Geofencing marketing
Reach the right people, wherever they are.
Using geofencing for digital marketing
Geofencing is a location-based marketing technique that uses mobile data signals to create a virtual fence around a real-world location.
When someone with a smartphone enters that geofenced location, anonymised location data identifies that the device has been within
the boundary.
Those devices are added to a custom audience group. No personal data is collected, it’s based on anonymous device IDs.
Once the audience is created, we can serve ‘sooper’ smart digital ads to these people, so they see your brand on the websites, apps and social media platforms they’re using! We can keep retargeting them for up to 30 days.
We’ll keep an eye on how your campaign is performing by tracking engagement, clicks and conversions, and we’ll constantly tweak and optimise things to make sure you’re getting the maximum return on your investment.
Geofencing and geotargeting
It’s easy to confuse geofencing with geotargeting - they’re both location-based marketing techniques, but they work in slightly different ways. Geotargeting targets people in broad areas, like a town, city or postcode, and shows ads to people within that location. Geofencing is far more precise. It creates a virtual boundary around a specific place, like a competitor’s site, event venue or shop, and targets people who have been inside that boundary for days afterwards. In short, geotargeting reaches people based on where they are, while geofencing reaches them based on where they’ve been.
Geofencing campaigns
Geofencing is the perfect digital marketing strategy for any business that wants to reach a geographically specific audience. We can help you with…
Competitor targeting
Target customers visiting competitor locations
Retail footfall campaigns
Turn onsite store visitors into online customers
Event and venue targeting
Capture attendees and retarget them after the event
University and campus targeting
Ideal for recruiting graduates
Business park and workplace targeting
Perfect for B2B lead generation
Sector-specific targeting
Target people working in healthcare, transport, retail and loads more!
Using geofencing for recruitment marketing
Geofencing works wonders for recruitment marketing, so much so that Soop’s sister brand, crooton, does just that!
Geofencing puts your jobs in front of potential candidates in the places they spend their time; at home, at work and on their daily commute. It gives you great employer brand awareness and helps to build a steady flow of talent.
As an awareness-stage strategy, it’s ideal for engaging both active job hunters and those who aren’t yet actively searching but could be open to the right opportunity.
“Our partnership with crooton has been instrumental in helping the British Transport Police meet our recruitment goals, particularly in attracting a diverse and talented pool of candidates.”
Police sergeant Joe Mills, British Transport Police.
- Reach the right people by targeting audiences based on the places they actually visit
- Cut down on wasted budget by focusing spend on candidates who are genuinely relevant
- Measure campaign impact with detailed performance data that shows what’s delivering results
- Strengthen hiring for difficult, specialist, local or high-volume roles
- Boost visibility in specific communities to support local recruitment campaigns
- Broaden your reach to engage more diverse talent pools
Hiring staff? See how crooton uses geofencing for recruitment.
Why use geofencing advertising?
- ‘Sooper’ precise targeting: Capture audiences the moment they step into a defined location
- Omnichannel reach: After identifying your audience, engage them across multiple digital channels like search, social media and digital display
- Timely engagement: Deliver messaging at exactly the right time, when someone is visiting your premises, attending an event, or exploring alternative options
- Actionable insights: Layer behavioural and demographic data with movement patterns to find out where your audience spends time
- Efficient investment: Reduce wasted budget and drive stronger performance outcomes
What sectors does geofencing marketing work for?
Geofencing marketing works wonders for any business that has a physical location or geographical element to it, including B2B, B2C, D2C and third sector organisations. Here are just some of the sectors we work with, but there really is no limit as to what type of business can benefit from using geofencing!
- Retail: Target people visiting your store, nearby shopping centres or competitor locations with timely offers and promotions. Retarget customers after their visit to influence purchase decisions and bag that online sale!
- Hospitality: Restaurants, hotels and leisure venues can target people nearby, attending events or visiting competitor venues to promote time-sensitive offers, drive bookings and increase walk-ins. You can also retarget guests after their visit to encourage repeat business and stay front-of-mind.
- Health and social care: Promote your services to local communities by targeting people near clinics, pharmacies or hospitals
- Recruitment: Geofencing allows employers to target competitor workplaces, campuses or sector-specific locations. Plus, retargeting keeps your employer brand visible and increases engagement beyond traditional job boards. Click here for more information about our recruitment geofencing services.
- Automotive: Target consumers visiting competitor dealerships, forecourts or motor events with tailored offers and test drive invitations.
- Education: Target prospective students within key catchment areas or around competitor colleges. Promote open days, courses and enrolment deadlines to relevant audiences, then retarget them throughout their decision journey.
- Property: Reach buyers, sellers and renters based on visits to show homes, estate agents or mortgage brokers, keeping your listings visible throughout the search process
- Franchises: Franchise businesses can combine national brand strength with local targeting to drive footfall at individual sites while maintaining strategic consistency across the wider network.
- Multi-location brands: Target audiences around each site, adapt your messaging by region and optimise spend based on local performance
Geofencing and privacy
Because geofencing uses anonymised location signals, no personal data is ever collected. So, we can reach people if their phone has been in a certain location, but we can’t collect names, phone numbers, email addresses or any other personal information. And, of course all our data handling complies with data protection regulations.
Geofencing marketing FAQs
- Which countries do you operate in? We’re based in Peterborough, UK, but we run geofencing and other marketing campaigns in America, Australia and across the world!
- Is geofencing legal in the UK? Yes, geofencing is absolutely legal in the UK (and other countries). We only use anonymised data from mobile phone signals, so there’s absolutely no access to personal data.
- How accurate is geofencing? Geofencing is very accurate. As long as someone has location data turned on on their mobile phone, we can target them. And, we can geofence down to approximately 3 meters
- How much does geofencing advertising cost? Our campaigns usually start at around £5,000 but the cost really depends on what you want to achieve, the tactics most relevant and the scale of your campaign
- Can you target competitor locations? Yes we can! Offices, shops, venues - if you want their customers or staff, we can target them!
- How long does geofencing data last? Data stays robust and valuable for around 30 days
- Can geofencing be used for recruitment? Yes, geofencing works really well for recruitment. Take a look at our sister brand, crooton, which does exactly that!
