Four States Small Business Blog

What is Geotargeting and How Does It Work

Posted by Kylie Davis on May 29, 2019 at 8:00 AM

What is Geotargeting and How Does It WorkIn today’s buying landscape, there is always something new and exciting to catch a customer’s attention. Therefore, for long-term success, marketers must leverage new, innovative tactics to reach and connect with their audience. That’s where geotargeting comes in.

Geotargeting is the practice of customizing a company’s advertising to a specific market, which is based on the geographic location of its core demographic. This concept is effective because it puts a message in front of those who are most likely to become customers - based simply on where they are located. To better understand the benefits of geotargeting, it’s important to know exactly what it is and how it can be an effective part of your marketing strategy.

What is Geotargeting?

Geotargeting has so much more to offer companies of all types and sizes than you might imagine. It enables you to target consumers using city, state, zip code, organization or any other number of factors. The idea is to display ads to the customer group that is most likely to respond and/or become a customer - based on their location. Because so many companies work exclusively or significantly with local customers, it only makes sense to target ads to customers in a specific geographic area, rather than paying for an ad to be displayed in broader areas.

How Does Geotargeting Work?

A geotargeting service, such as Zimmer’s Mobile Conquesting service, uses a user’s IP address to figure out where that user is located. The service maintains a large database that has most IP addresses mapped to a country, state, and postal code - and perhaps even further in.

When an ad ‎request occurs, the ad server obtains the IP address of the ‎request, references the existing data to determine location, and then chooses an ad ‎that matches that criteria. All of this happens behind the scenes in the blink of an eye, so that the consumer never realizes that it occurs. This simple step makes it easier to segment consumers by area and deliver locally-targeted (and more personalized) ads.

How Does Geotargeting Benefit Businesses?

The simplest way that geotargeting benefits a business is that it makes certain every ad dollar spent is as effective as possible. In addition, a company can better personalize ads to be more appealing to a specific audience group, as well as deliver ads that are based around local events and popular venues.

At Zimmer, we use geotargeting to help clients reach consumers on their mobile devices with the right ads at the exact right moment. This allows them to reach consumers at their point of purchase, increasing the likelihood that they’ll visit their store and buy their product or service. The benefits of geotargeting are numerous and many companies do not realize how much this simple step can improve their marketing campaigns until they see it in action.

No matter what product or service your business specializes in, geotargeting can be an effective and affordable way to improve your marketing and reach the consumers who are most likely to become customers. We encourage you to contact us at Zimmer Marketing to learn more about our Mobile Conquesting service to get started with geotargeting for your business. Our team of experts has the tools and experience to help you achieve - and even exceed - your marketing goals.

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