Geofencing technology has revolutionized location-based marketing by creating virtual boundaries around physical locations. When users enter or exit these boundaries, businesses can trigger specific actions like sending notifications or collecting data. Let’s explore the different methods available for creating geofences and how they can be applied in various scenarios.
Evergreen Location Geofencing
Evergreen geofencing involves maintaining permanent virtual boundaries around locations that remain active 24/7. This approach is ideal for businesses with fixed locations like retail stores, restaurants, or corporate offices.
With evergreen geofencing, businesses can set up anywhere from 10 to 1,000 or even more fences simultaneously across multiple locations. This scalability makes it perfect for chains or franchises looking to create consistent location-based marketing across all their properties.
The key advantage of evergreen geofencing is its persistence. Once established, these fences continuously collect data and trigger actions whenever users cross their boundaries. Even after a person leaves the geofenced area, businesses can continue to retarget them with relevant marketing messages for a month or more, extending the engagement window significantly.
What makes this approach particularly effective is the precision with which these boundaries can be established. Modern geofencing technology allows for extremely tight perimeters, often within just a few feet of the target location, ensuring only genuinely interested prospects are captured.
Event-Based Geofencing
Unlike evergreen geofencing, event-based geofencing is temporary and designed specifically for short-term gatherings such as trade shows, conferences, concerts, or sporting events. These geofences are typically active for only a few days or the duration of the event.
The power of event-based geofencing lies in its ability to capture highly qualified leads. Attendees at industry conferences or trade shows often represent a concentrated group of interested prospects. By establishing precise geofences around event venues, businesses can identify and engage with these valuable potential customers.
Similar to evergreen geofencing, event-based fences maintain extremely tight perimeters, often within just a few feet of the venue boundaries. This precision ensures that only actual attendees are captured, rather than people who happen to be in the general vicinity.
What makes event-based geofencing particularly valuable is the extended retargeting capability. Even after the event concludes and the geofence is deactivated, businesses can continue to retarget identified users for a month or more, maximizing the return on their event marketing investment.
Polygon Mapping: The Superior Geofencing Method
When implementing either evergreen or event-based geofencing, polygon mapping stands as the premier technical approach.
Polygon Mapping creates custom-shaped boundaries that precisely follow the contours of a building, event space, or property. Polygon mapping offers the highest level of accuracy, allowing for those tight few-foot perimeters that both evergreen and event-based strategies require.
Best Practices for Geofence Implementation
Regardless of whether you’re implementing evergreen or event-based geofencing, certain best practices should be followed:
- Ensure proper opt-in compliance with privacy regulations
- Test fence boundaries thoroughly before deployment
- Set appropriate entry and exit triggers
- Integrate geofencing with your broader marketing automation system
- Analyze performance data to optimize fence placement and messaging
By leveraging these different geofencing methods, businesses can create highly targeted marketing campaigns that reach prospects at the perfect moment—when they’re physically present and most receptive to relevant messaging—while maintaining the ability to continue engagement long after they’ve left the location.
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