Insights and thought leadership for Africa’s marketing professionals
Issue 3 2024 of Strategic Marketing for Africa, the magazine for deep-thinking industry professionals, provides in-depth insights.
GEOFENCING MARKETING
By our News Team | 2021
A geofencing marketing strategy uses near-ubiquitous mobile phones to reach potential customers within a designated geographical area.
For bricks-and-mortar business, attracting customers from their local area has become a lot harder in the digital age and the era of home deliveries through the likes of Amazon and other e-commerce businesses.
For some retailers, and even B2B organisations that sell locally, geofencing marketing may present an opportunity to cost-effectively target potential customers within their catchment area using cellular technology.
While the geofencing concept is still not common in the African context, it is gaining traction in markets such as North America and Europe.
What is it exactly? In a blog post for international digital marketing firm Bullseye Strategy, company President Maria Harrison explains that geofencing is a local, mobile advertising solution that allows marketers to target smartphone users when they enter a specified radius.
Photo by Darlene Alderson from Pexels
Geofencing marketing takes hyper-local targeting to a whole new level, especially as more consumers are finding more businesses online than ever before.
Geofencing ads have double the click-through rate
“More than half of smartphone users have discovered a new business or product when searching on their devices,” Harrison writes.
“A massive 53% of shoppers have visited a brick-and-mortar retailer after receiving a location-based message. And if you need more convincing to try geofencing marketing, mobile ads with geofencing capabilities have double the click-through rate.”
According to Harrison, using either GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi or cellular data, companies can create geofence boundaries. When these are crossed, they will trigger a series of programmable actions to recipients – including SMS and push notifications, social media ads, mobile display ads and navigation-based app ads sent to a mobile device.
“In other words, geofencing advertising leverages the data around a physical location to target specific customers. Geofencing can be highly successful in a marketing campaign, with three out of four consumers completing a target action when receiving a programmed text message after approaching a designated location,” she says.
Within the North American market, geofencing mobile marketing is compatible with 92% of all smartphones, Bullseye notes.
Issue 3 2024 of Strategic Marketing for Africa, the magazine for deep-thinking industry professionals, provides in-depth insights.
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Dr. Kin Kariisa is an extraordinary force at the helm of Next Media Services, a conglomerate encompassing NBS TV, Nile Post, Sanyuka TV, Next Radio, Salam TV, Next Communication, Next Productions, and an array of other influential enterprises. His dynamic role as Chief Executive Officer exemplifies his unwavering commitment to shaping media, business, and community landscapes.
With an esteemed academic journey, Dr. Kariisa’s accolades include an Honorary PhD in exemplary community service from the United Graduate College inTexas, an MBA from United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya, a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Huazong University in China, and a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from Makerere University.
Dr. Kariisa pursued PhD research in Computer Security and Identity Management at Security of Systems Group, Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands. As a dynamic educator, he has shared his expertise as a lecturer of e-Government and Information Security at both Makerere University and Radboud University.
Dr Kin did his PhD research in Computer Security and Identity Management at Security of Systems Group, Radbond University in Nigmegen, Netherlands. He previously served as a lecturer of e-Government and Information Security at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and Radbond University in Netherlands.
Dr Kin did his postgraduate courses in Strategic Business Management, Strategic Leadership Communication and Strategies for Leading Successful Change Initiatives at Harvard University, Boston USA.