All types of companies, and especially those dedicated to advertising and marketing, are in constant search of the strategy that has the most impact and the most benefits for them. To achieve this, geographic intelligence makes the difference. This makes Geographic Information Systems or GIS an essential resource to achieve your goals. How do they contribute? We break down the keys.
According to the Spanish Association of Advertisers (AEA), advertising represents 3.5% of the total business volume of the services sector, which translates into 18,720 million euros in 2020. Of these, the sale of advertising space and time accounted for 55.8% of investments.
With these figures, the need for successful advertising that not only takes into account reaching the maximum number of people, but also that these are the right people, becomes more evident. That is, to make properly accurate impacts, even if they are on a smaller scale than others that are more indiscriminate. We delve into everything that GIS contributes to achieve this.
What information do GIS provide for advertising strategies?
The data that the GIS can contemplate and that will be useful to decide the location of an advertising installation are those that answer questions like these:
- Where does my target audience live?
- Where do you spend your leisure time?
- Where do you shop?
- Do you use public or private transportation?
- Where are my clients?
- Which advertising circuits (marquees / billboards) will have the most impact on your campaigns?
- What are the streets and highways with the highest density of vehicular and pedestrian traffic?
- How can I evaluate the effectiveness of my advertising campaigns?
- What impact will the provisional closure of a road or the pedestrianization of a specific street have on the effectiveness of my ads?
- In which areas is a traffic accident most likely to occur?
- What locations is my competition investing in and is it successful?
How GIS contribute to choosing the best location for an advertising installation
1.- Analyze the behavior of potential customers
With new technologies, mass advertising has given way to methods by which we can deliver the precise message to those who are interested in our product or service. To achieve this, it is more necessary than ever to know the habits of our typical clients. For example, if we offer a product for people with a high income level, it will be of little use to place ads in areas with low income levels.
But not only should you stay with a static idea, but you should also consider the mobility of your audience. This includes their favorite areas where they spend their free time and vacations, where they shop, where they work, which schools they take their children to, what routes they take to get to these places, and whether they do it in their own vehicle or by public transport.
With all this, it is easier to decide where to place the advertising and the chosen support: billboards or posters on roads or streets, in bus shelters / stops, metro stations, park benches, inside the bus, in the wagon, etc.
Information on the location of mobile users (data telco) and their behavior with their device (location SDKs) are data sources to be evaluated in this type of project.
2.- Help to comply with the regulations regarding advertising
Advertising is regulated by the authorities of different countries. In the case of Spain, the main legal texts involved are:
- The General Advertising Law, Law 34/1988, of November 11, LGP.
- Directive 2006/114 / CE of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 12 December 2006, on misleading advertising and comparative advertising.
- Law 3/1991, of January 10, on Unfair Competition (LCD).
These laws may prohibit the advertising of certain products in certain environments, so we must be very attentive to them, since they will help us to rule out candidate locations.
In addition to the legality itself, it is worth analyzing “sensitive” points. By this we mean those in which, although it is legal to place an ad, its location is not appropriate. For example, placing an advertisement for an alcoholic beverage in the vicinity of a school.
3.- It makes you know your competition better
With the use of GIS, you will have at a glance the placements of your competitors’ ads. You will also know if your ads are in areas of interest based on the behavior of your target audience.
This way, it will be easier for you to decide if you want to “fight” against them within the same area, if you prefer to invest in “virgin” niches or if you opt for a mixed strategy.
4.- It studies traffic in depth
Billboards on the road have been with us for almost as long as we can remember. But it is now when we can use geographic data to fully guess where it is located.
For this, there are GIS solutions, which record and monitor data related to vehicle traffic on a given road or street. With them, traffic densities are recorded in time intervals: by hours, days and / or weeks. In addition, they also offer complementary data, such as the breakdown of traffic by direction of travel.
One of the most effective tools to achieve all this is TomTom Traffic Density, which works on the basis of the navigation data collected by your navigation devices.
5.- It contributes to the search for territorial twins
If your advertising actions are successful in a specific environment, the ideal is to find locations with similar characteristics on which to take the same measures. This is known as twin analysis or twin zone search.
When identifying these similar areas, the characteristics that we have mentioned above will be taken into account, which cover aspects related to the target audience, regulation, presence of competitors and traffic flows.
Undoubtedly, the incorporation of Geographic Information Systems or GIS has been a huge step forward for advertising actions. That is why from Geograma we contribute our grain of sand in many ways, including the distribution of products, such as the already mentioned TomTom Traffic Density. Do you want to know more about all its benefits? Contact us.
