glow marketing

Technology update: "geotargeting" online

March 29th, 2008

Advertising online used to be limited to local websites. Not anymore! Did you know you can now “geotarget”, meaning you buy on well known, national websites but only buy the cities or provinces that you are interested in, eliminating wasted reach and costs. Sites like Today’s Parent, Lou Lou, Flare, Chatelaine, Lainey Gossip, The Weather Network, the National Post, even Facebook and E-bay now offer this option.

Choosing where to advertise

Choose sites that fit with your brand and target audience and always make sure you ask how many times their site expects to show your ad (impressions) within your geographic area. Carefully weight the costs (in relation to the website impressions) and also consider the environment and whether it helps build your brand or drags it into the gutter. Some sites are just too tacky to even consider for high-end companies. Also consider the “saturation level’ of the site. This means, roughly, what percentage of the website content is actually relevant to your business or product. This might mean that you choose a site that delivers less impressions, but better quality exposure. The opposite side of the coin would be to also choose sites that match your target audience’s lifestyle but has nothing to do with your product necessarily. An example of this would be if you were promoting a high end product like really expensive skin cleanser you might chose a site that caters to high income earners, like Wine Spectator or the Globe and Mail.

Blast off!

Some sites also offer e-blasts to certain cities only and are great options for time sensitive information or a new product or company launch. Sites like the Globe & Mail, Sweetspot.ca, SavvyMom.ca, Flare and Lou Lou (to name a few) offer this option in additional to banner ads.

Entry Filed under: Online Marketing