Geofencing VS Geotargeting

The differences between Geofencing VS Geotargeting are similar, but geotargeting uses behavior in geofencing.

• Precise targeting. Geotargeting is always combined with several other filters, enabling hyper-personalized advertising. This helps focus on a narrower audience and target only potentially interested people instead of everyone.
• Better ROI. More precise targeting allows brands to reach people more likely to buy. Therefore, it helps allocate marketing budgets more effectively and improve overall ROI.
• Universal. Geotargeting has many use cases and can work wonders for any business, regardless of the industry.
• Valuable insights for future campaigns. Geotargeting provides additional data (like interests, demographics, etc.) that businesses can use to optimize future campaigns for the best performance.
• Better brand awareness. Geotargeting can put you in front of the local audience and help position yourself as an expert in the area.

• Reaching users at the right place and at the right time. Since you can create a geofence around a specific geographic object, you can target potential customers within this parameter and increase their chances of visiting.
• Quicker conversions. Geofencing can help boost local sales just because of the reason mentioned above. Matching ads and locations increase relevance; therefore, you can instantly get interested nearby leads through the business door.
• “Stealing” customers from the competition. No one said you couldn’t draw a geofence around your competitors’ establishments, luring them to choose your business instead. One of the best-known examples of this is a highly successful Burger King’s idea to use a 600-foot geofence around McDonald’s restaurants and offer everyone entering it to better go to the closest Burger King and get a whopper for one cent.
• Better customer experience. The higher relevance and personalization that are geofencing advertising offers make it valuable to brands. Buyers expect companies to understand their preferences and offer tailored content and tend to stay with those that succeed in doing so.

Geotargeting and geofencing are very similar, yet generally, they have one key difference that can help you distinguish one from another:

• Geotargeting ads are focused on specific details of customers within a chosen area
• Geofencing ads are delivered to everyone who crosses a virtual fence, regardless of their behavioral data (if not chosen otherwise).

Our Geofencing ads are done using both Geofencing and Geotargeting. To target the right audience accurately, we use our marketing strategies, your goals, and objectives and create the perfect Geofencing Marketing Strategy.

1. Purpose

Geofencing can also be defined as a smaller component of geotargeting, and both of these terms serve a similar purpose – to show location-appropriate ads.

However, while geotargeting is mainly used for brand awareness and future conversions (like learning about an NYC-based barbershop and visiting it sometime later), geofencing focuses on hyper-relevance and instant results (getting a personalized offer from Sephora and visiting a nearby store now).

2. How does it work?

Both targeting types require you to select a specific location where you want to show your ads. The difference lies in how that location is defined and the technology used.

‍Geotargeting defines locations based on the user’s IP address (sometimes also GPS) that you can combine with other targeting options, like demographics and behavior. This targeting type is usually used to serve ads in the broader area, like cities, countries, or regions, and is defined by simply entering location details.

In comparison, geofencing works based on GPS data often combined with other signals, like WiFi, cellular data, Bluetooth, and RFID. The location is defined by creating “a fence” around a particular object or narrower area, e.g., a supermarket or a street, to target people on the move.

3. Target audience

Since geotargeting usually combines several different targeting criteria, it allows you to reach a more precise audience that belongs to some category in a selected geographical area. 

With geofencing, you can potentially target all users who enter the geofenced area; thus, your target audience is everyone who happens to be nearby.

4. Accuracy

Both these targeting types are accurate, yet the final result also highly depends on your location data partners and customers’ privacy settings.

Since geofencing uses a combination of different signals, the accuracy can vary up to 10 meters in urban areas equipped with many cell towers and WiFi routers.

When used solely based on IP address, geotargeting can be up to 95% accurate on a national, state, or city level.

5. Recommended for

Geofencing can work great for retail stores, restaurants, airports, hotels, event managers, or businesses that could benefit from targeting users nearby, within specific boundaries.

On the contrary, geotargeting can be used by any business/organization and for multiple purposes. For instance, universities can target students in a specific city. For a student to see the ad, they don’t need to enter the university campus or any other chosen area – it’s enough to use the internet in the city/country/region the ads are aimed for.

Practical use cases to inspire your next campaign

How to use geotargeting

• Create climate or weather-related promotions
• Target specific language speakers
• Promote local events
• Target specific interests, e.g., book lovers in the area
• Create ads relevant to specific cultures
• Promote personalized services for travelers
• Promote niche products/services

How to use geofencing

• Target your competitor’s customers
• Attract foot traffic to your store
• Offer personalized deals
• Target people for job openings
• Promote real estate
• Create countdown banners

Add Location Targeting to Your Marketing Strategy

• Location-based targeting is a perfect opportunity to reach more local people and increase the number of conversions. Whether geotargeting or geofencing, they can put your brand in front of your potential customers, boost ad relevance, and significantly impact purchase decisions.
• It’s essential to clearly define what you want to achieve with your campaign to be able to choose the right targeting type.
• But if you feel like you could use a helping hand from a professional, reach out to the DigitalWise Media team or book a demo with us to ace your geolocation campaigns.