Direct mail is a tried and true advertising tactic that continues to generate a strong return on investment. When combined with geofencing, direct mail advertising can have an even higher rate of success. This strategic method of advertising allows businesses a better opportunity to get their brand in front of their ideal consumer directly. Are you ready to start enhancing your direct mail marketing strategy with geofencing? Here's what you need to know. 

What is Geofencing, Anyway?

Geofencing is a strategy that creates a virtual "fence" around a specific area. When a user with a smartphone or other device enters the target area, it triggers a specific response on that device: an app to send a notification or an ad to appear, for example. 

This technique is a great addition to your direct mail advertising efforts. It allows you to easily target entire neighborhoods or individual households based on specific known behaviors. As a business, you might want to target neighborhoods in the area immediately surrounding your business in order to bring in more foot traffic. If you perform a service, like pest control, that requires you to go to your customers, geofencing can allow you to target the specific neighborhoods you would like to cover--including choosing a specific one you might like to begin servicing. 

Combining Tech with Direct Mail 

When you group technology with direct mail, you can see immense success in your advertising efforts. Thanks to geofencing, you can retarget consumers who might already have interacted with your ads. Imagine, for example, that you're a cleaning company that has recently started a concentrated campaign to help you break into a new neighborhood. You have sent out a number of direct mailers to that neighborhood, inviting those residents to contact your business to learn more about the services you have to offer.

Most of those consumers, however, did not take immediate action. Instead, they set the mailer to the side, where in many cases, they promptly forgot about it.

Enter geofencing. You can send mobile ads or notifications to users within that geographic area, offering an additional touchpoint that could convince them to make the leap to that buying decision. You might also choose to offer an additional discount or another incentive that could help bring in potential buyers. 

Thanks to your direct mail and geofencing combined advertising efforts, you can:

Display ads on phone apps.

Many of your users rely on their phones to perform many of their most common activities throughout the day. You can target display ads on phone apps to users who have already interacted with your direct mailers. 

Target mailing list households.

You have a specific list of consumers on your mailing list. Thanks to the high efficiency of geofencing, you can retarget those households that have already received mailers from you. 

Measure ad clicks and website visits.

Keep track of what your users are doing, including where they come from, as they visit your website. This simple strategy can substantially increase your ability to measure the performance of your campaigns. 

Track foot traffic.

Who comes into your store? What brought them there? Thanks to geofencing, you can more accurately assess where your foot traffic comes from or keep track of the people coming through your door. 

Geofencing Acts in Tandem with Direct Mail

While geofencing and direct mail might at first seem to utilize very different methods, you can use them together to enhance your marketing efforts. You might:

Run programmatic ads to announce direct mail campaigns prior to launch.

Let consumers know what's coming before those direct mail ads arrive at their door. This can prepare them to take action when a specific incentive arrives. 

Include special offers in direct mail.

You can then trigger those offers when, for example, consumers who were targeted by those direct mailings use their phones in your store. Those special offers can, for example, encourage customers from a specific neighborhood or area to visit your business. 

Run ads for special offers after customers receive direct mail.

Issue a reminder about the special offers you've already provided to your consumers. For example, if you're running a big sale, this could be the ideal time to send out direct mailers with special offers, then use geofencing to have those same offers come back up in apps or ads. The reminder can let consumers know that it's time for them to come into your business. 

Geofencing can go a long way toward enhancing your advertising efforts and allowing you to target exactly the consumers you most want to bring in to your business. For many businesses, this is a highly effective way to ensure that your ads are getting in front of the right audience. If you're ready to launch a geofencing campaign, contact your media partner to let them know about your plans. Working with a media partner on your geofencing campaign can make it easier to reach your target audience and grow your business.