Salvin Varghese

Thank you!

This is an extremely interesting and hot-button topic, Cindy. Your analysis and questioning of geo-targeting and the accuracy of ads were well-thought-out and sparks some of my own questions. Working for a brick-and-click retailer, it’s extremely important to determine where our customers are coming from. Although it’s somewhat “easy” to determine if users shopped online versus in-store, geo-targeting brings to question the opportunity to better track the location of our in-store customers. With multiple locations in a small area, there must be a better way to determine which locations are better suited for each prospective customer. I feel as though geo-targeting would allow us to determine which locations our customers frequent and how to better target them with both online ads but also through our printed mailers. This is certainly something I’m going to think about more and potentially share with my team upon further research. Thanks, Cindy!

Really interesting post, if not at all surprising. This has been an issue for a long time, but it’s not so much that you can’t accurately target ads as you need to be using the right data.

Does this study happen to audit the different sources? More context would be helpful as I imagine far too many people are still targeting location based on IP or profile information.

GPS functionally has to be more accurate, but perhaps advertisers are getting the context wrong (misconstruing where someone has been for where they are)?

Posting on behalf of Colleen:

Hi Cindy, a nice post on the geo-marketing data!
I agree with you that marketers have to be judgable to use the readily available location-based data. As consumers and businesses become more mobile and more connected, there is an exponential increase of data generated in marketing. The advantage of the bigdata is that marketers now have an enormous amount of available data that is not accessible previously; but on the other hand, it is harder to find high-quality, accurate data out of the data silo. The inaccuracy of geo-targeting data results from several reasons: poor GPS function, slow WiFi connection, signal interfere with tall buildings in cities, and inconsistency between zip code registered in apps and the real location of the users for shopping (https://geomarketing.com/why-accurate-location-data-is-so-hard-to-get). I believe the accuracy of geo-marketing data will be greatly improve upon the launch of 5G technology which promises to provide higher speed and more accurate GPS service. Before the technology is accessible to everyone, brands have to filter through all the data silo to get rid of dirty data. There is an urgent need for better analytic tools to do the filtration to reach high-accuracy geo-marketing data.

Another aspect of the location-based marketing is that location-based marketing is not suitable for all the industries. Brands with physical locations may be the best fit for location-based marketing. For instance, auto dealers benefit from geotargeting campaigns, particularly geo-conquesting, that can reach their competitors’ customers. Marketers in seasonal stores can use audiences seen at their locations the previous year to deliver ads to the same group, encouraging return visits the following year. On the other hand, locations without abundant foot traffic or businesses with sensitive data wouldn’t work for geotargeting. I think we are a long way from taking the full advantage of the data generated from mobile marketing including the geo-targeting. On more concern would be a better regulation about data sharing and privacy with more transparency and control over marketing data across digital marketing practice.

Hey Cindy!
This is a really great post on an interesting topic. Location-based marketing has become a popular marketing strategy with all the growing opportunities. But can some of its inaccuracies be because some consumers aren’t willing to share their data with brands also? As a consumer, I’ll admit that I am one to quickly decline brands’ requesting access to my location. But is my reluctance to share data making it hard for brands to accurately target my demographic with an advertisement? With the data a brand does have to target my demographic, are they using the right information to target?

For those willing to share their information – again I ask – are brands using the correct data to accurately track where their consumers are? As mentioned earlier, poor GPS function and slow WiFi connection can affect the accuracy of location-based marketing, but according to Beaconstac, some ways that brands can accurately track their consumers is via mobile payments that are capable of tracking location, geo-fencing and/or geo-conquesting to create boundaries around a store and their competitor’s locations, and push notifications.

References:

4 Brands that are Winning at Location-Based Marketing and How

Great Post Cindy! This topic is one that I think about a lot as like most of us I receive targeted ads for things that I normally wouldn’t buy or be interested in.. Understanding how certain locations react to certain products is very important in learning how to navigate marketing tactics and increasing sales. Although there have been times where I have been targeted with an ad that is not for my location or even my demographic (Self Proclaimed) but sometimes those ads make me curious to check out that company or product. It almost makes me wonder if maybe I was targeted for that specific brand for one reason or another since what I may think a company’s metrics are for their target market are may not even be that.

This is a wonderful read, Cindy! It’s incredible to see how quickly brands are able to react and act on events such as this. This action reminds me of an in-the-moment campaign completed by the Philadelphia Eagles marketing team after a huge play happened back in 2018. I, unfortunately, cannot remember which play or find the content since it’s been some time since the Social Media Manager spoke about it, but I distinctly remember the Manager and the marketing team fully capitalizing on the moment. Similarly to the Bud Light, the Eagles were able to utilize this the play footage in multiple facets from TV to social media. Really cool to see brands listen and act.

Really enjoyed this read! I love that comment “Twitter please find this guy” as this same statement has been used multiple times on the app to help people find someone in a photo in other situations. It amazing to see how Budlight was able to capitalize on one simple moment and make it into a whole marketing strategy.

Very cool Helen. Love the Peleton example. I’m so impressed with them and how they took a simple piece of exercise equipment that has been around for years and by tying it to the digital world created an entirely new opportunity. They connected people with like minds and with the same interests and instantly built a community. Really so smart!

Thanks for posting this, Cindy! I hadn’t heard of this campaign before, but I think this might make for a perfect case study for future classes.

Geo-fencing can be a bit of a gimmick and can suffer from scale at times, yet this is an excellent creative execution that leverages the tech while still feeling organic.

I wonder if it made people “seek out” the rain. It certainly would make a rainproof jacket top of mind!

Thank you Greg. The thing I like best about this campaign is not only did they look at mobile and use the technology available in a phone in a unique way they used it in a way that would reach their audience and still be in line with their brand. It is easy to use geo targeting for promoting a sale. It’s entirely different to use geo targeting in a way that resonates with what users love while being in line with your brand’s why. And the product launch was secondary to the experience in a good way. The Spotify launch was just brilliant and as you mentioned and gave the campaign that organic feel. Even their app uses geo location for more than sales. As I check in at outdoor locations highlighted in the app I earn VIPeak points. They actually reward me for being outdoors!