 Successful Geofencing Strategies
Do you have ideal customers that typically visit a type of location or attend a specific event? If so, you should consider geofencing as part of your digital advertising strategy. What is geofencing? Geofencing is digital targeting based on people’s physical activities. Most smartphone users have at least one app on their phone, such as Google or a weather app, that has requested permission to identify their location. A virtual perimeter or geofence can be created to capture user ids of smartphones within that geofence and send ads to their mobile devices. Once the geofence is set, ads can begin immediately and be delivered for up to 30 days. Where are ads delivered? Ads are delivered on apps and mobile browsers people use every day. From apps such as The Weather Channel and Words With Friends to mobile browser sites for news, sports and food channels, ads are delivered when your audience target visits and an ad spot is available. Successful Geofencing Examples Geofencing is a powerful way to engage people based on hyper-local targeting strategies. Some examples include:
Think Outside The Box Build geofences where your customers are likely to be. An insurance company that specializes in boating insurance may want to geofence a boat show. A real estate company may want to geofence a large community event as most people in attendance either live in that area or want to live in that area. Would you like to reach those who travel past your location each day on their way to work? Geofence the street intersection in front of your location during rush hour. Data is Key Geofencing is one of the most precise ways to deliver digital advertising to the exact audience you want to reach. Even with the geofence, you may still want to eliminate those who are not part of your ideal target audience. A trade show exhibitor who sells auto manufacturing equipment may be attending a trade show where a variety of industries are in attendance. A data filter can be placed over the geofence so that only those people with professions and job titles in the auto manufacturing industry are included in the geofence. Final Thoughts The ability to geofence using the latest technology is only half of the equation. Strategy that looks at the entire customer journey and reaches ideal prospects at the right time with the information they need is what makes for successful digital targeting with geofencing as a tactic.  Attract Your Exact Ideal New Patients Data and technology are revolutionizing the digital advertising arena. Digital ads can be delivered to the audience segments you define. Describe who it is you want to reach by demographics, geography, search terms or topics they’re reading about to define your ideal patient.
A podiatrist may want to reach patients with diabetes. An orthodontist who specializes in dental implants may want to reach those in a geographic area around the practice, within a specific household income range and who show an interest in dental implants. Who these individuals are is anonymous. It is their aggregated data that is targeted as an audience segment. Ads can be delivered to audience segments wherever they are online from local news sites, to weather channels to hundreds of thousands of other websites and apps that offer ad spots for sale. Targeting your exact ideal patients is an efficient use of your advertising dollars. What makes programmatic even more effective is the ability to customize ads so that they speak to the audience segment you’re targeting. It wasn’t too long ago that an advertising campaign consisted of one ad with a “tag line” for that promotion. Now, you can customize ads to speak to each targeted audience segment. The more an ad resonates with the recipient, the more likely they are to engage and respond to the advertisement. You may have several audience segments you want to target. The ad image and text can now match the audience segment providing greater return on your advertising dollar. Don’t forget about the marketing tactic of retargeting. Most people when they first see your ad are not going to call to schedule an appointment. Each potential patient goes through a “path to purchase”. First they become aware of your practice and services you offer. The next phase of their journey is research. They need more information about you and your practice to develop trust and credibility before they make a “purchasing” decision. Several retargeting tactics are available to stay in front of ideal prospects until they become patients. Want to talk about how to reach your ideal new patients? Pick a time that's good for you and schedule a call by clicking below. Get More Patients From Google  When people search for information on health conditions and treatment options near them, Google displays search results that give preference to healthcare providers located closest to the searcher’s physical location. To determine a healthcare provider’s location, Google relies on the data verified in the Google My Business (GMB) profile. This is why it’s important for practices to complete their GMB listing. What is Google My business? It’s a free tool offered by google to help businesses manage their presence on Google owned properties such as Google Search and Google Maps. You can find out how to add your listing here: https://www.google.com/intl/en/business/ Why should I complete a GMB profile? When prospective patients conduct research, they’re going to “Google” you and your practice. Registering your GMB profile is how you increase the presence of your practice in the search results. You want to add as much information as you can to the GMB profile so that when your “knowledge box” appears to the right of the search results, information the searcher wants is available. The knowledge box provides pictures, a map to your practice, reviews, ratings, links to your website and office hours. New options include adding video content as well as events. Having a GMB profile also gives a boost to your practice for local keyword searches. The more effort you put into completing the profile, the more Google rewards your listing with higher search results placements. Tips: ► When registering your practice, create a Google account for the practice and not a personal account. ► You’ll need to select your business category. Most practices choose “medical practice” in the drop down but there are some distinct options, such as “orthopedic surgeon” if you search. ► Provide your practice phone number for registration, not a personal number. Google will want to verify the information you provide. Previously, a postcard mailed from Google to your practice with an activation code was required. Within the last year, most areas of the country can now verify the practice information by phone. When you click to submit your profile, be near the phone once you click the “register” button as the call comes in within minutes. ► Fill out as many data elements as possible. Google states in its information that “full GMB profiles get 5x the views”. Google rewards those who provide the most information. Use this opportunity to provide more content than you competitors. What Businesses Gain By Installing The Facebook Pixel  The Facebook pixel is an incredible tool that many businesses do not use. It’s a snippet of code installed on your website that enables you to build audiences, optimize ad targeting and measure campaigns.
Build custom audiences from your website traffic The pixel increases the effectiveness of your advertising by understanding the actions people take on your website and enabling targeting of those most interested in your products and services. Facebook allows you to create as many custom audiences as you want. You can choose who you want to target and then create an ad that matches their actions on your site. Here are some examples of audiences you may want to create: 1. Users who visited your site but didn’t make it to your registration page or other lead capture page; 2. Users who visited a specific content or product page; 3. Users who put items in a cart but didn’t purchase; 4. Users who purchased and now you want them to buy again; 5. Users who visited your Facebook page but didn’t visit your website. Track conversions from your Facebook advertising The pixel enables you to measure and optimize your advertising. For lead generation campaigns, place the pixel on the lead form completion page. This page is only served to those who complete the “conversion” so counting this page will enable you to know in real time how many leads have converted. For campaigns targeting various audience segments, the pixel measures performance. Real time data for how many viewers clicked on the ad, how many visited a landing page but did not convert and how many clicked-through to your website can be seen in the campaign statistics. You’re also able to compare statistics for various images and ad copy to optimize creative. Look-A-Like Audiences Audiences that “look like” your key customers are more likely to use your products or services so are a good audience to target. There are several ways to create look-a-like audiences in Facebook. By placing code on your purchase check-out page, you can create audiences of others who “look like” your typical customers. Facebook’s algorithm understands thousands of characteristics about our interests and purchasing habits and can find others who are most like your typical customers. Facebook isn’t the only pixel and retargeting option. But it offers many advantages including the one billion plus daily users, state of the art targeting capabilities and significant user engagement. Use it to learn more about your website visitor behaviors and increase your sales through retargeting. Content Is Critical for Google Search Results Rankings  Content is one of three top factors that will help your website rank higher on Google search results pages. Providing relevant, interesting information attracts website visitors and establishes your business as an expert in your industry.
Google uses the actual word count as well as the breath and relevancy of the content to establish the "value" of a site and rank it for various keyword searches. Rich detail, helpful insights and images with descriptions all provide a good user experience that will be rewarded by the Google algorithm. Increase Your Search Engine Rankings Search engine optimization (SEO) uses many strategies to increase search results rankings. Content is developed in conjunction with a keyword strategy to ensure words and phrases for which you want your business to rank are structured and have supporting content to bolster the keyword strategy. Creating content solely for word count will not win over customers and Google's algorithm penalizes copied or duplicate content. Ask yourself, what would truly benefit and interest visitors to my website? Map out keyword targets and then create informative sections that answer typical customer questions and intertwine them with the keyword structure. Information is the reason people come to your website. See if you can find gaps in what your competitors include on their sites. Topics such as background information to consider before purchase, helpful tips, how to comparison shop and things a customer can do to increase the value after their purchase often attract attention. What are your most lucrative services or products? Focus on these to develop interesting stories about features and benefits and make them prominent on your site. Linking within your site is also an SEO strategy and a way to highlight key points of interest for visitors on your homepage and then provide a link to a secondary page for more information. Short & Long Tail Keywords One to three keyword terms or "short tail" keywords are often very competitive in search results rankings. Numerous companies are competing for "Plumber Atlanta" or "Standing Desk". Include longer search terms or "long tail" keywords in your keyword strategy. "Plumber for clogged drain" or "standing desk height adjustable" are long tail keywords that offer more opportunities to rank. Photos, videos, testimonials and blogs are all content assets that attract visitors and can be targeted for placement in search results pages. Include descriptions for all media as Google's algorithm can't "see" images but it does see the text offered for viewers and alternative text (alt text) can be used in HTML code to describe the appearance of images for search engines. Get Visitors To Take Action On Your Site A strong call-to-action is something all business websites should have. Offering a special discount, newsletter or download are ways you can obtain visitor contact information in exchange for something of value. Placing the offer close to the top of the website with a button of distinct color will help it stand out. Make it easily available in other appropriate places on your site. Building content takes time but is well worth the increased visitor interest and higher placement in search rankings. Zero In On B2B Prospects With Location Targeting  Nothing beats the personal interaction and connections made at over 1 million trade shows, conventions and conferences hosted each year in the U.S. But it can be difficult to attend every event that is important for your business.
And even when you attend events, often you can only meet a fraction of attendees. Geo-targeting enables advertisers to reach a geographically defined area such as a town, city or region. Display ads can be sent to mobile and desktop devices within this area. The ads are delivered when your targets in this area go online whether they are checking local news, sports, industry articles or hundreds of thousands of other websites that offer ad spots for sale. Geo-fencing is the ability to map out a geographically defined virtual perimeter around a small area such as an event or building and target mobile phone users located within that area. Once the fence is enabled, mobile phone IDs are collected. Ads are sent to those mobile phones wherever the user may go while surfing the web. These ads are delivered during the event and through varying time periods after the event. Geo-Fencing has improved dramatically in just the last few years where a wider array of tracking tools are used including Wi-Fi, GPS, RFID as well as app data. It’s now common for mobile phone users to have several apps that requested permission for location data such as weather and news apps. This wider range of tracking tools enables greater geo-fencing capabilities. Target your showrooms to deliver timely messages to visitors. Target competitor locations and send your ads to their customers. Manufacturers may want to target showrooms of retailers to promote their products. Target events and tradeshows where your prospects are target rich. Send messaging during and after the event. A number of strategies can be used to drive your marketing efforts to these target audiences. A customized ad that speaks to this very specific group with messaging that resonates with them will drive higher interest in your ad. Traffic from these ads can take visitors to your website. Or to a specially designed landing page that carries the same theme as the ad, maintaining customized messaging. The stronger the connection with your ad, the higher the conversions. Some code can be placed on your website or the landing page so that these same visitors from your event can be retargeted and receive additional ad messages to drive even more conversions. You now have an audience segment related to this event that you can move through the buying process from collecting their email addresses to converting to customers. 80% Digital Moving To Programmatic in 2018  Programmatic ad spend continues to rise as advertisers see the value of using first and third party data insights in their campaign targeting. eMarketer is estimating over 80% of U.S. digital display ads will be purchased programmatically in 2018 which represents over $46 billion in ad spend.
Read more in eMarketer's full article: Big Miss for B2B Companies Not Advertising On Facebook  Many B2B clients wonder if Facebook is really the right platform for them. Some think of it as a fun or silly place that's not appropriate for business.
Businesses who aren't on Facebook are missing out on a huge growth opportunity offered by the power of this massive platform. People are on Facebook to be distracted. They want to see cool things that relate to any facet of their lives. Whether personal or professional, if it's interesting, they’ll click to learn more. B2B companies are nurturing leads and finding new customers by displaying eye-catching ads and interactive elements to target their ideal customers. With over 2.2 billion active users monthly and over 1.45 billion active users daily, (Source: Facebook 2018 Q1 Investor Report) there’s a good chance that part of your target customer base is on Facebook. With an average viewing session of 20 minutes (Source: Facebook 2018 Q1 Investor Report) there is a tremendous opportunity to reach decision makers throughout the day. While a business page on Facebook is important to establish a presence and provide information, your posts are only reaching a fraction of those who have “liked” your page. The power of Facebook is the highly engaged audience that can be targeted by thousands of data points. The vast internal algorithm collects data from millions of sources and enables targeting by demographics, behaviors and interests. Some of the targeting options well-suited for the B2B advertiser include: ✔ Industry Type ✔ Company Size ✔ Job Title ✔ Seniority ✔ Computer Device ✔ Business Interests Facebook wants to generate revenue so the longer someone visits the platform, the more paid ads it can serve. The goal is to provide content that increases the viewing session time. To encourage advertisers to produce ads that capture the interests of viewers, Facebook gives each ad a relevancy score. It is based on consistent messaging in the ad copy and landing page as well as the amount of viewer interaction. A higher relevancy score reduces ad costs. A tip to use in your ad planning is to target well-defined audiences with messaging customized to speak to them. Segmenting your target audience and creating images and copy that is unique to them is more likely to resonate and spur interaction, lowering your ad costs. Business decision makers draw from a wide range of sources for research during their buying journey. Informative and relevant ads are unintrusive and welcomed by the viewer. The Facebook platform offers a format for engagement in a casual environment where viewers are open to seeing new things. Target your existing B2B customers and find new prospects using this powerful targeting platform. What You Should Know About GDPR  Do you have prospects or customers in the European Union? In May of 2018 the Eurpean Union's General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect which was designed to simplify and unify European data practices. Even privacy advocates are criticizing the new law for being to vague and broad. It will dramatically impact the way data is collected, stored and used for any company who does business with residents of the European Union. Learn how your business maybe impacted in Social Media Examiner's outline for marketers:
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