Every business has a number of primary goals. Chief among them is maximizing sales and revenue. And, of course, all businesses encourage loyalty so that customers stay with them and spend more over the coming years. The journey towards those goals can have several steps, but one of the main ones – and a golden rule for any business – is knowing your target audience. 

You already know the importance of demographic targeting. After all, there is little point in targeting the over-55 age group when your products are designed for the under-25s. Your demographic segments may vary greatly and can include age, gender, socioeconomic status, and others. But what about where they are located? For this, Geotargeting can be an extremely useful marketing tactic. 

But what is Geotargeting, and how can you use it to your advantage? Read on to find out. 

What is Geotargeting 

Knowing the geographical location of your target audience has long been one of the demographic indicators that help businesses make informed decisions on everything from shipping charges to advertising. Yet many businesses are still not utilizing this information as well as they could. 

The first thing to note is that geotargeting is something that should not exist in a vacuum. It works best when combined with other demographics, such as age and gender. As the name suggests, geotargeting is about targeting potential customers based on their geographic location. More specifically, it’s about creating marketing content and adverts that are centered around that location. 

The whole idea of any advertising or marketing is to encourage purchases of products or services. By recognizing that there are different needs and tastes according to location, you increase the chances of purchases being made. 

If you are shipping a physical product and your warehouse is 2,000 miles from the customer, then exorbitant shipping charges may put them off. Geotargeting can help you identify this hurdle and perhaps offer low-cost shipping to people in that area. 

Geotargeting can be used to great effect by local businesses such as restaurants or small shops. But it can also be used by larger organizations who want their customers to be from anywhere. 

What is the Difference between Geotargeting and Geofencing?

Many people – understandably – get geotargeting and geofencing confused. After all, they are both marketing tactics based on the location of customers, so what are the differences between the two?

With geofencing, you are marketing to a group based purely on their location and may not be taking other demographic factors into account. You may be tasked with running a campaign promoting outbound lead generation. However, your campaign is targeting just one state rather than being a national one. That is a perfect example of geofencing. 

Now, take that same campaign but add other demographics to it. Research has shown that the majority of your target audience in that state are males over the age of 40. These factors allow you to make content and adverts more personalized and more focused on that demographic group. This would be an example of geotargeting. 

Benefits of Geotargeting to Your Business

Now that we’ve answered the question ‘What is geotargeting?’, let’s explore some of the benefits.  

Creates Better-Targeted Messages

You likely already know how important personalization can be. A business that focuses on great personalization can generate 40% more revenue than businesses that fall short.  Geotargeting allows you to focus on better personalization by identifying if there are any customer needs that are dictated by where they are located. Those needs could range from something as simple as logistics issues to a need for products that can cope with local weather conditions. 

Increases Relevance

A potential customer does not want to see content that is relevant to Florida when they live in Alaska. If your national campaigns are successful, then you may not need to worry about geotargeting. However, if your campaigns are not producing the desired results, you want to start focusing on precise areas. Geotargeting can be especially useful to local businesses that want to be sure to attract local customers. 

Improves ROI

You don’t need a math degree to understand that more customers means more revenue and a better Return on Investment (ROI). It is very unlikely that you have a bottomless marketing budget, so you want to be sure that every cent you spend counts. With geotargeting, you are combining a range of demographic factors that can contribute to increased revenue. Your target customers will be seeing personalized content that is very much based on location. 

Pull Ahead of Competitors 

Imagine you are an Italian restaurant located in Sacramento. There’s another Italian restaurant across town that serves food as good as yours. However, your business is using geotargeting to target local customers with personalized content while the other business does not. Having an edge over your competitors can be crucial in business, and geotargeting is something that can help provide and maintain that edge. 

Heightens Responsiveness

At the end of the day, you want people to respond to your ads, ideally with a purchase. Campaigns based on geotargeting can be short-lived ones that focus on a particular need in a particular area. A good example would be a business offering house repairs in Florida. As this state sees a lot of storms, targeted campaigns that focus on needed repairs could drive a lot of business. 

Efficient Ways to Use Geotargeting

It’s one thing to understand the benefits of geotargeting, but another to actually put it into action and ensure it is efficiently used. Let’s explore how you can achieve that. 

Conduct A/B Tests Based on Specific Target Locations

Once you switch to geotargeted campaigns, you need to know what works and what doesn’t. A campaign promoting content optimization may not work as well in California as it did in Michigan. You may not get things right the first time, but A/B testing can guide you to optimizing content and campaigns for each geographical location you are targeting. 

Utilize Cross-Channel Marketing

Just as needs may vary from location to location, so does the use of the different channels. For example, you might utilize email marketing, social media marketing, and more. An omnichannel approach may be a good general foundation, but recognizing that channels may vary by area is important when it comes to marketing spending. Be prepared to utilize cross-channel marketing where needed to ensure your messages reach your targets.

Access Localized Customer Data

Customer data is gold. Data-driven marketing can be essential for any business, but this can be especially true when it comes to geotargeted campaigns. You may have decided to target a specific area, but what are the needs of your potential customers within that area? Being able to drill down into the details of localized data means you can better customize the content you are creating. 

Implement Personalized Promotions 

Everybody loves a good promotion, whether it takes the form of something such as free shipping or discounted products. Geotargeting allows you to customize promotions that meet the needs or wants of the people in that area. 

Let’s go back to the example of the repair company in Florida. You could implement a promotional campaign in the wake of a particularly severe storm, thus potentially increasing the number of customers who choose you. 

Optimize Targeted Ad Campaigns

You want any ad to be optimized as much as possible, and this is equally true for geotargeted campaigns. It doesn’t matter what you are selling; think about the keywords you use in any ad (localized SEO), the content you create for the ad, and whether the ad is relevant to the group (and area) you are targeting. 

The demands placed on your marketing efforts can often seem overwhelming. This can be especially true when considering the demographic factors of any ads or campaigns. Even the usual demographics, such as age, gender, etc., can vary greatly from location to location, which is what makes geotargeting such a useful tactic. 

Even where products – such as clothing – generally have a wider appeal (specialty clothing is an exception to this), geotargeting can help with factors such as shipping costs. If you can identify a location-specific pain point like high shipping charges, then you can make adjustments in a geotargeted campaign to address that issue.

The benefits for local businesses should not be overlooked either. When a business – such as a restaurant – has a more limited geographical catchment area, then geotargeting can ensure that any ads or campaigns are aimed specifically at customers in that area. 

Regardless of your business, this tactic might be the solution for you. So, why not try Geotargeting today?