Imagine if your business could target exactly the right people, at the right time, with the right message. This is essentially what geotargeting is.  

 Geotargeted marketing refers to directing advertising and marketing efforts to users within a specific geographic area or based on their location.  

 Essentially, geotargeting is something that has always been used. In days of traditional advertising such as print, billboards or tv advertising – local marketers may have selected publications or TV stations specific to a local area their target customers resided in.  

 The concept remains the same, but the capabilities in the digital world are even greater. Now, with digital advertising platforms, a business can set up both geographic targeting and radius targeting. The former – a wider spread net using postal code, city, province or country, and the latter, setting a certain kilometer radius around a specific geographic point, such as a store location.Users identified within the radius become eligible to receive a targeted ad. Meaning, if you are a local business, you can now access your target customers by location, with more accuracy than ever before.  

 Much of the success and accuracy of geotargeting depends on the advertising platform used – some platforms will have immenseamounts data on their users, giving high accuracy on radius, and other demographics.  

 Some of the most widely used platforms for geotargeting are Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Snapchat Geofilters and Foursquareads. Any of these platforms are a good place to begin your geotargeting journey – consider the behavior patterns and digital usage of your customers when making this decision. What platforms may they use and for what are two good questions to ask.  

 How does AdTech Identify User Geography? The main ways in which advertising platforms canidentifya user's physical location are IP address, GPS data, Wi-fi connection or mobile network. This is why you see social media platforms dominating in this space when it comes to advertising, as many of them require users to provide this information to even have a profile on their platforms.  

 Other things to consider: Geotargeting gives you access to the audience, but proper messaging and weighing other factors into your strategy include demographics like age, browsing interests, and type of device usage of your target audience are important to consider to see success in geotargeting. Really, any successful digital advertising strategy must include a strong understanding of target audience