Geofencing – Millennial Moms

Posted on by John Flynn - CEO - Copley Advertising

Marketers are going to have to rethink how to reach millennials especially millennials who are mothers. The game has changed and previous norms are no more: some of these households don’t have landlines or cable TV. And if you are thinking about using newspapers or radio campaigns to capture this audience, you might want to rethink your position.

USA Today reports, “Millennials… have been shaped by a variety of influences, including the fact that they grew up with technology. An ethnically and racially diverse group and one that is highly educated but also under-employed, Millennials are generally optimistic and resilient but also stressed…”

Given the new reality, what are the options? Enter geofencing.

Millennial women’s smartphone is their number one screen. By geofencing an area, you can drill down to identify and target advertising to mothers’ smartphones. Then, running a video ad is an effective, efficient way to reach your target demo.

But where should you geofence?

Copley Advertising has found that parks with playgrounds (day-parted Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm) is an excellent geo-target. It’s hard to pinpoint moms in a large group, but parks are great. We have a list of hundreds of parks with playgrounds in cities across the country with a large population of mothers. Copley Advertising geofences your geotarget—in this case millennial mothers—and places video ads in the tagged smartphones.

How does it work? Well, when the demo clicks on the ad, their device ID is placed in a retargeting folder. Once we have a critical mass of IDs, Copley Advertising can start a separate retargeting campaign. We have seen the click rate for retargeting campaigns run from 2X to 16X versus regular campaigns. Mothers today have so many ways of getting information—they’re really bombarded; tracking data can be a key tool for effective future campaigns.

But here is the real magic: moms network! When a mom clicks a video ad they are brought to a landing page that plays a 15-second commercial from the advertiser. It shows how the advertiser is supporting an environmentally cause or product. Moms are highly sensitive to environmentally-friendly products and Millenial. So, if they sign up for the newsletter updating how the advertiser’s campaign is going the advertiser will donate $1 to the campaign. This is so worth it for the client. In the upcoming newsletter, it will instruct moms to create moms for “xxx” groups to help the cause. Before you know it, you will be engaging your demographic for months. And moms will help you add other moms because of the tight-knit networking nature.

Archaic tools used to reach moms are simply no longer effective; with mobile geofencing, we have the new tools to meet and engage with a new generation of moms.

Geofencing – College Students

Posted on by John Flynn - CEO - Copley Advertising

How to Target College Students on Campus

As students thoughts turn to the new academic year, Higher Education Marketers naturally look for ways they can target college students and entice them to consider their campus for their courses. With smartphone usage becoming almost synonymous with students at nearly all levels of education, geofencing to target specific demographics such as student populations or specific student personas is a tactic that should be considered, especially by those with limited budgets.

The Numbers Stack Up

Considering that many college student’s lives revolve around their smartphones with over 6 out of 10 students claiming to regularly use apps for games (73%), music (67%), entertainment (64%) and social networking (64%), it is easy to see that college students are spending more of their time on mobile devices than ever before, and this is at the expense of computer access, TV’s, e-readers and handheld gaming devices.

Kristin Kollbaum director of marketing and communications at Northwest Iowa Community College saw these figures and decided to give geofencing a try to fill the newly created Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) classes at the nearby Sioux Centre Hospital (SCH).

She began by setting up a geofence which targeted people within a 60-mile radius of SCH, ensuring that when people within this boundary went online they would be presented with ads about the CNA course and job placement.

With a small budget of just $1,200, Kollbaum achieved a 0.73% click through rate which resulted in 35 people attending an informal meeting about the course and two classes being run that year. A phenomenal effort for a small campaign and budget that was run in an area of low unemployment which typically made filling these positions a difficult task.

How to Leverage Mobile Targeting Capabilities to Reach Student Audiences

Geofencing is most definitely a game changer for Higher Education Marketers. By drawing virtual boundaries around physical areas and combining this technology with the layering of specific lists of websites relevant to apps which your target demographic are likely to use, marketers are able to build custom audience profiles and provide specific, targeted messages that are much more likely to be acted upon than more traditional forms of advertising and communication.

Serving ads or messages to students while they are at a specific location keeps your institution’s offerings well within reach and at the forefront of their mind when it comes to course applications. Just as we outlined in a previous post, secondary action – meaning people who take some sort of action after seeing an ad are more than twice as likely with geofencing, and students are no different.

Pinpoint the Students You Want

As colleges grow and almost resemble small cities with sports stadiums, shopping malls, and restaurants, it also becomes easier to target students with specific interests. The ability to geofence all or just part of a college campus such as the sports stadium or restaurant frequented by a particular set and couple that information with a list of websites, along with times that people are using that facility and a number of other variables, allows marketers to become very specific about who will be presented with their offer. It also allows you to reach out to your specific student personas with a ‘personal touch’ and gives you the ability to tap into what that individual may already be considering in terms of further education and present your institution as an option that should be considered.

By providing your college’s options to relevant students at the right time you’re increasing the prospective student’s trust in your organization and developing trust in your institution is certainly one of the first steps towards recruiting graduates. Furthermore, as Generation Z and Millennials have grown up as digital natives, many now have come to expect, even welcome, personalized and targeted campaigns, seeing these as an expression of a college’s willingness to put their individual needs and motivations as a priority.

With well over 86% of all students owning a smartphone and almost half owning a tablet, and these figures rising year on year, geofencing and specific, targeted campaigns that make the most of your student personas and dollars are certainly worth thinking about.

Copley Advertising has a team of geofencing experts who are able to help you create an effective campaign that targets the student personas identified by your institution. They can do all of the technical work for you and make the magic happen.  Have questions? [email protected]

Geofencing: Building Contractors

Posted on by John Flynn - CEO - Copley Advertising

Geofencing can be used in numerous ways and its use for marketing campaigns and increasing interaction between businesses and the right prospects is increasing almost daily. Helping customers find you are one of the most common ways that geofencing has been used – alerting a customer who has stepped into a shopping mall of your great offer is becoming common practice, but what if you could target areas by weather patterns? It’s now possible to do just that by setting up impressions that are switched on or off by the weather forecast.

Timing is everything

Creating customer engagement based on someone’s exact location and current situation leads to a meaningful advert or communication. Imagine being able to send a message about your house repair services or DIY products to families in areas that have just been hit by severe storms.

A well-timed advert or message about your services to someone likely to need exactly what you are offering – construction services or DIY products for repairs for example – will put you at the fore of a customer’s mind right when they are thinking about work they need to have done. The figures back it up too – Secondary Action Rates, meaning people who visit a store or take some other action after seeing an ad are more than twice as likely with geofencing. What’s more, home and trade services rank amongst the industries receiving the highest secondary action rates.

Meet your customer’s needs right where they are

Going a step further than simply attracting customers to you with timely notifications, geofencing linked to weather forecasting allows for timely and relevant information that potential customers can use in emergency or severe weather situations. Because geofencing is flexible you are able to adapt the area that impressions are being sent to relatively easily making sure you are able to reach the most likely candidates for your services, be they upscale areas experiencing high winds and storm damage, or areas where DIY renovations are on the increase.

Build Trust Quickly

Businesses that are quick to respond with a tailored offer and can specifically target an area that needs the service they provide have a foot in the door when building trust with the consumer and are more successful at turning that prospective sale into a valued customer.

Given that 60% of consumers look for local information on their phones and around 75% of Americans own a smartphone, this is especially relevant for large national contractors, or big box stores who want to find business outside of their base area, and still, have a local feel.

Simply giving potential customers all the information they need to find you when it comes time to repair the damage caused by a storm, flood, fire or other weather related event begins building the foundation of trust needed for customers to contract expensive work or purchase big ticket items from big box stores such as Home Depot.

Copley Advertising has a team of geofencing experts who are able to help you create an effective campaign that follows the weather forecasts around the country. They can do all of the technical work for you and make the magic happen.  Have questions?  [email protected]

Geofencing: Car Dealerships

Posted on by John Flynn - CEO - Copley Advertising

The implementation of geofencing in car dealership’s marketing programs has been talked about for some time now, but it’s only in recently that the technology has allowed programs geared to the car and truck industry.  Geofencing uses GPS/RFID technology to create geographic boundaries. When a mobile phone enters the target area the desired the phone is tagged and Copley Advertising has the ability to place ads on the smartphone.

The mobile phones of users would be targeted when they enter the auto dealerships.  The customers will be informed of the top deals that they might have missed and special mobile offers. The sales team may not have enough manpower to attend to every single customer that walks in, but mobile geofencing ensures no customer is left without a pitch being made.

The most powerful program for auto dealers is geo-conquesting.  Copley Advertising can geofence all competing car dealerships and tag smartphones in the dealership.  As customers are on the smartphones they will see your ad.  Call to Action creative can include weekend only rebates and call before you buy.  Plus if the tagged user engages with the ad we can capture their ID and place it in our retargeting folder.

Marketing campaigns can also be launched to targeted neighborhoods that are within close proximity of the auto dealerships. A seven-mile geofence around each dealership is recomeneded as over 80% of the dealership customers live within seven miles of the dealership.

Geotargeting also allows a car dealership to target customers based on demographics. For example, used cars might be targeted to students living on a college campus, whereas family based neighborhood advertising an SUV might make more sense.

The targeted nature of geofencing allows car dealerships to place themselves on the map without putting a big dent in their spending budget.   Email us at [email protected] to learn more about Copley Advertising geofencing programs for car dealerships.

Geofencing: Trade Shows

Posted on by John Flynn - CEO - Copley Advertising

Excitement bubbles through your veins. You’ve spent months perfecting your product. Now, it’s time to present it to some of the leading retailers and angel investors at a trade show. Reality hits. Thousands of other startups are also trying to grab the attention of these instrumental people.  You have to find a way to lure them in…a way to stand out and get them to pay attention. Geofencing is your answer. The following tips can help you leverage the power of geofencing at your next trade show.

Have a Clear Call to Action

Location based advertising feeds impulsive decisions.  Your geofencing ads should, therefore, have a clear call to action. Someone who enters your chosen geofence and sees your ad should, for instance, be prompted to utilize a discount coupon at your booth. It’s about getting the user to make a clear decision related to your brand in the moment.

Don’t Bombard Users

Geofencing is location based. However, avoiding the temptation to bombard potential customers with redundant messages is crucial. For instance, someone who has already entered the geofenced area shouldn’t constantly receive the same message every time he or she reenters the area.  Using routing algorithms to help people who have seen your ad find the fastest route to your booth is your safest bet.

Use the Data

A myriad of consumer behaviors is captured by geofencing. Some of this data includes: where consumers spend the most time at the trade show, the aspects of your booth that generate the most interest, and the amount of foot traffic you’re actually getting.  Using this data wisely helps you make informed decisions.

Trade shows are often expensive investments. Geofencing is one strategy that you can use to maximize your ROI at trade shows. Having a clear call to action, avoiding redundancy, and using the data you receive wisely can help you make the best use of your geofencing campaign. Copley Advertising has a team of geofencing experts who can help you create the best geofencing campaign for your next trade show appearance. Email us at [email protected]

Geofencing: Recruiters

Posted on by John Flynn - CEO - Copley Advertising

Geofencing is being used effectively by small and large retail businesses to attract customers and promote their products to specific groups in a personal and timely way that provides great results. With over 65% of consumers opening the push notifications they receive, and geofencing campaigns experiencing a 70% higher click through rate compared to standard ads as discussed in a previous article, it is no surprise that corporate organisations and health care providers are finding ways to use geofencing to target and recruit the best talent available for their businesses.

Target Talent

According to Glassdoor HR statistics, job location is one of the top 5 considerations of prospective employees when considering new employment. Corporate organizations – from accounting firms to transportation and logistical firms, even hospitals are using geofencing to find and reach out to the right candidates with some great results.

By reaching out to a target audience – one that is exhibiting signs they are ready to change roles through their web search history, purchasing activity and other internet use behaviors – with geofencing these companies have been able to increase the expertise within their business relatively easily.

For example, Holland Trucking needed more drivers for their workforce. With a limited recruitment budget they chose to send targeted ads with geofencing – their adverts had a quick link to the company’s job application webpage and was sent to prospective candidates within a five-mile radius of specific truck stops along one of the company’s major routes. The campaign resulted in increased traffic to their employment pages and better recruitment results for the business.

Reduce Costs

Bersin by Deloitte states the average cost to fill an open position is $4,000 and that takes around 52 days to find the right person.

High-Value Employee Targeting with geofencing can drastically reduce the cost of finding the right people for your business. A case study of an Atlanta-based health care provider looking for nurses is a great example of this. The healthcare provider and their marketing team decided to geofence other top rated medical facilities and send messages to relevant staff about the job openings reaching a targeted area with over 21,000 impressions.

Comparing the average cost of a geofencing marketing campaign and the time it takes to find the right people for a vacant position with traditional recruitment methods, it’s no wonder that larger corporations and health care providers are turning to geofencing, making it an innovation that is set to stay and become common practice within the recruitment sector.

Attract Top Talent to You

Rather than trawling through the thousands of resumes on recruitment websites, geofencing allows employers to target the talent they want and have them get in touch with them. Quite obviously, this saves a lot of time and hassle for the business. It is becoming commonplace for corporate and healthcare organizations to use technology to target the talent they need to keep their companies ahead of the competition – and geofencing is at the fore of this.

Recruiters can use geofencing to place ads around workplaces, universities, banks, hospitals – the list is virtually endless. Getting targeted messages to the right audiences has shown to give noticeable impact to recruitment campaigns when other approaches simply aren’t providing the results needed.

Copley Advertising has a team of geofencing experts who are willing to help you create an effective recruitment campaign. They can do all of the technical work for you and make the magic happen.  Have questions?  [email protected]

5 Sure-Fire Ways to Earn More with Geofencing

Posted on by John Flynn - CEO - Copley Advertising

Reaching customers where they are with what they need is the fundamental principle of geofencing.  Earn more. Win big. Geo-fencing strategies provide a targeted approach to digital marketing that helps businesses win new customers. The biggest earners in the geofencing space, however, practice these sure-fire ways to boost their ROI.

Be Strategic

Geofencing can be likened to a game of chess. Make the right moves and you’ll be able to defeat your opponent.  Think carefully about geofencing placement. Some businesses have used the diversion approach where a geofence is placed in the broad region surrounding a competitor. A customer who enters this region would receive notifications with deals and coupons from your store. Enticed by these deals, the customer will choose to purchase from your store instead of the competition.

Using the right size for your geofence is another way to be strategic.  For instance, if your product is sold in a large department store you may want to place a geofence around the product’s shelf space. Also, if you are building a campaign to sell a specific product line, it would be wise to create a geofence around that specific product’s location instead of around the entire store.

Population Density is Important

Your aim is to reach a large number of people who are more likely to make buying decisions.  It is fair to assume that the larger the geofence, the larger the audience. However, you want that audience to include people who are more likely to make the impulsive decision to visit your store. Shops in busy urban areas, therefore, benefit more from a smaller geo-fence. Conversely, stores in rural areas, where people are willing to drive miles to get what they want, benefit more from a larger geo-fence.

Use Wi-Fi instead of GPS

GPS drains battery life. Apps that are programmed to use geofencing with Wi-Fi and cell tower information fare better with users.  Although GPS provides a more accurate picture, Wi-Fi preserves battery life. The latter is more important to a consumer.

Don’t Bombard the User

Let’s set the record straight. Customers in your geofence mailing list should be those who’ve opted into receiving location-based notifications from your company. It’s the ethical thing to do. Be considerate. These people don’t want to be bombarded by messages overselling your company. If they are, they’ll have no problem instantly deleting your app.  Provide each customer with relevant and timely messages.  Too many messages paint your brand in a negative light.

Use Geo-Fencing with Other Location-based Targeting Strategies

Geofencing is a useful tool.  However, it has its limitations.  One of its greatest limitations is its need for user participation. If the feature isn’t activated on the user’s device, no results will be produced. You could follow all the aforementioned tips and get abysmal results. Therefore, geo-fencing shouldn’t be used in isolation. Instead, it should be used with other location-based marketing strategies, such as beacons.

The team at Copley Advertising consists of geofencing experts.  We know how to effectively use these sure-fire tips to help you get the highest ROI. Trust us to help you create a strategic, relevant, timely and user-friendly geofencing campaign. Questions? Email [email protected] to receive our presentation (What is Geofencing?).

5 Tips for Effectively Using Geofencing

Posted on by John Flynn - CEO - Copley Advertising

5 Tips for Effectively Using Geofencing

Statistics show that 65% of consumers open the push notifications they receive.  Geo-fencing provides consumers with location-based push notifications that are relevant. The pop-ups and push notifications that appear as a result of geofencing are linked to a customer’s interests.  So, the customer can find exactly what he or she needs from your company that much faster. This increases foot traffic to your store and widens your customer base. Geo-fencing, when used effectively, gives companies a competitive edge.  Instant.ly reports that “many businesses have experienced click-through rates on geofencing campaigns that are as much as 70% higher than standard ads.”  Numbers don’t lie. Jumping on the geofencing bandwagon can only mean immeasurable success for your business.

Reaping the benefits of geofencing, however, requires understanding how it works and how to use it effectively. These tips will help you get the most out of your geofencing campaign. Discuss them with your digital marketing campaign manager. If you’re doing your own digital marketing, feel free to contact us at Copley Advertising to get expert advice.

Know what is Required

Geofencing is an expanded form of beacon technology. Beacons work within a narrow parameter, such as a particular aisle in your store. Geofencing, on the other hand, encompasses a wider boundary.  With geofencing, you use mapping software to physical identify the broad region you want to target.  Whenever someone enters that region, the tagged smartphone or app sends a targeted message to the person’s phone. Geofencing is about being at the right place at the right time.  In order to work effectively, a link must be made to GPS, cellular data and/ or Wi-Fi connection.

Carefully Consider your Message

Your aim is to get people to come into your store. Most geofencing campaigns provide special discounts or offers through the pop-ups and push notifications of an app. You have to give a little to get a little. So, it’s more than telling people that your store is in that location. There must be a clear call to action that gives people the impetus to step into the store and make a purchase. Customers who enjoy the experience will keep coming back.

Personalize

Geo-fencing works better when users opt-in. Your app should give the user the option to turn on location services. It should also give the user the option to turn these services off if necessary. Users should also be able to create their own profiles. This provides a more targeted marketing approach since you’ll be able to accurately determine each user’s interests.  Giving users control over their profiles allows them to control the data they provide. Respecting potential customers’ privacy is crucial.

Use the Data

Each geofencing campaign generates data that can be used to measure the campaign’s success. Neglecting the data is a recipe for failure. Track the data in real-time to determine its strengths and pitfalls. Using this knowledge to inform present and future decisions differentiate effective marketers from ineffective marketers.

Strategically Define Geofences

Each geofence should encompass areas where people are most likely to be. It is highly likely that this will not be where your business is. Setting location parameters around a competitor’s store has proven effective for numerous brands.

Copley Advertising has a team of geofencing experts who are willing to help you create an effective geofencing campaign. We will do all of the technical work for you.  Let us help you make the magic happen.  Have questions?  [email protected]

Geofencing: Retail and Retargeting

Posted on by John Flynn - CEO - Copley Advertising

Buyer interest is crucial for business success.  Retargeting and geofencing work in tandem to zoom in on buyers who are genuinely interested in your brand.  The tools of mobile geofencing (retargeting, geofencing, device ID capture, video ads, and others) fit the marketing needs for retailers.

What is retargeting?  When a device user clicks on an ad we place their ID in a retargeting folder.  We can then start a separate retargeting campaign geared to the devices that engaged the ad.  These devices can be anywhere in the US and they will still receive the ad.  The rate of engagement for a retargeting campaign can run from 2X to 16X compared to a regular campaign.

Reason #1: Numbers Don’t Lie

Statistics show that 75 percent of consumers notice retargeted ads. Furthermore, Khalid Selah states that “the average click-through rate for display ads is 0.07 percent, while the average click-through for retargeted ads is about 0.7 percent.”  Essentially, people are more likely to click on retargeted ads than display ads. Therefore, effectively using retargeted ads in geofencing has the potential to generate a higher ROI than other digital marketing strategies.

Reason #2:  Offers a Personal Approach

The best-retargeted ads appeal to specific interests of the consumer. These ads can be created to mimic a particular group of customer’s spending and purchasing patterns. Customers are more likely to respond to ads that relate to what they like… even if they don’t need it.

Reason #3: Location Specificity

No other form of retargeted advertising reaches customers who are in direct proximity of our brick and mortar store. Impulse is powerful. Think about those sweet treats that are strategically positioned at check-out counters in supermarkets. Often dubbed “impulse buys”, we are tempted to purchase these treats because they’re consistently in our field of vision. The same is true for retargeted ads.  Walking into a mall and seeing an ad for a product you want feeds your temptation to head to the store selling that product.   After all, it’s right there.

Copley Advertising has a team of talented digital marketers and programmers who can merge your retargeting campaigns with geofencing. We’ll help you entice people to enter your store.  Never forget that retargeting is statistically proven to produce results, provide a personalized experience for the customer, and reach the customer exactly where he or she is.  Contact us at [email protected].

Geofencing: A great tool in retailer’s marketing workshop

Posted on by John Flynn - CEO - Copley Advertising

Location. Location. Location.  Geofencing is all about location. Over the past decade, several marketing tools have been developed to help retailers more effectively reach customers. According to CIO “geofencing is a location-based service that sends messages to smartphone users who enter a defined geographic area.”  This form of location-based marketing helps retailers lure customers into their stores using special deals, promotions, and coupons. At Copley Advertising, we allow you to create a geofence within a 50feet or 500mile radius of your target location.  We then tag all smartphones in this geofence and incorporate your desired ad in one of the thousands of apps we have access to. When the tagged user opens the app and clicks on the ad, we place that customer ID in our retargeting folder for future campaigns.

Picture this. You own a trendy teenager and young adult clothing store in a fairly popular mall. However, the foot traffic into your store is far less than what you think it should be. You decide to give geo-fencing a shot. As soon as anyone enters the mall, you send a digital advertisement to the person’s smartphone for a limited time only discount coupon.  Within a day you notice that the number of customers in your store has increased by 2 percent. That number triples by the end of the week.

Geo-fencing provides numerous benefits to retailers. Some of these benefits include: appealing to the unique interests of customers within a particular geographical region, helping customers find your store, directing foot traffic away from your competition, effectively analyzing campaigns, and providing a personalized experience to customers.

Appealing to the Local Customer

There are some common interests that remain constant regardless of the region in which a customer lives. However, buyer characteristics vary slightly from one region to another. The location specificity of geo-fencing allows you to send targeted advertisements that are relevant to people in that location. Advertisements could surround local events, celebrations, or interests.  Customers will be more interested in a brand that is relevant to them.

Finding Your Store with Ease

With geofencing, the idea is to lure customers into your store. Geo-fencing impressions allow you to provide specific directions to your store. Mapping out the path, as well as providing enticing deals, makes it less likely that a customer will give your competitors a second glance.

Providing Useful Information

Geo-fencing campaigns are useless if data isn’t adequately analyzed. Geo-fencing impressions provide several data metrics that help you determine the effectiveness of your campaign. Metrics include: how many people targeted offers were brought to the store, how many sales resulted from target offers, how long customers spend in the store, how often a customer visits the store and so on.  Having this data can be very useful in guiding future campaigns and adjusting aspects of your store to meet your customer’s needs.

Personalization Separates the Winners from the Losers

Humans love to feel important. Your ability to provide each customer with deals related to products he or she loves that will separate you from your competition. Geo-fencing impressions can be programmed to get specific data about each customer. This data includes spending patterns and the areas the customer frequently visits in your store. You can use what you learn to create targeted geo-fencing ads that add value to the customer and compel him or her to make a purchase.

Copley Advertising provides geofencing services for a variety of clients.  Each geo-fencing impression we create is tailored to meet the specific needs of our customers. We will help you stand out from the competition and drive more foot traffic to your store. Email us at [email protected].