What’s the difference between geofencing and geotargeting?

How to properly use these location-specific digital techniques

Digital marketing is a tricky domain with plenty of jargon that can leave you scratching your head. Take, for example, geofencing and geotargeting. Although they sound similar, these location-based strategies are quite different. 

Learning the difference between geofencing and geotargeting can significantly enhance your overall digital marketing efforts and your ROI. 

In this blog, we simplified these terms so that you may make a better choice while running your next geo-advertising (paid media) campaigns. 

Understanding geofencing 

As the name suggests, geofencing is a strategy that involves creating an imaginary fence or boundary around a given area using internet protocol addresses and GPS tracking of the devices your target audience uses. Depending on your company’s promotional needs, you can decide on your geofencing radius.

In geofencing, the people in your targeted audience see the ads you run within your decided location when they’re browsing the internet. No matter what device your potential customers use, they’ll receive push notifications or promotional messages once they enter the location you fenced. 

Understanding geotargeting

Geotargeting, on the other hand, is a strategy to display ads to the targeted audience members who meet defined specifications. The main difference between geotargeting and geofencing is that in geotargeting, you use customer-centric targeting criteria to filter the audience. Geotargeting emphasizes factors like customer behavior, interests, and demographics, instead of just location. 

With geotargeting, marketers have control over the people who will see the ads as well as the flexibility to include or exclude locations where the ads will run. Incorporating geotargeting into paid media is great for companies wanting to pitch a large audience base scattered over a vast geography.

Do note that identifying your target audience is key in determining the success of any location-based paid media/advertising strategy. So, here is a template to help you identify your organization’s target audience. 

At Axia Public Relations, we have a team of experienced digital marketing and content marketing strategists. Together, we help companies achieve their marketing goals. To get in touch with us, give us a call at  888-PR-FIRM-8.