GeoMarketing 101: What Is Geoconquesting?

How brands are using location data to attempt to win customers away from their competitors.

Location data, geo-targeting, geofilters. Location-based technology is opening up a world of possibilities for marketers — but it’s also complicated, as new capabilities and use cases seem to emerge every day.

With the goal of breaking down some of the most important “geo” concepts to provide a better understanding of the basics — and a jumping off point for exploring how far the power of location may take us — we introduce the next installment of our GeoMarketing 101 series: understanding geo-conquesting.

What Is Geo-Conquesting?

Geo-conquesting is the practice of attracting customers away from competitors using location-based ads. These ads are served to customers who are visiting — or have visited — a rival business.

For example, a Honda dealer could serve targeted ads to customers at or near the Hyundai dealership across the street in a bid to convince customers to come look at its cars instead. This is usually accomplished by setting up a geo-fence around the desired area. Often, these ads will include a deal or incentive to come over and shop with the business serving them.

Put simply, the idea behind the practice is that a consumer who is shopping (or has been shopping) at an auto dealership or clothing store is already in the market for that particular product — and a competitor that can serve a compelling ad based on that location has a decent chance at attracting business.

How Are Brands Using It?

In its Mobile-Location Insights Report in 2013, xAd reported that a third of its “geo-precise” campaigns included geo-conquesting. The practice has continued to grow over the past two years.

Outback Steakhouse partnered with xAd for one such campaign, and the restaurant’s click-through rate for geo-conquested ads exceeded the industry norm by 80 percent. Neither xAd nor Outback revealed the competitor locations where they served the ads, but declared the tactic as unilaterally successful at attracting attention for Outback.

“For Outback, it’s always important to have top of mind awareness in the very competitive casual dining restaurant segment,” said Karen Soots, Vice President of Media Services, Bloomin’ Brands Inc, in a statement. “Through geo-precise targeting techniques, we have the ability to provide mobile users with relevant information, such as offers, easy map and driving directions, to help in their decision-making process in the hopes of ultimately influencing their decision to dine at an Outback.”

For its part, Chrysler began to experiment with geo-conquesting in 2014, targeting visitors at other auto dealer’s lots. The company told Mobile Marketer at the time that it saw greater success with location targeting based on its own lot rather than on those of its competitors — but it planned to continue to pursue both tactics.

To use geo-conquesting successfully, brands must be sure to have accurate and complete location data. But as companies in the space continue to work at boosting geo-data quality, the road is set to get smoother — and enhanced uses for geo-conquesting are likely on the horizon.