When browsing the web or listening to your favorite audio stream, have you ever wondered why you keep seeing ads from restaurants or places you’ve seen around town you haven’t yet visited? Geo-targeted marketing uses location-based services to place ads within a specific geographic area. This strategy allows brands to market to the location of their target audience, ensuring that consumers see relevant, personalized ads. Right now, people are spending more time online, so it’s important to make sure your ads are reaching the consumers you need to target. 

Why Geo-Targeting Works

Brands have a higher level of control over who sees their ads when using Geo-targeted marketing because it limits the audience to a specific location. While it makes sense for Starbucks, Apple, and other national brands to advertise nationwide, local restaurants, gift shops, and other small businesses might not have a reason to advertise on a broader scale. This marketing approach allows businesses to keep their reach and frequency within a reasonable radius of their location, ensuring they aren’t spending money to reach those who won’t patronize their businesses. 

Geo-targeting also helps advertisers to target or exclude certain people by filtering down to specific Zip codes, cities, or states. It’s not beneficial to see political ads from states they cannot vote in, and by limiting the reach of political ads to a candidate’s target area, it ensures they are not wasting ad spend on unwanted audiences. This technique allows businesses to target ads more strategically, leading to increased ROI.

Additionally, location-based services help brands learn specific details about their target audiences that can help them identify the people who may be most interested in their products or services. Data from cell phones and laptops can enable brands to see who has visited a particular part of town or even a specific business recently, and create ads specifically for these areas.     

Utilizing geo-targeted marketing strategies enables businesses to get in front of those who will most likely respond. Whether it’s business as usual, or it’s a time of uncertainty, being able to better pinpoint your customer will help your business achieve its marketing goals. 

What Kind of Results Can You Expect From Geo-Targeted Marketing? 

Localized and geo-target marketing helps businesses hyper-target where they want their ad creative to be seen. If you’re creating marketing materials that speak directly to your target consumer, you want to make sure they’re being seen by that desired demographic. Here are some results you can expect:

• Filtered advertisements reach the most relevant audiences and give businesses more control over their ad placements
• Boost ROI by keeping digital ads within a geographic range where most people who see them can respond, minimizing wasted ad dollars 
• Maximize the results that brands can obtain from their ad spend

By learning about the demographics and behaviors of your target audience in a specific geo-targeted area, businesses can create highly-personalized ads for relatively small groups of people. People who frequently visit a particular mall can be excellent prospects for local boutiques and other small businesses within the mall. Geo-targeted marketing also enables consumers to feel valued because it increases the number of ads they receive that are relevant to them. 

According to the marketing rule of 7, it takes on average seven interactions with your brand before a consumer will take an action. People are more likely to purchase products and services from brands that match their interests and values. The goal of geo-targeting is to increase this matching and improve ROI.      

Why Is Localized and Geo-Targeted Marketing So Powerful? 

Geo-targeting is a powerful marketing tactic that helps brands maximize the results they obtain by zeroing in on the right prospects in a specific geographic area. Whole Foods, a grocery store chain that specializes in healthy options, has found success in marketing specifically to people who live near its stores. The company boasts a conversion rate that is nearly triple the industry average. Whole Foods’ strategy takes both the location and lifestyle of its target population into consideration. Many locations are in neighborhoods that are home to people that are interested in natural food and healthy living.     

Geo-targeted marketing is a valuable tool in any savvy small business owner's toolbox. Keeping your advertising local can maximize results, making sure that all of your advertising dollars reach people who can benefit from your business. The location-based capabilities of this marketing channel will enable your campaigns to zero in on specific consumers. 

Now more than ever, it’s essential that you are marketing your business to anyone who can benefit from your products and services. Utilize localized and geo-targeted marketing services to ensure that your business is doing what it can to serve your target consumer when they need you the most.