Category: Digital Targeting Services

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Nextdoor Blog
Nextdoor Blog

Most marketers already understand that growing consumer concerns over data privacy have prompted new regulations. Now, the issue has even sparked device updates from manufacturers. Beyond regulations, these companies want to satisfy their customers by offering additional privacy protection. This has an effect on your integrated digital campaigns in more ways than one.

For a recent example, Apple announced that they would soon roll out a new privacy update for iOS 14. This change focuses on limiting the amount of cross-website data marketing companies can track on smartphones. Where Apple leads, other phone and computer manufacturers will probably follow.

Why Consider Changes to an Existing Integrated Digital Campaign?

Apparently, Apple’s news has generated new concerns from marketers and some of the largest advertising platforms. According to CNET, even Facebook admitted that recent changes would hamper their ad targeting abilities. At the same time, Google started to modify its advertising platform to comply with new standards.

More safeguards may represent a win for consumers. Still, they present additional issues for digital marketers who already struggle with increased competition and bid prices. Of course, marketers can explore other marketing sandboxes to expand their advertising strategy beyond the biggest advertising platforms. With that in mind, explore the benefits of adding Nextdoor, Yelp, Pinterest, and TikTok to an integrated digital campaign.

Beyond Facebook and Google: Integrated Digital Campaign Alternatives

No digital marketing agency can offer a one-size-fits-all advertising strategy. Even more, last year’s perfect marketing platform might not continue to serve businesses as well in 2021 and beyond. Instead of struggling to get traditional ad platforms to continue performing, maybe it’s time to look beyond them. 

The best new platforms to consider may depend upon the company’s products, marketing style, and target demographics. Find out how such alternative advertising platforms as TikTok, Nextdoor, Yelp, and Pinterest can help marketers expand and target B2C marketing audiences with less hassles and lower costs. 

Nextdoor: The Hyper-local Advertising Solution

Nextdoor doesn’t just serve neighborhoods as the place to find lost pets or complain about the neighbor’s fireworks. They also know where their members live, making it simple to tune geographic targeting down to the level of neighborhoods.

As an example, Modern Retail found grocery brands have recently turned to Nextdoor. Rather than use platforms that also run their eCommerce competitor’s ads, these businesses can target the customers in their preferred delivery or physical service areas. Nextdoor also offers ad formats designed to spark two-way communication and engagement. That makes this community-based social site a great way for businesses to meet some new neighbors.

Yelp: High Purchase Intent with Local Targeting

Some of the planned updates to iOS 14 target cross-platform data, which tends to limit the large, general platforms like Google and Facebook the most. Even seasoned marketers sometimes find the way these platforms learn about internet-wide browsing habits almost spooky. In contrast, Yelp uses its own search and location data to assist advertisers with audience targeting.

For both local and non-location-based businesses, this platform can target ads based on search intent to help marketers unlock highly motivated audiences. While some people think of Yelp as a restaurant platform, it’s also a very trusted source for information about all kinds of businesses.

Pinterest: A Visual Ad Platform for Sparking Inspiration

According to WordStream, Pinterest offers a fantastic gateway into the homes of affluent, millennial women, along with many other demographics. Even though they’ve mostly attracted women, almost 30 percent of signups come from men. Top categories on Pinterest include DIY, crafts, home decor, art, fashion, and beauty.

In short, people turn to Pinterest for visual inspiration and ideas. Since eCommerce relies so much on images, the image and video ad formats work well in all stages of the marketing funnel. Some of the best Pinterest marketing tips include supplying consumers with inspiration to encourage them to check out new products and traditional items used in new ways.

TikTok: Engage on the Fastest Growing Social Site

While many people associate TikTok with a very young audience, Social Media Examiner found that 64 percent of users have at least passed their 20th birthday. Alright, TikTok mostly appeals to younger people. At the same time, the very engaged audience will age. Also, TikTok users spend an average of almost an hour a day logged in.

Besides the sillier content, many users see plenty of business, DIY, and parenting videos in their personalized feeds. Very effective ads usually emulate the appearance and tone of organic posts.

While the platform differs from Facebook, most experienced Facebook advertisers should find it familiar and easy to get started with. Even better, Social Media Examiner found that TikTok offered lower bids, particularly once ads have matured and show the right kind of content.

Why Move Beyond Facebook and Google for B2C Marketing?

Facebook and Google still retain their spots as two of the biggest and most general advertising platforms for all kinds of businesses. In fact, even most recent lists of the top sites for marketers usually rank these two giants as first and second.

On the other hand, rising prices and increased privacy protection may have limited their usefulness as part of a cost-efficient and effective advertising strategy. Most advertisers admit that they struggle to find low-hanging fruit on the larger advertising sites these days. Successful marketers should always keep their eyes and ears open for new opportunities to engage, target, and sell to other audiences.

For a quick summary of these marketing tips:

  • Consider Nextdoor for hyper-local targeting and community engagement.
  • Find highly motivated, local buyers on Yelp in a variety of niches.
  • Image-oriented Pinterest ads can supply site users with inspiration and motivation to buy.
  • Creative video ads for somewhat younger audiences have a great chance to go viral on TikTok.

Nobody should declare Google or Facebook dead. Obviously, these two giants command massive audiences, and they’ve both shown an uncanny ability to survive and thrive in a rapidly evolving environment. At the same time, businesses with certain demographics may enjoy better targeting and lower costs elsewhere. Instead of interpreting this as a call to abandon traditional sites, think of it as a chance to keep exploring and testing for better returns.

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Digital Targeting Services Marketing/Business Media & Analytics
hotel digital marketing
hotel digital marketing

When it comes hotel digital marketing during COVID-19, here are some tips on rethinking messaging, audience targeting, and marketing platforms.

Rosie Sparks of Skift may have had one of the best introductory takes for tourism digital marketing during the coronavirus outbreak. To paraphrase, she said that hospitality marketers will have to walk a fine line to develop hotel and resort marketing plans during the crisis. Naturally, potential guests have grown increasingly and understandably cautious about leaving their homes for non-necessary travel. On the other hand, some relatively low-risk marketing tactics could attract the revunue that hotels and other travel businesses need to stave off disaster.

So, what are low-risk digital marketing tactics? Skift mostly focused upon marketing isolated or outbreak-free destinations to help allay tourists fears about traveling during a pandemic. For instance, they published examples of a social and display advertising strategy that consisted of showing idyllic pictures and videos of fairly isolated places that hadn’t been touched by the coronavirus outbreak. These included African savannas, smaller European cities, and remote jungles.  Other marketers have also highlighted the ideas of staycations that can give travelers a way to give into their understandable urge to simply get away from it all. 

Is promoting virus-free staycations a viable digital marketing tactic for hotel marketing?

The publication noted that government and health organizations from all over the world have urged people to stay home during the outbreak. Right now, they admitted that promoting any tourism at all can damage brands. While some destinations have enjoyed a certain amount of success with this tactic, it’s risky because it’s controversial and also, won’t work for everybody.

For instance, residents of some of these mostly virus-free places have protested against attracting too many out-of-towners to their location for fear they may bring the disease with them. People who agree that it’s best to shelter in place as much as possible may also resent this kind of messaging during a crisis, even if they don’t personally have anything to lose. Most of all, not every hospitality marketer has the luxury to promise a place to escape that’s far from the pandemic.

Suggestions for a better digital advertising strategy for the pandemic

So how can resort and hotel marketing companies best use their precious marketing budgets productively during the coronavirus outbreak? Mostly, you have to find ways to adjust your audience targeting for the times. Because you’ve changed your audience, you should also recognize their needs and concerns within your messaging. To understand how to proceed, dig deeper into some examples.

Rethink your display advertising strategy budget

You may have to work with a lean marketing budget while your business slumps. You can take heart from knowing that your competitors also have to trim expenses, so you may have opportunities to enjoy some bargain placements from publishers, search, and social platforms.

For example, Skift noted that Google’s typically robust travel search has almost become unrecognizable because of the lack of ads. Once you narrow down your message and target audience, you should have plenty of opportunities to test your marketing for much lower rates than you paid a few months ago.

Uncover low-hanging fruit to target

Figure out which people still might visit your business. Even though most people have chosen to stay chose to home, some hotels have managed to keep a steady flow of bookings with visitors like these:

  • According to USA Today, thousands of hotels have signed up with an organization called Hospitality for Hope. This matches hotels with agencies in need of lodging. An obvious example of guests this can attract would include healthcare workers who have ventured into cities to help with coronavirus hotspots.
  • Similarly, hotels have worked with hospitals, city or county governments, and individuals to help house medical workers, loved ones of patients in hospitals, or even people who don’t need medical care but still need a comfortable place to self-quarantine away from family. For instance, many doctors and nurses have chosen to isolate themselves in hotel rooms for the durations to reduce the risk of infecting their families.
  • Besides essential businesspeople who still need to travel for important work, local remote workers have checked into hotels as alternative workspaces. For instance, a parent with a house full of kids may need a quiet place to attend to a day full of video conferencing meetings. With typical work-sharing venues closed down, a hotel can typically provide the amenities these employees need.
  • The idea of offering staycations may still work, but instead of trying to attract international travelers to exotic destinations, any city or suburban motel could offer staycations to people who just want to leave home but not travel very far. Hotels and resorts can offer room service, in-room entertainment, and other amenities to help attract guests who live nearby but still want to feel like they’re getting away from it all. Some hotels have worked with local restaurants to promote gourmet weekends with a variety of meals that get delivered right to the front door.

Naturally, once you uncover an existing demand, you may want to tailor packages that will appeal to these people. Whslasile most marketers caution against slashing rates too low to attract guests, you might consider ways you can add value to your packages without reducing revenues too much. Some ideas that other hotels have promoted include discounts for long-term stays, packages that include room service and other upgraded amenities, and of course, relaxed cancellation policies.

Choosing tourism digital marketing platforms

Naturally, you should maintain your presence on any robust social sites you already inhabit. Some content ideas might include:

  • Use graphics and videos to demonstrate the extra steps you have taken to protect the health of your guests and employees during the outbreak. For instance, you might even produce a video of your cleaning staff working to sanitize a room for new guests. If you do have rooms for people who need to self-quarantine, you might demonstrate that you have established this block of rooms on a different floor or wing than the rooms for other guests.
  • Describe the packages and offers you have developed to help attract your new target markets. Let people know about your long-term stay rates or staycation amenities. If you’re close to a local hospital, you might consider offering transportation or free video calling services as part of the deal.
  • For something likely to appeal to the homebound masses, you could have your staff create content that highlights their specialties. For instance, your chef could do cooking demos, your spa employees might demonstrate relaxation techniques, and your cleaning crew could even demonstrate the best way to sanitize surfaces.
  • If possible, you should consider including all sorts of hotel employees in your ads. You can let the public see the faces behind your hotel and remind potential guests that their stay at your venue helps keep these poeple employed.

You might also consider targeting some publishers that already attract your potential market. Consider medical publications to appeal to healthcare workers, business publications to find employees who need workspaces, and even local food and travel blogs to find families, couples, and individuals who would splurge on a staycation. You might assume that some of these publications have also suffered revenue drops, so they may offer lower rates for premium spots.

Craft your messaging carefully

Right now, travellers have grown increasingly and understandably cautious. You certainly want to reassure your guests that you can offer them a safe place to stay. You can also let them know that you’ve made your booking and cancelation policies more flexible to accomodate their current needs.

Beyond that, you may soften up your call to action to help entice hesitant bookers. For instance, you might formerly asked ad viewers to “Book Now.” These days, it’s probably best to lighten up with something like “Learn More.”

It’s also time to take a page from the hotels that have pushed their remote destinations as an alternative place to stay during the outbreak. Formerly, your website and ads may have featured your bustling lobby or crowded restaurant. Today, people want to avoid the sorts of crowds that might have attracted them before. You might want to replace those images with scenes from quiet parks, private rooms, and scenic vistas.

Can hotel and resort marketing still thrive during the coronavirus outbreak?

Nobody doubts that most hospitality venues have struggled during the current crisis. As marketers, you probably have to make due with a leaner budget. At the same time, your failure to market at all won’t improve the situation. You can make the best use of the resources that you have by uncovering the most likely demand, utilizing your resources, finding discounted advertising rates, and of course, providing your audience with the right messaging at the right time.

In the long run, you will discover some winning strategies that will help you maintain business and emerge stronger once the worst of the crisis has passed. You might even decide to retain some of these effective programs because they will also work during normal times, but you just never would have thought to add them otherwise.

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Digital Targeting Services Marketing/Business Media & Analytics Restaurant
restaurant marketing
restaurant marketing

Restaurants affected by COVID-19 are getting creative with their customer acquisition strategies. Read our restaurant marketing tips for inspiration.

The restaurant industry has been singled out as one of the kinds of businesses most impacted by the coronavirus crisis. Government orders have closed dining rooms across the country. At the same time, many eateries have struggled to hang on with delivery and takeout — and some have even done quite well. Thus, it’s still not time to abandon the restaurant customer acquisition ideas that can bring in revenue now and help you emerge even stronger after the coronavirus outbreak finally passes.

Restaurant customer acquisition ideas for during and after coronavirus

Pre-coronavirus, the National Restaurant Association projected almost $900 billion in revenues for American restaurants in 2020. In March, out of about 700,000 jobs lost, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, half of the laid off employees came from the hospitality and restaurant industry. John Harkey Jr., the CEO of Consolidated Restaurant Operations, called this crisis a financial tsunami for the restaurant business. In any case, it’s clear that the restaurant customer acquisition and marketing plans that businesses had before the shut-down and stay-at-home orders will need to change quickly.

Consider online ordering, pickup, and delivery

With the growth of delivery services and consumers’ growing desire for convenience, delivered, takeout, or drive-through meals already accounted for a significant and growing percentage of overall restaurant revenue. Some kinds of restaurants, like pizza places and fast food, had already based a large portion of their business around delivery and takeout. Still, as various state and local governments began to close dining rooms, some restaurants had to scramble to put online ordering in place.

Sometimes, they did not have time to do much more than post a menu on their website and social sites and offer customers a phone number to call for curbside pickup orders. Still, depending upon the existing following these restaurants had, they still managed to keep a steady flow of customers.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that Orlando restaurant marketing has focused upon delivery to offset the loss of in-store business. They gained assistance in their efforts when Uber Eats, one of the largest delivery companies, waived their fees for any orders from independent restaurant businesses. Some of the larger chains already offered their own delivery, and they’ve also begun to stop charging fees as a gesture of goodwill to their patrons and an incentive for more people to order.

Exercise enlightened self interest

Pickup won’t work for all restaurants. Harkey, the CEO mentioned above, said that they operated most of their restaurants out of malls, and since the malls have closed, they can’t easily offer pickup and don’t really have the structure in place for deliveries. At the same time, delivery companies like DoorDash are heavily promoting an #OpenforDelivery campaign that pushed their services, the restaurants they work with, and even such competitors as GrubHub and Uber Eats.

Some restaurants have balked at using these kinds of services because of the extra delivery charges, but for restaurants without capacity to offer certain services, they might serve as a handy option in more ways than one. In addition to pushing national chains, they’ve also helped promote local restaurants they deliver from. Another example of related businesses sharing resources includes a group of businesses that agreed to donate a percentage of revenue to coronavirus-relief charities. As they all promote the relief effort and their own struggles to keep employees working, the digital presence of the charitable organization also promotes the companies that sponsor it.

Create compelling digital content for your restaurant

Certainly, you attracted diners because they loved your food. Even better, you may have retained business because your customers loved your facility and even you. With that in mind, you can develop content that helps strengthen your connection.

You could give your audience a behind-the-scenes video tour of your kitchen. Introduce them to your staff or let them watch you prepare one of your specialties. For example, one high-quality Italian restaurant shared an engaging recipe of the process they used to make, cut, and cook their homemade pasta. Another produced a series of cooking videos. Don’t overlook introducing your audience to your hard-working employees in order to remind customers that their patronage helps keep people working.

These kinds of content tend to do very well on Facebook, YouTube, and other social platforms. Don’t worry about giving away all of your secrets, you’re probably just going to make more of your audience hungry than eager to attempt your recipes. If you need extra revenue, you can even monetize your content with ads and sponsors on some platforms. Don’t worry if you don’t have any production experience. While you should strive for quality, you can find cell phone apps that will allow you to shoot, edit, and upload decent videos.

Don’t abandon marketing and advertising

Plenty of research from other downturns demonstrates the wisdom of maintaining a marketing budget. Business that do tend to weather the crisis and emerge even stronger. As with other hospitality businesses, you might need to adjust your restaurant customer acquisition strategy a bit, but you certainly should not abandon it.

Realistically, you may have to trim your budget, but you may find that some advertising platforms have grown less competitive as your competitors have done the same. You may also find you can do more with less as you focus upon satisfying existing demand within your community.

Geo-fencing for restaurants

Geo-fencing refers to setting a perimeter around your physical restaurant. For instance, you might use this technique to connect with people who are within the same shopping center, at work in a nearby essential business, or even just passing by your door. When they pass within the perimeter, this technology can alert them with a ping from a social network advertising platform, text, or message from a mobile app.

Geo-fencing for restaurants has proven to convert really well. It might offer you the perfect way to improve your takeout business now and entice more customers in the future after you have opened up your dining room again.

Retargeting

When people search online for the kind of takeout that you offer, why not concentrate on the hungry customers who have already visited your website or social platform in the past? Plenty of industry marketing analysts have suggested that businesses with limited marketing resources may enjoy better returns by focusing on ready-to-buy customers instead of trying to generate a new demand.

Build mutually beneficial relationships

One restaurant owner saw that hospital workers had an increasingly tough time accessing meals because cafeteria dining areas had closed and only essential staff could enter the building. He spoke with hospitals and found an opportunity to use his own catering vehicles as distribution points from outside the hospital, so hospital workers could pickup food and distribute it inside.

Besides generating an extra revenue stream, the restaurant had a chance to develop a lot of good will both at the hospital and within the community by featuring the story on social media and in press releases. They also began operating food trucks and started a GoFundMe campaign to help offset some extra costs, which also helped generate even more publicity.

I still need more marketing ideas for my restaurant 

If you still need a few more tips, you can find plenty of good examples from other restaurants around the country. You might include some of these promotions in your advertising to help attract new customers without increasing operating expenses:

  • You can save money on delivery costs by encouraging curbside pickup. You might incentivize customers to stop by with such incentives as a free dessert or appetizer.
  • Incentivize their next orders by offering customers discount coupons and gift cards along with each pickup or delivery. Also, work to promote gift cards that customers can buy to save for later or give to others as gifts.
  • Try offering family meal packs or kids-eat-free specials to help attract all those families who now have their children home from school.
  • Consider simplifying your menu or even offering a fixed-price meal deal. You can also try rotating a smaller set of menu items to help you reduce inventory and provide encouragement for customers to try next week’s menu.
  • Promote discount bulk orders that you package for easy storage and reheating. Some restaurants have even started offering meal kits that give customers the ingredients and instructions to duplicate some of their dishes at home.

Whatever you do to adjust your menus, hours, or business model, make certain that you keep employees and customers updated by posting updates to your website and social media. Also, let customers know about the steps you take to protect both them and employees. This current crisis will pass; however, most people will probably retain a heightened awareness about the many ways that germs and diseases can spread. You can help reassure them that you work hard to protect them now and will continue to do so in the future.

Restaurant marketing after the coronavirus starts now

The restaurant customer acquisition strategies that you develop today can help sustain your business through this tough time and help you emerge with a larger customer base than you had before. Once this crisis passes, and it will, diners will be eager to enjoy restaurants again, and you can make sure they intend to reward themselves with a trip to your dining room.

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Audience Digital Targeting Services Media & Analytics
airline marketing
airline marketing

Airlines need to focus on gaining and maintaining the public’s trust in the wake of COVID-19. These marketing tactics can help airlines reach that goal.

Even when compared to many other industries, the coronavirus crisis has hit airlines particularly hard. Airline research from Reuters shows that seat capacity for international flights has dropped to half when compared to one year ago. Even more unsettling, storage buildings now house about one-half of all planes in the world. The largest airlines have already predicted that they will emerge from this crisis as smaller companies, and industry experts predict that some will not survive at all. For certain, marketing geared towards gaining and maintaining the public’s trust will be critical for airlines after the coronavirus.

Make Plans to Build Trust Before and Not After the Coronavirus

Even though airlines may have trimmed their schedules, they’re still departing, landing, serving customers, and working hard to ensure passenger and crew safety during these trying times. According to Aviation Technology, travelers still need to fly for repatriation to their homes and for other essential reasons.

Colleen Costello serves as the CEO for a company that embeds germ-killing technology into lights, Vital Vio. In her interview with Aviation Technology she said that she worked with several airlines that were aggressively tackling the challenge through screening, chemical disinfectants, and the sort of technology that her company supplies. She also mentioned the importance of having airlines clearly communicate with passengers, crew, and other stakeholders about how seriously they take the threat and how important safety measures have become.

For instance, she mentioned that a pre-coronavirus survey found that two out of five respondents had admitted to flying when they were ill and never wiping down surfaces or even their phone when they traveled. So, airlines can find plenty of opportunities to educate fliers about best practices for traveling and of course, to get more serious about enforcing and encouraging those measures. As a simple example, airlines could provide complimentary wipes and hand sanitizer for planes and boarding areas for crew and passengers. Emails, website notices, ads, social site postings, and even press releases can provide valuable safety tips and information about the steps the airline has taken to protect their customers and employees.

Audience Targeting for Airlines

In order to come up with good audience targeting for airlines after the coronavirus, it’s important to predict what travel will be like. It’s safe to assume that the bulk of the first post-corona travelers will fly for work and not discretionary trips. That’s particularly true for international flights. Forbes actually predicted that family travel will eventually resume, stronger than ever, as people take their delayed vacations or trips to visit family and friends. However, especially at first, people may choose short, domestic travel for vacations in order to stay closer to home and conserve budgets.

With that in mind, a couple of post-coronavirus targeting tactics may prevail:

  • B2B travel: Look at the example of the way Cathay Pacific used LinkedIn to target business travelers. Since the airline hoped to increase bookings on Asian flights, they targeted members of LinkedIn groups that focused on Asian business. The benefited from using polls to promote their loyalty program and the extra exposure they gained from LinkedIn recommendations. LinkedIn also lets companies post articles to their own pages to attract attention by highlighting their own efforts to protect travelers. The combination of ads and organic social attention can prove very potent.
  • Personal travel: Some airlines have benefited by using the targeting and retargeting options on such popular travel sites as Expedia. The platform allows advertisers to gather information to retarget to people who search for specific trips without purchasing flights, even when they continue to use the internet away from the original website. This helps reinforce the airline’s brand and increases the chance of engaging travelers. To learn more, it may help to consider how Korean and Hainan Airlines benefits from this strategy with Expedia to gain brand recognition from fliers who may not have considered booking with these two airlines before.

Since many businesses and individuals will suffer financial strain during the crisis. Airlines may not always need to compete with the cheapest tickets, but they should always stress why they offer a good value. Customers will still have an interest in loyalty programs, customer service, routes, schedules, amenities, and ticket prices.

For some time after the crisis passes, it’s also safe to predict that fliers will want to know how well airlines responded by protecting travelers and employees. This can include protection from disease, but it may also include adding in more generous policies for people who need to reschedule trips. Adding travel insurance with generous cancellation products can help develop trust and even provide airlines with an upsell to generate a little extra revenue.

It’s Time to Start Planning for Post-Coronavirus Airline Business

Almost everybody agrees that airlines will have to struggle over the coming months because of travel restrictions. Even after the worst of the crisis passes, it may take some time for travelers to feel comfortable leaving home. Likewise, businesses may find ways to reduce nonessential travel. Still, plenty of transportation experts feel confident that after some time, the business will enjoy another boom as both companies and individuals decide to make up for lost time. Airlines can position themselves well to enjoy this future surge by making certain that they represent their brands as well as possible during the crisis and find the right customers to target afterwards.

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Digital Targeting Services Media & Analytics
geofencing marketing scaled 1
geofencing marketing scaled 1

Geofencing is crucial for local business marketing because it allows you to reach the people who are around you and interested in what you sell. 

A geofence refers to a virtual boundary around a real-world area. It’s helpful for marketing a local business because it allows for hyperlocal targeting of people in a very specific location. Combined with other marketing tactics, you will also reach people who are not just nearby but also interested in what you offer. Find out how you can benefit from geofencing to market a local business.

Using Geofencing to Market My Local Business

Again, geofencing isn’t limited to just marketing or even cell phones. For instance, some companies use it to monitor activity in specific locations. The U.S. government relies upon it for security around military installations and even the White House. Still, you will find this tech heavily associated with mobile, local marketing. Geofencing apps rely upon Wi-Fi, GPS, RFID, or other device information to pinpoint the location of the user. The apps might either use proximity to a business or specific coordinates to decide if the mobile user has entered the boundaries of the geofence.

Since there are about 7.8 million people in the world and five billion mobile users, this technology has the ability to reach many potential customers. Generally, business access this technology through their own in-store apps, social medial sites, or advertising platforms. Imagine, for instance, you sell vegetarian lunches within a large city. Simply targeting your city or part of the city won’t give you the same results as having the luxury of targeting hungry vegetarians who are only a couple of blocks away or even walking past your front door.

When people approach your restaurant, you could offer them a mobile discount or BOGO coupon. When nearby workers start to look forward to lunchtime, you might send them a free delivery coupon. You can expect to enjoy much better conversions than by using promotions, coupon codes, and other ads that simply target people who happen to live within the same ZIP code or city and especially without any geographic targeting at all.

Benefits of Hyper-Targeting Local Audiences With Geofencing

Look at some encouraging statistics to see how you can improve your own local business marketing with geofencing:

  • Adding geofencing to mobile advertisements will double a typical click-through rate.
  • Over two-thirds of consumers say that they prefer personalized marketing experiences, and geofencing helps deliver that experience with its just-in-time messaging.

Even more, geofencing tech works with over 90 percent of today’s smart phones. Also, people almost always have their phones with them when they’re out and about, and they spend an average of five hours each day actively using them.

Your own business can benefit from geofencing with:

  • Improved marketing returns: You can assume that customers will prefer to visit a nearby business, so you can enjoy better conversions. With some advertising platforms, better conversions will even translate into cheaper bids. You can spend less money on ads and earn more in revenue.
  • Better data collection: You have a chance to adjust and test the virtual perimeter of your geofence and the kinds of offers and messages that you send. You should also add this information from other data you collect online and locally to gain a better understanding of customer behavior.
  • Improved customer experience: Truly, you will use geofencing to provide your customers with a better experience. You can deliver exactly what they want at the time when they’re nearby and ready to obtain it.

Common Ways Local Businesses Use Geofencing for Local Business Marketing

Marketers use geofencing in a number of different ways. Common applications include:

  • Business apps: These days, lots of businesses develop apps for consumers to use. Besides the other benefits of having consumers download your business app, you can also include geofencing to send notifications when users enter your defined locations.
  • Text messages: Along with email lists, it’s great to get permission to send text messages to your customers. You can use software to automatically send pre-written text messages when users step inside your zone.
  • Third-party applications: You may not have the resources to develop your own apps yet; however, you can find third-party coupon and promo apps that give you access to geofencing technology and very often, a wide audience.
  • Social media: Twitter, Facebook, and most other large social platforms have advertising programs that will allow you to use their geofencing capabilities.
  • Search and other internet ads: Advertising platforms, like Google, will let you define geofencing locations for displaying ads.

Tips to Maximize the Benefits of Local Business Marketing With Geofencing

As with most marketing, you should include a clear call to action. In this case, your call to action should emphasize immediate action because you’re taking advantage of the fact that your customers have moved close to your brick-and-mortar office or store. You don’t want to tell these customers that they can save money all month. Instead, you want to let them know that they’re lucky enough to be close just when they have the chance to take advantage of your deal.

Also, you’ll enjoy the best results if you mix geofencing with other marketing techniques, like search, demographic targeting, and so on. You probably don’t want to target everybody who happens to wander near your business but those who are most likely to want what you’re offering.

Categories
Digital Targeting Services Marketing/Business Media & Analytics Over-The-Top(OTT)
coronavirus
coronavirus

Pivot your marketing strategy to handle coronavirus by producing digital content, airing television ads and OTT ads, and a communication strategy.

Shift focus from events to digital

On top of major events like NBA games and Coachella being cancelled or postponed indefinitely, conferences, expos, and trade shows have also been cancelled. According to a Demand Gen Report, 53% of B2B marketers say in-person events are the most effective channel for driving conversions, so many marketers are now searching for new channels to connect with target audiences. 

Google Cloud Next, Adobe Summit, Y Combinator Demo Day and more have opted for a digital-only approach. Although digital-only events do not offer the same traditional networking opportunities as in-person events, marketers can experiment with their event strategies to still capture those audiences. Consider these tactics: 

  • Produce digital content that can still influence your intended audience. Even though your company will not be able to interact with your audience in person, you can still reach them through digital channels. 
  • Target attendees with email campaigns or direct-mail. These channels provide the personal messaging that audiences look for while attending events. 
  • A/B test everything to measure the effectiveness of attending events in the future. You could find valuable insights from changing your strategy this year. 

Opportunity for television and OTT advertising

Social distancing and work from home mandates mean more people will be at home watching television and streaming content. Audiences are tuning in to reporting on the coronavirus pandemic and searching for ways to stay entertained while limiting contact with potentially affected areas. 

Although ad spending is projected to slump across the board, reallocating budget to television and OTT advertising could pay off. Many brands are cutting ad spend in preparation for lower sales projections, which means there could more inventory available. Between self-quarantines, cancelled events, and precautionary measures, potential consumers are on the couch in front of the television as a captive audience.

Communicate any service disruptions to the customer

In the event your supply chain is disrupted, you have to cancel your event, or any other major changes, clearly communicate to your consumers why your regular service may be affected. Your customer will understand if your company has to make changes in the current situation as long as you are clear on why the package is taking longer to arrive or you are issuing a refund. The last thing the consumer wants is to be left in the dark and without the proper information.

Dispel misinformation about your brand

Misinformation about COVID-19 is multiplying across all social media channels. In-depth social listening for mentions about your brand will help you monitor untrue information that could be harmful to many people. 

For example, some people are attempting to make their own hand sanitizer using Tito’s Handmade Vodka and aloe. However, the CDC recommends that hand sanitizer needs to contain at least 60% alcohol and Tito’s only has 40%. To stop this unsafe information from spreading, Tito’s is replying to all tweets with a statement disproving it and recommendations from the CDC. 

Don’t sacrifice safety for the bottom line

It’s hard to predict what kind of long-term impact coronavirus will have on our economy, but it’s important to keep acting with brand values in mind. At the end of the day, the safety of the public is the most important thing and companies should act accordingly.

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Audience Consumer Journey Mapping Digital Targeting Services Insights Media & Analytics Real Time Monitoring & Tracking
Agency Blog
Agency Blog

Advertising is all about making a product or service known and this service is usually accomplished by the individual himself or by a marketing agency. Having the passion and creative talent to build and manage an advertising agency is one thing, however to stay in business; you have to learn how to market your advertising agency as well, not just your clients.

The first thing in marketing your business is to make sure that you plan and develop ways to reach your target audience, which is usually companies and businesses that will want to advertise their products or services by using your expertise in advertising. Though you will often use networking and different media such as radio, television and the internet, your efforts will usually work best if you create space for yourself in a particular advertising medium by specializing in one or two advertising media and by developing a presence in this area.

For example, if you are running an ad agency in Orlando or a marketing agency in Florida, you will want to focus primarily on businesses in Orlando. You can even narrow down your search to only radio networks, television networks or internet advertising depending on your expertise.

Your business needs to have a unique identity. You need to give it a name and a description that sets it apart from other advertising agencies. You should try to describe yourself in a way that sets you apart as unique and professional, and communicate how advertising with you will bring more value to your customers just by adding themselves to your network. Be creative!

While in this process, you also have to identify who your potential client is and in doing so you will easily know where to locate them and engage with them either directly or indirectly to learn more about your business and to take interest in your offers.

For marketing efforts that are localized, as in the case of Orlando ad agencies as mentioned in the example above, localizing your marketing efforts does make sense. However if your company is looking to reach a worldwide audience, and also planning to go international, then you do not have to leave any avenues untouched. The larger you are able to spread your net, the greater the possibility of catching new business. You should be positioned to try satellite television, magazines, newspapers, radio, social media, and even other non-traditional media.

However, you will need to research each medium appropriately in order to find out where your target population is and then focus on this niche for maximum effect so you dowaste your resources.

Going online can easily bring you to a worldwide audience, and to keep in touch, you will need to be constantly supplying keywords and new content. Spread your reaches by sharing in advertising networks where you can put your adverts on certain networks and pay a commission or post links and adverts on certain networks who in return will also post adverts on your site. You can also work through social media platforms to create links and make new customers.

Are you in need of a comprehensive approach to determine which solutions best meet the needs of your clientele? Contact our advertising agency’s team of strategists to identify your perfect marketing mix.

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Audience Audience Analysis Audience Segmentation Digital Targeting Services Media & Analytics
audience targeting
audience targeting

Audience targeting can help you identify who your ideal customers are and help you create relevant and resonant marketing messages.

Few things are sadder than wasted potential — and that applies to both people and products. If you build a great product or service and can’t get it in front of the right audiences, your odds of realizing its potential are slim. This is one reason why audience targeting is so critically important.

Audience targeting 101

The practice of audience targeting is straightforward: You take a large customer segment and break it down into smaller groups in order to target likely buyers within these groups.

The animating principle of audience segmentation is this: General messages sent to large undifferentiated audiences don’t resonate the same way that specific messages sent to highly targeted audiences do.

In other words, why waste your time selling your product or service to people who aren’t interested? Instead, find the people who are interested and send them messages custom-designed to appeal to their wants, needs and interests.

Audience segmentation comes in four general types:

  • Geographic: The state, city, neighborhood etc. where your audience lives.
  • Behavioral: This evaluates spending habits, brand interactions etc.
  • Demographics: Includes age, gender, marital status, income level, education level etc.
  • Psychographic: Personality, beliefs, values, interests etc.

By considering these four factors, brands can begin to develop highly tailored audience segments and deliver customized marketing messages. This allows brands to speak directly to consumers, creating specific messages for specific audiences. This creates higher-quality leads, more loyal customers, and differentiates your brand from others.

Smart strategies for audience targeting

In order to get maximum value from your audience targeting efforts, it’s important to lay the groundwork by following some tried and true segmentation strategies. Some of the most impactful strategies include the following:

  • Begin with buyer personas. The buyer persona is the foundational document for targeting purposes. These personas are descriptions of your ideal customers (some businesses may have two or three, others up to a dozen). These personas are constructed from market research, internal data, demographic data, and other sources. Once a brand has well-defined buyer personas in place, the process of targeting specific audiences becomes viable.
  • Use an identity graph. Such graphs are powerful algorithmic tools for identifying who your highest-spending customers are and where you can reach them. By analyzing mobile advertising IDs and email address data, brands can gain deep insight into what potential customers are searching for along with their purchasing behavior.
  • Use Facebook and other social platforms for custom targeting. It’s not the most complex approach, but Facebook has more information on our interests than any other organization. It’s no stretch to say Facebook knows most of its users better than they know themselves. Brands can use Facebook’s backend to set up demographic, behavioral and psychographic profiles that target the right audiences.
  • AI-assisted chatbots. With the right design and programming, a chatbot can significantly improve UX and glean critical targeting data from site or app visitors. This data can be used to determine whether visitors fall within target markets. Marketing messages can then be tailored according to this segmentation.

Locating the ideal audience insights agency

Audience targeting has long been a critical part of advertising and marketing, but today’s digital tools are making the job easier than ever before. At Bigeye we have the domain expertise and technological resources to help you find the right audience and serve them with the perfect messages.

Categories
Digital Targeting Services Media & Analytics Multi-Family Real Estate
geo fencing apartment marketing e1572565618385
geo fencing apartment marketing e1572565618385

Among the countless advantages that digital marketing has over traditional media marketing, geo-fencing ranks near the top.

Briefly defined, geo-fencing establishes an invisible perimeter (or “fence”) that covers a particular geographic region, allowing digital marketers to specifically target the audience that lies within it.

Countless industries and business sectors have benefited from geo-fencing, but its value to marketers within the residential real estate sector cannot be underestimated.

Geo-Fencing Explained

As the old cliche goes, the three most important criteria for determining real estate desirability are location, location, location. Renters in search of a new apartment almost invariably look within very specific areas and have little interest in properties that lie outside of those areas.

Geo-fencing allows you to make the most of your marketing efforts by reaching out to apartment-hunters inside a precise geographic region that you are able to define and alter at will.

With geo-fencing, you can program automatic alerts to launch to smartphone users who happen to stray close to your apartment community. Prospective tenants who are using Zillow, Yelp, Pandora, or any other mobile app that supports geo-fencing are instantly identified through technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) or the Global Positioning System (GPS) and can receive one or more instant alerts when they enter your targeted area.

3 Key Benefits of Geo-Fencing

Unsurprisingly, more and more apartment marketers are employing geo-fencing to specifically target individuals who are most likely to engender conversions and, ultimately, fill property vacancies. The majority of prospective tenants also benefit from geo-fencing. After all, what apartment hunter wouldn’t appreciate a tip or a special offer regarding a great place in an ideal location?

Here are just three key advantages of apartment marketing and hunting with geo-fencing:

1. Optimized search operations based on location

Real estate websites and online rental databases that employ geo-fencing technology do much of the legwork for apartment hunters by automatically and instantaneously sorting through a nearly infinite number of listings to show only the properties that fall within the parameters of a specific geographic location. In addition to targeting only the most likely future tenants on an individual basis, geo-fencing allows apartment marketers to send them relevant sale suggestions at the most opportune moments.

2. The delivery of key apartment information in real-time

In addition to sending relevant listings to a localized audience and vacancy alerts to individuals who are close to your various listings, geo-fencing technology can aid with prompt apartment showings and spur-of-the-moment apartment applications. More generally speaking, it can do wonders when it comes to helping apartment complexes and other real estate organizations build their brand and engage with the most relevant audience possible. After all, why spend the money and energy on an extensive and protracted branding campaign that will reach thousands or even millions of uninterested people?

3. Convenient, value-added apartment hunting assistance

Geo-fencing goes a long way toward placing the power to find and obtain the perfect apartment in the palm of any smartphone user’s hand. In addition to optimizing the online apartment hunting process, geo-fencing allows even the least tech-savvy Zillow, Redfin, or Realtor.com users to schedule relevant apartment search alerts that do most of the hunting for them. By setting specific rental interest criteria within a particular geographic area, they can let their favorite real estate app do the work, notifying them of key apartment prospects while they concentrate on career, family, and other important matters.

To Learn More

If you have any questions about geo-fencing for apartments, contact the real estate marketing leaders at BIGEYE today. The professionals at BIGEYE offer a broad spectrum of marketing services that can benefit anyone in the property rental sector.

Categories
Digital Targeting Services Multi-Family Search Engine Optimization
multi family digital marketing 1200x600 c default
multi family digital marketing 1200x600 c default

Don’t let your multi-family digital marketing strategy become stagnant, now is your chance to extend them beyond the walls of your complex.

The multi-family industry has long used traditional advertising and marketing approaches to drive revenue through local TV, brochures, etc. Yet as the industry changes to adapt to larger societal changes, these legacy approaches need to play a more complementary role. Today, multi-family digital marketing supported by data-driven insights is the best way to reach audiences and create sustainable revenue.

How multi-family digital marketing helps cultivate leads and meet occupancy goals

What’s driving the multi-family space’s foray into data-powered digital marketing? According to some industry observers, digital marketing is essential in order to help resolve several entrenched business problems. These include diagnosing underperforming properties, identifying gaps in lead management and merchandising specific product types (such as floor plans and unit sizes) on demand.

By integrating data analytics into their approach, multifamily operators are able to gain the insight they need to convert leads more effectively and identify inefficiencies and opportunities within specific properties. Decisions supported by real-time data can help managers increase yield and minimize lost opportunities.

So how are multi-family operators incorporating these strategies? By mastering the fundamentals: High-quality lead generation, a robust online presence (great UX, compelling content, and tools such as online chatbots) lead forms, and contact centers.

Other key developments

Multi-family digital marketing tactics need to extend beyond lead management and well-designed websites. Marketers in this space should also give due consideration to the following:

  • Consumer search preferences are evolving. Multifamily operators must stay current on SEO best practices in order to ensure visibility when prospective customers search for properties within their area. This is especially true given the impact of Google Places on organic search placement.
  • Internet Lead Management (ILM) analytics can help property managers gain deeper insight into the lifecycle of a lead and how various channels are performing. ILM analytics can also provide a window into performance on the agent level, as communication can be analyzed to determine what prospects are responding to and what they aren’t. Analytics can also shine a light on whether there is a problem within the lead management process, or the sales process.
  • Data-driven insights can also help optimize revenue management. Property managers can identify upcoming occupancy problems and make adjustments to ensure that rates remain stable. Those adjustments may include ramping up an existing marketing campaign to get additional prospects in the sales pipeline, or hitting pause on a campaign if long-term occupancy projections are higher than previously thought. Property managers can also use digital tools to introduce dynamic pricing, optimizing revenue based on shorter-term demand fluctuations.

The takeaway

The multi-family property space is quickly modernizing its marketing approach, shifting from traditional TV ads and brochures to sophisticated, data-driven digital marketing. This approach is paying significant dividends in terms of creating more leads, optimizing lead management, and improving revenue management practices.

At BIGEYE, we’re experts in multifamily digital marketing — and we’d design a campaign that increases your leads and boosts your bottom line. Contact us today to learn what a top multifamily digital marketing agency can do for you.