By Immersion Active
Geotargeting has been around long before it became a buzz word for digital advertising. It’s
what marketers do every time they send a direct mail piece or place an ad in a local newspaper.
However, many active adult communities often struggle targeting their ideal buyer when that
buyer lives outside a 50-75 mile radius.
Determining the best places to advertise outside their local community has become increasingly
challenging for developers and builders. That’s where the power of online
marketing’s geotargeting capabilities can transform lead generation efforts.
What is Geotargeting?
Geotargeting, at its core, is serving information to users based on their physical geographic
location. Yet, traditional geotargeting through direct mail or local print still advertises to everyone
in the region, regardless of demographics, interests, or whether they are even thinking about
moving.
On the other hand, today’s digital platforms allow you to combine socioeconomic data like
income, age, gender, etc., with interests like golf, skiing, or hiking and users’ physical location to
advertise to just the right people at the right time.
And digital geotargeting doesn’t just use data like browser IP addresses, it can also use mobile
device IDs and GPS signals to allow marketers to serve ads to users in a more targeted way
than ever before.
Why Geotargeting Works
We know that the most effective advertising tells the consumer—”I see you and understand your
unique needs.” Geotargeting helps you do this in some of the most intimate ways because it
acknowledges exactly where a person is physically at a given moment, instead of placing them
into a collective sales funnel that delivers broad, impersonal messages. And, it works: the more
targeted the ads, the more effective they are.
If a person is vacationing at the beach, we can use geotargeting to advertise local restaurants. If
an older consumer living in Minnesota is surfing the Web in January for Florida vacations, we
can also geotarget them with ads for retirement communities in Arizona. We are targeting
consumers in the best locations, during the right time of year, and using the power of digital
advertising to display relevant ads when the consumer is thinking about getting away to warmer
weather.
Geotargeting and Mobile
Geotargeting is especially important in today’s mobile world. Most of
our clients receive over half of their leads via a mobile device. And,
according to Google’s “Micro-Moments” study, 87 percent of people
have their phone with them at all times, with 30 percent admitting
they feel anxious when they don’t have it. In addition, a Pew Research Center showed that 82 percent of Baby Boomers get
directions, recommendations, and other location-related information
from their smartphones.
Studies also show that 70 percent of consumers are willing to share their location information to receive incentives such as special offers, coupons, or loyalty points.
With the intelligence geotargeting provides, marketers can seamlessly gain knowledge about where their audience lives, works, and spends their free time, then use that data to provide
more personalized, useful information to their audiences.
About Immersion Active
Since 1998, Immersion Active has evolved from a boutique web shop to the leading digital
marketing firm solely focused on selling to boomers and seniors. Located in Frederick, Maryland
and providing services across North America, Immersion Active has been the recipient of over
130 awards and, more importantly, generated over $1.5 billion dollars in revenue for the clients they serve in the 50+ marketplace.