Captain C. Hunter Brown stuffed his message in a bottle, sealed the top, and threw it in the North Sea. It was June 10, 1914. Almost 98 years later, on April 12, 2012, Scottish Skipper Andrew Leaper retrieved the bottle and pulled out the message. It read:
“Please state where and when this card was found, and then put it in the nearest Post Office. You will be informed in reply where and when it was set adrift. Our object is to find out the direction of the deep currents of the North Sea.”
The catch? The bottle was discovered 10.3 miles from its original deployment site. It took 98 years for Leaper’s question about the deep currents of the North Sea to finally be answered!
Sometimes, advertising feels like putting your message in a bottle and throwing it out to sea, hoping that the right person will pick it up and you’ll get a reply. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Geofencing is a new, highly-targeted form of advertising that gives you the ability to put a virtual fence around a physical location. After the fence is set, digital ads can appear to anyone who enters the virtual fence.
Does that sound too easy, too good to be true? Fortunately, it’s not. Discover four ways geofencing can benefit your company:
Location Targeting
Imagine your target customer is taking a stroll through downtown, and your shop is on the corner of Mulberry and Third Street. Unless they see your shop’s sign, they might not know it’s there. With geofencing, your target audience will see your digital ads when they are in the vicinity of your shop, prompting them to go inside and see what you offer. (Want to hear the best part? Once the person leaves the advertising fence, we are still able to serve them ads up to 30 days.)
Financial Efficiency
Much like the message in a bottle analogy, the last thing you want is to spend money on advertising and have zero return on investment (ROI) … or finally make headway 98 years later. By implementing geofencing advertisements, you can accurately target people who are close to your store or have shown interest in your products or services, thus improving your financial efficiency.
Data Knowledge
After implementing your advertisement, it’s imperative to know how well it’s performing. Geofencing allows you to have access to data that will help you make informed decisions. You will have real-time data showing you how well certain advertisements performed and how to tweak it in the future, if necessary.
Customer Engagement
Geofencing has proven to be a very effective form of advertising because it can target people who are interested in your product or service! Whether you’re selling cars or coffee, your advertisement should be placed in front of people who are interested in purchasing that product. This significantly increases customer engagement and, ultimately, your ROI.
M&R Marketing would love to talk to you about your advertising goals, create a geofencing strategy for you, implement the strategy into real-time marketing, and provide reports for you to show you how well it’s working. If you’re ready to get started, contact one of our account managers today!