The Hubs and I recently took a trip to Las Vegas for the When We Were Young 90’s Punk music festival.
I can confidently tell you two things about this trip:
- We are too old to be jamming for 12 hours in a glorified parking lot in 90-degree heat 😂.
- Vegas is all-in on proximity marketing!
The moment I entered the Strip, my phone was filled with ads promoting events, restaurants, and activities for tourists.
- Ice Bar? Here is a coupon code.
- Selfie Museum? 30% off this week!
- Cirque Show? Click for discounted tickets.
Food. Entertainment. Celebrity chefs. They were all around me, and their ads were all over my phone.
How does proximity marketing work?
Proximity targeting, also called geofencing, serves real-time ads based on the GPS coordinates of your mobile phone. Advertisers promoting events and destinations on the Las Vegas Strip want everyone who enters the area to see their ads, so they place a virtual “fence” around the Strip. Mobile phones entering that area will be served these ads.
One of the interesting things about geofencing is that you can layer on additional criteria. In addition to coming into the geographical area of the Las Vegas Strip, some advertisers may want to target women (I saw a lot of ads for the Magic Mike show) or specific income thresholds.
Benefits of Proximity Marketing
So why might someone want to invest in proximity marketing? There are a ton of benefits if used correctly!
Geofencing can be very precise.
The interesting thing about proximity marketing in Vegas is that it does not appear that many advertisers include the airport in their geo-targeting. The influx of ads didn’t really start until we entered the Strip.
This marketing strategy makes sense if you think about it. It’s likely that a lot of people move through the Las Vegas airport without any intention of visiting the Strip. Why bother paying to serve ads to these phones when those people might be passing through, stopping briefly for a layover, coming home, etc?
The precision of proximity marketing makes it a great tool for location-specific advertising and capturing people in real time.
It typically sees higher engagement.
We know emails see higher engagement when you target people at certain points in the buyer’s journey. Why? You’re meeting them where they’re at. You aren’t trying to jump three steps ahead and sell them.
Proximity marketing works the same way. You know their physical location so any ad you serve them about offers in that area will be more relevant.
Collect data for better insights.
I love analyzing and using data to make business decisions. With proximity marketing, you can track and analyze how people interact with your marketing efforts. You can identify:
- Popular areas
- How long customers spend in a specific spot
- How often customers return to that area
All of these insights can help you improve your proximity marketing strategy to attract more leads.
Measure foot traffic conversions and your CTA.
With any kind of advertisement, you can track sales through an online purchase CTA but the cool thing about proximity marketing is that you can measure the foot traffic to your business related to the ad engagement. You can literally see if someone engaged with your ad and then walked into your business. This means that even if your ad uses a “buy tickets now” CTA, you can also track conversions as visitors to your location who may not have clicked through the online purchase option. If they visited your shop in-person after viewing your ad, you’ll know, which is unlike other digital marketing tactics.
Tips for Implementing Proximity Marketing
Like any other marketing tactic, you can’t just wing it. You need a strategy behind your efforts to make sure your budget and time aren’t wasted.
Choose the right partner.
Choose a partner that understands your goals and has experience getting the results you’re looking for. Paid ad budgets can go quickly, so it’s important to have a partner that helps you make the most of your investment. I help my clients craft proximity campaigns that fit their needs and goals, and can do the same for you!
Craft value-driven messaging.
Your messaging needs to be relevant and valuable to the customer. Otherwise, why would they bother taking advantage of your offer? I was so overwhelmed by the number of things trying to catch my attention on the Strip. If your messaging and CTA isn’t eye-catching, valuable, and relevant, you don’t have a chance at stopping a customer.
Focus on user experience.
Nothing is worse than being interrupted by an ad. Don’t put irrelevant or poorly timed messages in front of your customers. All you’ll do is annoy them and waste your budget! Ensure your proximity notifications or offers integrate smoothly with the user’s journey, whether they’re shopping, dining, or attending an event.
Make it part of a comprehensive strategy.
Proximity marketing isn’t a stand-alone tactic in most cases. You want to partner this with a comprehensive marketing strategy that includes foundational strategies like SEO, Google search, etc. Proximity marketing only serves ads to the fenced audience for a period of time, and you want to make sure your marketing strategy includes a variety of options to meet your target audience where they are.
Would proximity marketing work for your business?
Proximity marketing works well for businesses hoping to capture visitors within a window of time. This can be related to events, activities, and destinations where you want to encourage people nearby to visit your location. If you’re at a trade show, for example, you might see an offer for one of the vendors pop up on your phone as you browse the booths.
Geofencing can also be a nice tool for capturing the attention of your competitor’s customers. You might consider fencing a similar business and enticing people there with a coupon to visit your establishment. This, paired with Search Engine Marketing, can create a really strong strategy.
Curious about location-based and proximity marketing? You know we’ve got you covered! Reach out for a free consultation.
