When jumping into the world of Geofencing advertising, excited marketers often try to measure the success of their campaigns, and the technology as a whole, on their ability to see their own ads. This leaves many frustrated wondering “Why isn’t my ad popping up?” This might seem straightforward, but due to the vastness of the advertising world there are several reasons why it’s extremely difficult to target an individual person.
Geofencing vs Addressable Geofencing
The first error we see users make when trying to target themselves is the type of campaign they launch. It’s not uncommon for people to think that it would be as simple as creating a geofence around their house and scrolling the web until they see their ad. The problem here is geofencing campaigns are not intended to target individual addresses. This is because of how devices are collected. When you enter a geofence, it uses GPS data to collect your device and add it to a list of people to serve ads too. The issue here is that home Wi-Fi connection has the ability to disrupt this, meaning there is a chance your devices aren’t being collected in the first place. Geofencing is best used for public retail locations such as stores and shops.
If you want to geofence based on a household level, you would want to use an addressable geofencing campaign, which can also be used through Qujam by uploading a spreadsheet, which it then uses to target on a household level. Another issue with geofencing a home address is that your audience may actually be larger than you think. You also need to factor in people such as postal workers, your neighbors, anyone doing any construction or yard work and so on. It all adds up, and because geofencing is not optimized for targeting households, they are more likely to encounter your ads because they are not connected to Wi-Fi.
The World of Advertising is Vast
When you see an ad, there are thousands of variables that factor into whose ad is shown and where. Keep in mind that you are not the only one targeting someone with ads. When you see an ad, thousands of different advertisers are competitively bidding in real time. This makes it impossible to ensure that any one person can see a specific ad at a specific time and place. Other factors that have an effect on this include the website they are visiting, the audience the user falls in, their device habits and much more. We are partnered with more than 20 bidding exchanges that provide advertisers with the opportunity to reach their audiences across millions of domains and applications. This enormous reach means we can target your audience across the web no matter where they frequently visit, but it also makes the odds of being able to see one of your ads in the wild very slim.
Not Enough Time and Budget
Geofencing campaigns require sufficient time to reach and saturate the target audience within a geofenced area. If someone recently entered the geofence, it’s possible that the ad campaign has not yet had enough time to reach you. It can take a few days or weeks for an ad to properly saturate a population, and that can be even further affected by the users daily spend. Keep in mind it’s approximately $8-9 for 1000 impressions. That may seem like a lot, but think about how many times you have seen the same ad today alone. On average, a person needs to see an ad four times a day, for several days for them to not only notice it, but also have an impact. This is why longer campaigns tend to be more successful than shorter ones.
You are Not Your Target Audience
Our campaigns are tailored to your audience based on extensive amounts of data. Even if you are in the specific location of your geofence, that does not mean that you will automatically see your ad because ad targeting is incredibly precise. Ad platforms use sophisticated models to track users behavior across countless sites, so it is unlikely that you will meet the same criteria it utilizes when placing a bid on ad space. Where you go on the web also matters. If you are primarily scrolling social media such as Facebook and YouTube, you will not be able to see your ad as they do not run on these platforms.
Still have questions?
If you still have concerns about your campaign, know that we are here to help. For more information on the technical issues that could impact your ability to see your own ads, visit the link here. We also have information on this subject from our direct service provider Simpli.fi here. Though it is very difficult to self target a campaign, we have several metrics at our disposal to ensure your impressions are being placed. Including which websites the ad was placed as well as frequency and reach. If you would like to request more information please visit the contact page here, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
