How nonprofits can use geofencing to expand reach year-round

As a nonprofit, you likely have built-in ups and downs throughout the year. One month it’s all hands on deck for the upcoming gala. And the next it feels like everything’s come to a halt. For some organizations, summer is quiet. For others, it’s game time.

Marketing is always going to follow some of these ebbs and flows, but connecting with people is a lifelong mission, so building campaigns that reach your community throughout the year is key to maintaining that momentum.

One of the best ways of expanding your reach year-round is through geofencing ad campaigns. 

These campaigns serve ads to people who have visited physical locations. When you know where someone’s been, you may have a good idea what they’re interested in, or where they’re headed next!

We’re going to talk through what geofencing campaigns are, how the most effective nonprofit marketers use this new technology, and offer a few ideas for how your nonprofit can start taking advantage of geofencing today.

What in the world is geofencing?

Geofencing is all about answering the question, “where is your audience?”

If you didn’t know already, the internet knows exactly where you are all the time. A little scary? Sure. But the main players, Google and Apple, anonymize your data, so they don’t exactly know who’s at a certain location as much as they know an IP address was at a known location at a specific moment. 

And this is what geofencing is all about. You may not know the specific individual that you’re serving an ad to, but you do know that they were at the local Petsmart on a given weekend, or they went to a local volunteering event that shares some of your nonprofit’s values.

Now you can use that known information about that unknown person to spark a conversation. This is the definition of an awareness campaign. But instead of the traditional billboard, you’re serving digital ads directly to the people who you know are interested in things that your nonprofit does.

How to make the most of geofencing

Like a lot of things in life, marketing is so much about timing. We’ve all asked the wrong question at the wrong time, but it feels really good when it’s the opposite.

Asking someone who’s just heard about your nonprofit for the first time to make a donation may be a little rushed. Asking them to learn more about your work isn’t.

Awareness campaigns are the first step in the long journey of becoming a lifelong supporter. And geofencing campaigns — because they’re ultimately about connecting with new people — aren’t going to have click-through rates or conversion rates as high as those of retargeting ads (which serve ads to your website visitors). 

Remembering where geofencing campaigns fit into the marketing plan will help nonprofits have the right expectations, and then filter those people who did engage into more specific campaigns, which then tend to lead to more conversions.

If you’re looking for a little inspiration for what this process can look like, the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples (CMON) is an excellent example for building a marketing strategy with geofencing as the entry point. 

A few prime locations

Because geofencing campaigns are all about physical locations, we wanted to share a few ideas that we’ve seen work really well for nonprofits that are looking for new supporters.

• Airports: If you read CMON’s story, you’ll see that they look specifically for tourists in the area, and airports are a prime locations for those sorts of folks.
• Competitor events: As a nonprofit, you may not consider other local nonprofits as competition, and that’s probably the right perspective. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the fact that many people who care about your mission might be all together at another nonprofit across town. 
• Local events: Think about all the people in your community that make it to a certain sporting event. If that demographic looks like your current audience, that could be a good place to start. You could even consider a golf tournament (hello big-ticket donors!), especially if it’s a fundraising event for a cause that’s similar to yours.
• Churches and places of worship: If you’re a nonprofit who has a lot of donors from a specific religious community, then you may want to serve ads at other similar venues.
• Specific neighborhoods around town: Maybe you’re looking to reach a certain demographic, and you know exactly what neighborhoods they live in. With geofencing, you can basically knock on doors without having to send out the whole team for the day.
• College campuses: Nonprofits need volunteers too. And college students are an excellent demographic to recruit to partner with you in the work.

And these are only the start. No matter what type of work your nonprofit does, there’s almost certainly physical locations where your audience naturally gathers.

By getting creative with where you serve your nonprofit digital advertising, you can find new supporters in places you may not have considered before — and build your community throughout the year, not just during the busy months.

Where in the world is your marketing?

Every nonprofit is different in how they meet, engage, and invite supporters into their life-changing work.

But if you’re looking to increase your digital reach throughout the year, and want access to the latest and greatest marketing technologies to do so, we hope you’d consider adding Feathr to your toolbelt.

Reach out and start the conversation today, and see if Feathr can help you reach new heights during your next marketing campaign!