The IP Impact: Using Geo-Targeting to Zero In on Customers

Regardless of the size and scope of your business, there will be times when you want to market to certain geographical locations. This is true from big, global brands right on down to a mom-and-pop shop that serves a single neighborhood. The good news is that search engines are already in this game – having found ways of making search results more relevant to users through location. So consider bolstering your organic SEO efforts with IP targeted paid campaigns – ads that use geo-targeting through IP addresses to reach customers who are most likely to respond to your message. Here’s how:

How to know if IP targeting is right for your business

IP targeting is right for your business if you need to:

• Lower your cost-per-conversion: Conversions-per-click will be dramatically raised by targeting customers who can actually access your services. IP targeting may lower your click through rate, but it can greatly increase your conversion rates.
  
• Target very specific socioeconomic demographics: Because IP targeting can zero in on individual homes, you can reach very specific demographics through publicly available data for your prospects’ physical addresses.
• Exclude locations with poor conversion rates: You’re able to exclude locations where conversion rate are low, allowing you to allocate ad resources to more profitable locations.
• Vary your services by location: If your company offers some services in certain areas and not in others, you can use IP targeting to help distinguish your campaigns and ultimately streamline your advertising.

Essentially, IP targeting is like direct mail for the Internet – only better. You’re able to use the power of cookie tracking plus the location information gleaned from an IP address plus any physical addresses you have already on hand in your database to deliver the right ad, at the right time, to the right person.

For example, if you are a health club looking to increase your membership numbers with a free trial family membership, you could show your ad to those who live within a certain radius of your club, in a neighborhood where the median household income is within your target demo, who have families and who browse sites related to healthy living.

Think of it like running a television ad targeted to moms during a reality TV weight-loss program on a local network. Only in this case, you can pinpoint it to only show on the TVs that are being watched by women with kids.

Boom. You can’t get much more zeroed-in than that.