So you are sitting in your place of business and watching a line of customers going into your competitor across the street. “What’s up with that?” you ask yourself.

You can’t run over there and yell out, “Don’t you know my business if far superior?” That would be crass. Be subtler: Build an invisible fence around those guys as well as the rest of your competition in town.

Geofencing is just one tactic utilized when targeting your prospects WHEN they are most likely ready to buy.

Once a potential client enters a fenced-in target zone while carrying their phone with the GPS turned on, you will be able to capture their IP address. This technology allows us to send them your ad on any website they visit that takes ads on their computer, tablet or phone.

 And you can track whether they later came into your business. It is as simple as putting a geofence your location. Can you think of any other form of advertising or marketing that will reach your competitors’ customers and then track them back to your store? 

We can be creative when geofencing. Are you targeting skiers and boarders? Put a fence around the slopes. Are your customers likely to go to a big weekend festival? Fence them in. Are you selling investment property or art? Why not fence in Goldman Sachs? Need to reach people in Mexico? Send them ads in Spanish.

Get the idea?

In 2015, the biggest investment in digital marketing was targeted digital display. In 2017 it is expected to nearly double to nearly $400 million in Swift Communications’ markets. That means your competitors likely will get into this game.

Why? Because this relatively new technology brings results that are measurable and arguably stronger than anything available today for targeting customers who digitally or physically indicate they are ready to buy.

While geo-fencing is pretty sexy, it is just a small strategy in the big targeting tactic. When I work with my clients we start by identifying clearly our best audience.

Ask yourself these questions about your best customers:

1. Where do they live?
2. Are the male, female or both?
3. Do they have children or elderly parents living with them or are they single?
4. What is their age range?
5. What is the minimum household income?
6. What other activities do they tend to enjoy?
7. What other factors make my best customers unique? 

One you have the answers to this information, you just feed the information into the server, develop compelling creative and you have a strong geo-targeted program ready to go.

This is “Programmatic” meaning the server does all of the work. And based on the activity, your program is optimized real time 24-7 and becomes more efficient each day. 

If you are not running a programmatic targeted digital display program you are missing the most effective small business strategy to reach your customers when they are ready to buy.

Want to learn more? Just contact me or your digital specialist.