What is Geoquesting in Marketing?

What is Geo-Conquesting in Marketing?

Conquesting in marketing aims to target competitors’ customers through various ad formats, including display, PPC, and editorial content. Geoquesting applies this same principle to location-driven campaigns. Marketers will use set-up campaigns, targeting those around their competitors’ stores with promotional offers.

The Difference Between Geofencing and Geo-Conquesting

Geofencing campaigns use location data to target a specific demographic. They often focus on customers in and around a business. These campaigns can encourage potential clients to enter the store or increase sales by highlighting deals. 

Geoquesting uses geofencing to target those around competitors’ stores, with the aim of driving buyers to your business instead. These campaigns can include offering discounts to those in competing stores. 

Examples of Geo-Conquesting: McDonald’s & Burger King

Taking after Wendy’s aggressiveness towards competitors on Twitter, Burger King announced its new Whopper Detour promo in the beginning of December – and as a result Burger King and Mcdonald’s have some major beef. 

In the campaign, Burger King geofenced 14,000 McDonald’s locations across the country, targeting Mcdonald’s guests with the BK App on their phones. Once inside a McDonald’s location (or 600 feet away from one), guests with the BK app will receive an instant offer to get a Burger King Whopper for just a penny. Burger King’s goal is to encourage and motivate McDonald’s guests who aren’t “loving it” to head to Burger King and ‘have it their way.’

Burger King’s CMO Fernando Machado told CNN Business that upwards of 50,000 users have taken advantage of the deal, propelling the BK app up the iTunes charts from ninth to first place. Machado also estimates that this campaign has already seen about 20 times more redemptions than any other promotion.

Getting Started with Geo-Conquesting

“Conquesting competitors is certainly not a new advertising technique. However, being able to do so by using location-based technology is a recently growing trend,” says Chris Fehrmann, Vice President of Digital Products at TEGNA.

Better yet, the numbers show that consumers are comfortable sharing their location data as long as the data provides them with or enhances a valuable experience – such as a one-cent burger. eMarketer’s 2018 Location Intelligence Report cites a November 2017 study that found 42 percent of respondents would use an app with location data more if it meant a more relevant experience with it.

Those numbers are very encouraging and could make a big difference for local advertisers looking to try new techniques.

“Being able to target a location where a high concentration of customers will be located, then track their geolocation, post-ad exposure, to measure lift into a brick-and-mortar location is a game changer for local advertisers,” says Fehrmann.

What Can Geo-Conquesting Do for YOUR Business? 

With the big burger bosses elevating both geofencing and competitive conquesting to a new level, what can your business do to capitalize on this new lucrative trend? 

No matter the industry, Katherine Yape, Product Manager for TEGNA, says you need to go for it. “Geofencing allows advertisers to stay in front of potential customers while they are in the buying process, and is a great advantage for any marketer to have in their tool kit.”

For example, auto dealerships can target consumers at competing dealerships; home services like a roofing specialist can target areas hit by a winter storm that might need repairs; personal injury lawyers could target an emergency room or a car repair shop; a university could target students visiting or touring another university; health care facilities could target industry events to recruit new doctors to the practice. The possibilities are only limited by a marketer’s own imagination.

Creating Geofencing Campaigns with TEGNA & Audience Marketplace 

At TEGNA, we make sure our clients target and connect to the audiences that matter most, delivering proven results through simplified advertising solutions. With extensive targeting capabilities, Audience Marketplace helps advertisers reach an audience that is highly likely to interact with their brand through: 

• Audience Targeting: Use audience targeting to reach specific audiences based on contextual and behavioral segments to create awareness and drive traffic to the website.
• Location & Event Targeting: Use location data and events to boost mobile marketing performances by targeting specific locations with pinpoint accuracy using geofencing.
• Retargeting: Identify previous website visitors with Site and Search Retargeting to bring them back to your site for additional chances at conversion.
• Conversion Zones & Reporting: Provides accurate data and actionable insights to maximize campaign effectiveness, measure impressions, clicks, and click-through rates, video completion information, and conversions. 

Sound Good? Partner with TEGNA Today! 

Our team of marketing experts takes the time to understand your unique marketing needs and goals to create a customized solution based on insights and industry expertise. Learn more about Audience Marketplace with TEGNA.