Targeting and geo-targeting: Making online advertising easy

Modern online advertising has evolved to be a dynamic force with a special focus on relativity – what is relevant today may not be equally relevant tomorrow, hence perspectives need to adapt accordingly. Anticipation of trends is the talk of the town, hence businesses need to create valuable experience of products, while building newer avenues to foresee demands. A veritable set of solutions is required to bridge the gap between advertiser supply and consumer demands, where targeting and geo-targeting play a crucial role. 

The days of steamrolling out collective advertising messages, ignorant of consumer specific parametric, are way past their expiry period. Today’s marketing agenda calls out for engaging prospects as well as existing customers through intrinsically personalised and pertinent conversations. Targeting allows advertisers to find their product/service audience amongst billions of people online through the use of specific parameters and codes. 

Conversations that go out from a brand effectively uses targeted messaging, through the myriad of channels, to effectively build a connection with their customers. Now, geo-targeting takes the game to another level. Geo-targeting is simply crafting and delivering content on the basis of one’s geographical location and this makes total sense in a land that is as geographically diverse and unique as India. It would be pretty callous for marketing mavericks to assume that what sells for Assam can be sold in a similar way to Delhi. 

Geo-targeting works on the simple principle of adaptation. Believe it or not, people are most likely to pay attention to any communication which strikes a chord of familiarity in them. By geo-targeting, you are serving your consumers a set of uniquely crafted communication that relates to their upbringing, lifestyle and so on. This not only portrays sensitivity to the consumers psych, it builds a veritable brand recognition based of trust and relatibility too. This relatibility creates a loyal consumer out of a curious visitor - a crucial factor in expanding reach and credibility. 

The most important benefit of geo-targeting is the ability to maximise on advertising budget and focus on all of the pertinent expenditures into bringing aboard the most qualified leads possible. A greater change of synchronisation in streaming message is possible through incorporation of powerful leads, instead of wasting time behind leads of zero value. In terms of geo-targeting, a restriction of visibility is important; to scale operations for both SME’s as well as larger corporations. Suppose you are a local business with the capacity to service a single city or metro area. Here, promoting your business globally would be a wastage of capital as you haven’t built up a brand name, as of yet. Geo-targeting is your best bet, restricting your ads so you’re only spending money to advertise your message to visitors of your target group/location. You can include specific languages and promotions to add gravity to the deal. 

Yet, geo-targeting isn’t a cake walk as it contains a greater intrinsic web of parameters that needs to be executed under constant, strict vigilance. Therefore, implementation of a successful geo-targeting campaign is not as easy as it looks on paper and should be performed by an internet advertising expert. To conserve valuable advertising budget, it is important to consult with an online marketing company that has an in-depth detailed knowledge of online advertising and can help in cost-effective advertising. 

Not surprisingly, millennials are accustomed to this location-based marketing to such an extent that they expect relevant updates on their smartphones as they enter any shopping arena or after they search something relevant on their devices. Hence, organisations big and small need to lap up this goldmine of a tool to rake in greater traction of profitability and market accolades. 

(Raja Chakraborty is the Co-founder of Streamlyn, a leading online advertising company in India, connecting global advertisers with the right publishers and the right audience.)