One of the newest forms of mobile advertising, Geo-Fencing, makes the identification of the number of ad viewers that show up to your location seamless. According to TechTarget.com “Geofencing is a feature in a software program that uses the global positioning system (GPS) or radio frequency identification (RFID) to define geographical boundaries. A geo-fence is a virtual barrier.” You can liken this to an invisible fence you may use for a pet. The pet has a receiver on its collar, comparable to a mobile device on a person. When that receiver makes contact with the electronic fence line, there is a shock. Don’t worry, geo-fence advertising doesn’t send a shock to your target's mobile device, but you get the idea.
The simplest and most effective form of geofencing allows you to set up a virtual barrier around the locations your prospects are likely to physically frequent. Any time the prospect is at that location, if they open a web browser or myriad of apps on their phone, their phone’s ad id is captured. Once the ad id is captured, your store’s digital ad starts being served to them within the browser or app they are using. Each ad served to a user is an impression. The great news is that once the prospect leaves that location they continue to get served ads while they are mobile surfing. The frequency and longevity of the ad serving is determined by you and your agency.
Your agency should be able to provide some ideas for the types of mobile advertising messages that produce the best results. In general, it should be a clear and to-the-point offer or reason for them to consider your store before they buy. Ad messages can be customized to the specific geo fenced location the prospect enters; this also allows reporting by location possible. The ad space, as well as the attention span of the prospect, is limited so messages must be planned accordingly.
Mobile advertising is very attractive because the level of accountability included takes the majority of the guess work out of determining what placements are or are not working. The electronic measurement and reporting of impressions and click thru rates (CTR) gives transparency to both performance and cost. The number of impressions being served, CTRs to your landing page, and the amount of ad ids served should all be tracked and reported to you by your agency. The cost based on the number of impressions served is a fair pricing model. This guarantees you are only paying for delivered ads. Any agency offering the Geo Fencing service should disclose the cost per thousand (CPM) impression rate. The cost should be below $20CPM. They should also allow you to set a cap on your monthly budget and then allocate impressions for your campaign to stay within your monetary guidelines, or roll over any unused impressions to the next month or cycle.
The latest innovation in geo fencing is the ability to track and report how many of the ad ids that were captured physically visited your dealership. Your agency should also geo fence your location so when the mobile prospect reaches your store, ads stop being served to them. You want this feature because it provides an entirely new level of accountability.
Why Choose Geo-Fencing?
This type of mobile advertising is proving to be one of the simplest, most efficient, and most accountable types of advertising a store can do to capture in-market buyers. According to PewResearchCenter, as of October 2015, in the U.S. 86 percent of 18-29 year-olds have a smartphone, as do 83 percent of 30-49-year-olds. Eighty-seven percent of those reside in a household earning $75,000 or more annually. This is an upward trending market, and an excellent market to consider when planning your advertising. If you have a mobile-optimized website, which is pretty standard today, the initial investment is minimal. There is no additional software, hardware, or programming needed. All you need is an agency that can provide the service, a few digital ads, a budget, and you could be targeting customers within a week.