Why do brands spend time geotargeting their digital media to start a conversation with customers then drop the ball when they click? Why, it’s almost criminal.

1. Where I Want To Be: How Marketers
Screw Up Geotargeting

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There is an old Sales and Marketing tactic that used to be popular in business,
but has lost favor because it can be prosecuted as… well…
FRAUD

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It used to work like this:
A company advertises a ridiculously
enticing offer to lure customers into
the store.
The customer comes in to purchase
that product and, at the last minute,
the store explains that – what do you
know? - THAT product isn't available.

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Then the store offers the customer a
DIFFERENT product, albeit at a higher
price.
Thus the customer was brought into
the store under false pretenses and
their expectations weren't met.

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Then the store offers the customer a
DIFFERENT product, albeit at a higher
price.
Thus the customer was brought into
the store under false pretenses and
their expectations weren't met.
Or, in the parlance of the tactic, they
were baited with one offer, and
then switched to another.

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And while we would never accuse digital
marketers of intentionally practicing
marketing fraud, it has occurred to us
that lately that there’s been a sort
of digital version of the old bait-and-
switch that’s becoming the default
operating procedure for much online
marketing.
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Unsplash

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It works like this:
You’re on a site and a digital ad catches
your eye because it contextualizes
whatever it is they’re selling – or
whatever problem it is they’re solving –
with your particular location.
You’re in Norwalk, CT, and it tells you
that you could save on your mortgage
based on what your neighbors are
paying.
Another ad tells you what the average
insurance rates are for your area.
Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash

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So you click because, thank god,
finally an ad targeted you and
your local needs and context.

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But when you get to the site, it
asks for all your personal
information INCLUDING WHERE
YOU ARE.
Photo by Evan Dennis on Unsplash

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Wait, what?
Didn’t the ad literally just tell
you where you were?
Photo by Evan Dennis on Unsplash

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Isn’t that why you clicked?
Why doesn’t the landing page know that?
Photo by Evan Dennis on Unsplash

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Why isn’t the landing page as smart
as the ad that’s driving to it?
Photo by Evan Dennis on Unsplash

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Why were you digitally bait-and-
switched?
Photo by Evan Dennis on Unsplash

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This is the disappointing geotargeting
experience for most consumers.
Marketers have smartly made their digital
media more targeted to the physical
location of their audience to increase
relevance.
Photo by Icons8 team on Unsplash

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Which is working; studies show
that geotargeting and geofencing
can double the performance of
national ads.
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40
80
120
160
April May June July
National Ad Local Ad

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But here’s the problem: You don’t really
care about clicks.
You care about conversions.
clicks

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And digital ads, no matter how much
geotargeting you do, don’t convert.
Landing pages do.
Photo by Kai Pilger on Unsplash

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And digital ads, no matter how much
geotargeting you do, don’t convert.
Landing pages do.
Or they’re supposed to.
Photo by Kai Pilger on Unsplash

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And digital ads, no matter how much
geotargeting you do, don’t convert.
Landing pages do.
Or they’re supposed to.
In most cases, they don’t.
Photo by Kai Pilger on Unsplash

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Conversion rates languish at around 2.5%.
And remember, that’s 2.5% of the people who clicked on the ad (so, a pretty small number).
People who ostensibly were interested enough in what your geotargeted marketing was
offering to leave the page they went to of their own accord to follow your ad.

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Conversion rates languish at around 2.5%.
And remember, that’s 2.5% of the people who clicked on the ad (so, a pretty small number).
People who ostensibly were interested enough in what your geotargeted marketing was
offering to leave the page they went to of their own accord to follow your ad.
a tiny part of a lot + a tiny amount of that tiny part = tiny results

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Conversion rates languish at around 2.5%.
And remember, that’s 2.5% of the people who clicked on the ad (so, a pretty small number).
People who ostensibly were interested enough in what your geotargeted marketing was
offering to leave the page they went to of their own accord to follow your ad.
a tiny part of a lot + a tiny amount of that tiny part = tiny results

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Conversion rates languish at around 2.5%.
And remember, that’s 2.5% of the people who clicked on the ad (so, a pretty small number).
People who ostensibly were interested enough in what your geotargeted marketing was
offering to leave the page they went to of their own accord to follow your ad.
a tiny part of a lot + a tiny amount of that tiny part = tiny results

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Your media did exactly what it
was asked to do – intrigued
the audience enough to take an
action.
But your landing page just let
them slip away.
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

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Why? Because you bait-and-switched.

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Why? Because you bait-and-switched.
Because you set up the expectation
that they were going to continue the
conversation that the media – that
you! – started, on a customized site, a
site that was uniquely relevant to
where they were and what they were
interested in.

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And then you totally dropped the
ball with a landing page that was
little more than a glorified form.
Photo by Austin Smith on Unsplash

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Why? Because technology has made
it exceptionally easy to do local
marketing when it comes to media,
but not so easy when it comes to
landing pages.
And customers don’t know that.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

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From their perspective, if you can
customize the ad, you should be able
to customize the entire experience.
And when you can’t, they don’t blame
technology. They blame you.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

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So what do you do? Forgo the
effectiveness of ad localization
because you can’t deliver effective
local marketing on the landing
page?

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So what do you do? Forgo the
effectiveness of ad localization
because you can’t deliver effective
local marketing on the landing
page?
No, of course not.

32. Stop thinking of the landing page as just a
contact-information-capture-device
Tip #1

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Think of the landing page as a place where that conversation your potential
customer clicked on expands.
Because that’s what they’re expecting.
A place for more details about what you were talking about.

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Not only does this keep them engaged – and educate them about why you have
the solution they’re looking for – but it has the added benefit of freeing up the
digital media that drove them there from having to deliver all that information
within the confines of a 4 frame banner.
Leaving room for the creative to be that much more compelling.

35. Actually deliver an experience that is as local
as the media implied it would be
Tip #2

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There aren’t too many ways to deliver a local landing page experience and it can
seem overwhelming, but we believe our landing page solution is the most
efficient and effective way.
We can deliver custom, localized landing pages on a mass scale across literally
tens of thousands of communities.

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There aren’t too many ways to deliver a local landing page experience and it can
seem overwhelming, but we believe our landing page solution is the most
efficient and effective way.
We can deliver custom, localized landing pages on a mass scale across literally
tens of thousands of communities.
And we can do it efficiently and cost-effectively.

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So now imagine someone in Norwalk clicking
on that geotargeted mortgage ad and landing
on a geotargeted page that cites specific
savings amounts based on their neighborhood.
And then requests more information from the
user to continue the conversation.

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Or imagine that homeowner who
saw the geotargeted ad about
crime in Norwalk.

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Landing on a geotargeted page for a home
security system that compared Norwalk
to Stamford and Darien.

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That even broke down crime by
neighborhood, and by category.
And even had safety tips.

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No bait, no switch.
You delivered what you promised – a truly localized conversation about
something the customer is interested in. And that you want to sell them.
And that’s important because the real problem with the old bait-and-
switch was that it was bad for the customer.
But this more recent and increasingly standard approach to geotargeting?
It’s bad for you.

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Thank You!