Hi there! Gwen Gibson here. I’m excited to introduce to you my first “Ask Gwen” Column. We launched this column to allow you (our readers) to ask us any questions that you might have about location intelligence as it applies to advertising and marketing. We’re living in a surreal time right now. COVID-19 has impacted businesses across many different industries. Despite this, businesses are finding creative solutions to reach their target audiences during this time – whether it is through social media or creating a CTV ad campaign. Customer insights give businesses the opportunity to better understand how to reach their customers. My goal is to help you learn about how location intelligence empowers businesses with the customer insights that they need to thrive in this new, emerging economy.

This month’s column dives into three types of different types of strategy: proximity marketing, precision marketing, and conquesting campaigns. Each are different ways of reaching your target audience. Location intelligence provides customer insights which can help you reach not only your target audience, but also your competition’s customers as well.

Q:  Dear Gwen, I’m working on an advertising campaign. I’m trying to determine how to reach my target audience. I can’t decide between a precision or proximity marketing campaign. Can you explain to me the difference between a proximity and precision audience?

Yours Truly,
Andrea Advertiser

A:  Dear Andrea,

It’s great that you are thinking about how to reach your target audience. Proximity and precision audiences are not only helpful for advertising campaigns, but they can also give you customer insights for use in future ad campaigns.

Don’t worry — I have a trick that will help you remember the difference. Their names are clues to their characteristics: proximity and precision.

Proximity audiences are smartphone users who have been observed in the area around a particular location. This is great for promoting brand awareness and advertising mass market products or services in order to reach a larger target audience. For example, a restaurant in a busy strip mall could advertise to people who have been within a certain radius of their location. That way, they can advertise their new dinner specials to those who may be feeling hungry after shopping at the strip mall.

Precision audiences only take into account the mobile phone users who physically visit a particular location. You can use this type of target audience to advertise a more specialized product or service, to reach a competitors’ customers, or to connect with your existing customers. If a sporting goods store is releasing a new piece of hiking gear, they can advertise to people who are interested in hiking, camping, and other outdoor activities, as well as their loyal customers and their competitors’ customers. With a campaign like that, you might find yourself with a few new fans shopping in your stores!

Gwen

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Q:  Dear Gwen, I want to expand my target audience in order to reach my competitor’s customers. We are thinking about trying a conquesting campaign. What is a conquesting campaign and how can it help us gain insights into our competitor’s customers?

Sincerely,
Competitive Carl

A: Hello Carl,

A conquesting campaign helps you get ads in front of your competitor’s customers in the hopes of converting them into your own loyal customers. This is a great way to put your brand in front of someone who may not have previously considered it and gain customer insights in the process.

For example, we looked at unique visitors to car dealerships across the U.S. to find out which companies are competing against each other for the customer’s sale. You might be surprised to learn that people who eventually bought a car from Chevrolet first considered an Audi instead! By understanding what your competitor’s customers are interested in, you’ll be able to gain significant customer insights to drive your advertising campaign. In this case, a Chevrolet car dealership would be able to target their ads to customers who have visited an Audi dealership.

These insights can also help you understand who your real competitors are, which is known as competitive intelligence. Strategically advertising to their customers is a great way to win more of them over. By getting ahead of your competition’s advertising strategy, you’ll be able to welcome more customers at your door.

Gwen

Have a question for me about location intelligence and customer insights? Email your questions to gwen@gravyanalytics.com with the subject line “Ask Gwen.” I’m looking forward to hearing from you.