Continuing with our series on contextual advertising in the era of ad-blocking, we’re now turning our focus to location-based advertising. Wondering how location-based advertising could help you to engage your audience? We’ll cut through the jargon and get your advertising strategy on track for 2020.
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It’s a sad fact, but one we can’t ignore. Our audience is slowly disengaging with us. Statistics show that 27% of the US population will have installed some form of ad-blocker by 2021. And as the Drum and HERE’s whitepaper states, one of the key reasons cited by users for this disengagement is the irrelevance of ads that are served to them.
So how can we as advertisers ensure that our advertising is relevant? Recently more and more advertisers believe the answer lies in location-based advertising.
Location-based advertising relies on location data, using signals such as on-device IDs, Wi-Fi, GPS, cell towers and beacons, and mobile technology to identify a person’s movements over time. In this mobile age, we can be increasingly sure of the reliability of this location data. Studies show that the average American checks his or her phone 52 times daily. And according to a study from GSTV and Mastercard, consumers are +3.7 times more attentive to advertising when on the go. Location-based advertising essentially means that you can deliver highly relevant and timely messages to users, ensuring they are more likely to engage with your ad.
The results from a report by Factual support this. According to the study, 90% of marketers said location-based advertising resulted in higher sales, 86% saw a growth in their customer base and 84% noted higher customer engagement.
Location-Based Advertising in Practice
So how exactly does using location data work in practice? One technique for location-based advertising is geofencing. Also known as drive-to-store advertising, geofencing is the set-up of a virtual geographic boundary which, when a mobile device crosses that boundary, triggers an ad to the device.
The most common example is that of a car dealership. When someone’s mobile device crosses the boundary surrounding the dealership, a targeted, timely and relevant ad can be delivered to that mobile device, encouraging the owner to take a test drive.
A number of big advertisers are already taking advantage of geofencing. Campari America ran an advertising campaign, targeting drinkers aged 21-34 while they were in areas full of bars and restaurants, which offered them a discount of $5 with ride-sharing service Lyft when they entered a particular area with their device..
Starbucks also used location-based ads by tracking users’ device ID and location to serve them targeted ads based on that information. They then measured how many people walked into a Starbucks branch after seeing the ad. The likelihood of a person entering a store increased by 100%, according to Starbucks.
Another use of location data is to build an audience based on their behaviour and geographical location over time. For example, you want to target cinema fanatics for your next advertising campaign. You can use location data to determine which devices visit cinemas on a regular basis. When you serve the ads, the user may not necessarily be close to the cinema but nevertheless, you can be sure you’re delivering personalised, relevant messages to your target audience. Advertisers can also show ads at relevant times during the day to make them more impactful.
Receptive audience? Now engage them
So you know your audience is going to be receptive to your ad; you’ve got your advertising strategy sewn up then, right? Of course not, relevance is only half of the story – you still need to deliver creatives that resonateswith your audience. That’s where mobile rich media comes in.
A Mobile Benchmarks Report found that mobile rich media ads topped both completion (93.7%) and engagement (10.5%) rates, much higher than the results seen with standard static banner ads. And why is that?
First of all, mobile rich media ads allow brands to stand out from the crowd and grab their audience’s attention. At Nexd, we offer numerous mobile rich media formats including the more common interstitial and expandable ads, as well as interactive infeed formats such as the 3D Cube, Carousel and Scratch ads. The latter offer a higher level of creative freedom that enable the brand to tell their story and generate two-way communication with their audience.
Secondly, rich media ads offer the opportunity for more interactions. A simple static banner ad can result in only one form of engagement: a click. But with mobile rich media ads, the ad unit itself can contain numerous interaction possibilities.
If you haven’t yet considered mobile rich media for your ad campaign, there’s plenty to inspire you here at Nexd. With our Campaign Manager you can create highly engaging ads easily – there’s not even the need to write any code. Check out the different formats available and get some inspiration for your next ad campaign in our demo gallery.
So if you’re looking to overcome the rise of ad-blocking, consider trying to make your ads more relevant and timely by using location-based advertising. And once you’ve got a receptive audience, make sure the ad you’re serving them is a winner and will engage them. At Nexd, we believe that combining contextual advertising with rich media is the formula for marketing success in the era of ad-blocking. Take our advice and watch your engagement rates soar.