While operating a smartphone, you’re almost guaranteed to get a message asking you to share your location. Have you ever wondered what your exact location means for advertising?

Now with geo-targeting, marketers have more information than ever about their target audience. Geo-targeting allows advertisers to pinpoint a customer’s current location and tailor the message and the medium directly to them. As online advertising dollars begin to increase, the smart advertisers will start paying attention to their customers’ habits to understand how to make advertising more relevant.

Geo-targeting has gotten more attention recently in advertising news, as people make predictions about the trends for 2015. Included are some new media channels that have the opportunity to change local advertising in 2015.

Facebook’s Wealth of Information
Advertising through Facebook is always a go-to method for businesses who want to promote their upcoming events or sales. Facebook is the biggest user of geo-targeting, especially since its recent release of the “Local Awareness” targeting method for local businesses. The main challenge for marketers is competing for the user’s attention, since the newsfeed is now crowded with everyone else’s ads. Facebook’s ability to target consumers based on current location is a solution for improving ad relevancy,especially when using filters for demographics, interests, and behaviors at the same time.

Promotions Become Psychic
Beacons are the physical manifestation of geo-targeting. They are tiny machines that can be attached to store counters and displays to ping consumers about product news and sales. The main hurdle for beacon technology is the consumer’s willingness to download the store app and opt-in to location sharing. If you knew downloading an app might get you a discount on the pants that you kept walking past during a shopping trip, would you download it? The challenge for the marketer is finding a way to encourage customers to be targeted by beacons by convincing them of a retail app’s value.

Generation Y Embraces Geotargeting
The new popular app for young adults is built around the idea of location. Yik Yak, a social medium based on sharing secrets or gossip, is exploding across college towns. Users post thoughts that everyone else in the area can identify with. If a local restaurant or store wants to maintain customer loyalty in person , they may be able to leverage that affection through Yik Yak. The company already knows this desire for hyper-local advertising is coming and has started to grow its business in preparation. In 2015, local marketers should use this opportunity to lead the bandwagon and find ways to encourage their loyal fans to spread the word with a Yak.

These marketing channels are just a few of the options for 2015’s new advertising trend. Freestyle Marketing sees a variety of opportunities with geo-targeting, especially its ability to target customers and nurture customer loyalty. As always, we are always on the lookout for relevant trends that can show meaningful ROI for our clients.