The 2022 marketing trends: Geotargeting is the year’s newest buzz word

Location-based search options target customers at the right time and place

For the last 10 years, the curve pushed towards all things digital for marketing strategies, but that race was pushed into hyperdrive in 2020. The world went into lockdown, and potential customers were forced to sit at their computers, rather than enjoying weekends out and about, browsing stores and malls and social centres. Companies needed to adapt, and quickly.

“Moving into 2022, reaching customers on their mobile devices will be the ‘make or break’ strategy for almost any business, and that also includes local or small businesses,” says Geonet Co-Founder Chad Egan. “Relying on foot traffic, word of mouth referrals or traditional advertising won’t cut it anymore, you need to be where your customers are searching – and the overwhelming majority is through social media and search engines.”

For this reason, Geonet has developed a highly precise form of location marketing. Location based marketing is nothing new, particularly for those using Apple or Google Maps to find local businesses. In fact, over a 2-year period, Google has reported a 900% increase in searches that include the words “near me.”

However, geo-targeting (also known as geo-fencing) is now becoming the hot trend as companies are trying to hone in on key areas within a city or a suburb, to target customers with ads and offers through social media advertising. Geonet is taking that a step further with their own method of geotargeting, created by Geonet’s other Co-Founder, I Putu Arka. As a software developer, Arka modified the location search to reach customers in specific venues or buildings and also at a specific time. With this method, they reach customers at the most optimum time of the buying cycle, for example, targeting open houses to seek potential home buyers for their real estate clients.

Geonet is seeing the push for more location-specific marketing for their clients, whose industries span across real estate to mortgage and finance companies, retail and ecommerce sites, cosmetic and beauty clinics, and home services and antenna installations.

The company’s geotargeting campaigns have proven to be an efficient and cost-effective form of marketing, because the audiences are specifically created for each client or campaign needs, rather than casting a large net over a wide area. This method can have a major impact on branding – and more specifically to the right audience – but it is predominantly focused on generating immediate sales. As with most digital advertising, there is also precise campaign monitoring and reporting, which allows for customisation on ad production, copyright, graphics, landing page performance, retargeting, video targeting, SMS offers and email offers.