particular groups with specific interests. For example, if you sell sportswear, you are more likely to target sports fans in stadiums. Airports on regular working days are a good source of business travelers who may want to visit high-end restaurants to talk about business deals. Start by identifying your target consumer characteristics and use that information to target your marketing.

Exclude locations where your target consumers will not be available

The best thing with geotargeting is that you can exclude a location where your target audience will not be found. You can be excluded by venue or even one side of the street. For instance, a library that wants to target university students in their neighborhood may exclude the same location during school holidays, such as summer when most students are away. Or, they could do a marketing push through the summer so that when they return they should know exactly where they are, or even hone in specifically via identification on certain groups of students (as can be seen on this page: https://www.sheerid.com/blog/marketing-to-college-students/). This is an excellent way to manage your marketing budget and avoid high advertising rates, especially in high-demand target locations.

Use location-specific keywords for paid search ads.

With geotargeting, you have more options other than capturing a customer’s location through their location data. You can also capture customer intent through search queries, most of which always include a location. For instance, a search query such as ‘high-end restaurants in New York City’ provides consumer location intent you can target. Ensure you include location keywords such as popular venues, well-known street names, local jargon, area code, community name, nearby landmarks, as well as other keywords that make your business visible when a consumer is looking for services in your location.

Use geography to predict your audience traits.

You can use geography to predict notable traits and behaviors of users in a specific location. Neighborhoods are often differentiated by demographic factors such as ethnicity, education, social classes, age, income bracket, etc. Identify your business audience and match it with their location to find out the specific people interested in your services or products.

Use location history to analyze customer’s preferences and behavior.

The location history of a specific individual provides beneficial information about that person, and you can take advantage of that. For instance what shops they mostly visit, what they like to buy and how often. Use that kind of information to target customers and deliver relevant location-based ads and information even if they are not currently in that area.

The takeaway

Consumers respond well to relevant marketing that aligns with their wants and needs. Put more creativity into your geotargeting campaigns, and you will reap its benefits.