Most marketers use some form of geographic targeting in their campaigns, especially for businesses with physical locations. Some even take it to the next step - geo-fencing - to help deliver honed messages to the residents of a specific area.

A business like a car dealership that has its inventory onsite and doesn't sell a shippable or downloadable product will definitely want to use geo-targeting on their dealership to make sure that messaging is only shown to relevant clients that might conceivably visit in person to complete a purchase.  Regardless if a company has a physical location or not, the idea of geo-fencing means that whether it's by zip code, city, state or any area that makes sense, the marketing message changes to reflect what generates the most response in that area.

Another use for geo-fencing is targeting the locations of competing businesses.  Marketers are essentially creating a geographic "fence" around the location and conquesting the clientelle.  Similarly, if a company has the type of business that has related industries, the physical locations of those industries could be geo-fenced as well.  For example, an automotive dealer might target nearby service locations or banks with a message that helps them discover their next vehicle within the context of seing the ad while at a related business.

Seeing as location services and internet connections help drive many aspects of mobile device technology, mobile geo-fencing can be particularly powerful. It's already fact that mobile has replaced desktop as the number one device used for online shopping, so marketers are positioned to take advantage of capturing customers on the go when those customers connect to the internet on their mobile device in a way that triggers the geo-fenced advertisements.

Geo-fencing is not a new technology, but the technique of giving each geography a specific message is spreading, and helping deliver more Zero Moment of Truth customers.  What are some other good ways to use geo-fencing technology?

Branding used to be about creating a logo and slapping it on some business cards and a website. Branding today is a lot more involved and complex. It permeates everything a business does!

In the past, only the largest of companies had to worry about their brand beyond just earning a good word of mouth reputation. Branding was more about making a business look official so that people would have enough trust to spend money there. Retention for most verticals was less of a focus.

In the digital marketing world, branding stretches across all channels, making it about more than a smart-looking logo and cleverly descriptive URL. Peer reviews, social media status and the rise of apps has made branding today a lot more involved. Customer retention has become more important and many times can directly relate to how a business has positioned its brand.

Given the more complex landscape of marketing a business, having a main goal and a brand that ties it together is much more important. This unifying goal can help guide how a company conducts and presents itself across all channels. This unity helps build trust with potential and existing shoppers.

Branding is clearly a much more complicated and involved process than it was years ago. How are you ensuring that your dealership is branded consistently for maximum benefit?

Native advertising isn’t a new concept, but it’s importance will increase as more businesses harness it on different platforms. Click-through and conversion rates tend to rise when native advertising is used, so it should definitely be a factor when planning marketing creative.

Native advertising is when an ad matches the form and function of the site, app or other platform that it is appearing on. Simply put, the ad matches the look and feel of the site. Of course, tricking people into clicking an ad is not the best way to gain good quality traffic. However, when an ad can be an ad, but still feel like it “belongs” to the site or app it appears on, the odds that it will be clicked on increase.

An example of this might be linking to an advertiser directly in the text of an article as a recommendation (this typically happens on affiliate advertising websites) or even sponsored posts on Facebook, with ads that look nearly like all the other posts. Instagram, Twitter and others have begun offering native advertising on their platforms as well.

This type of marketing is worth looking into for almost any business. While ads made to look like articles are definitely not the way to go (this tactic has failed for many in the past), taking advantage of native advertising platforms can help a business offer something to that platform via a sponsored post or similar that could keep customers referring back.  What are some ways you all use native advertising to your advantage?

Content development is likely the most necessary step in keeping a website relevant to search engine algorithms and users.  This need will only increase in years to come.  Companies should focus on having adaptable content marketing strategies to ensure they are available when customers are searching for them.

While PPC search engine advertising can certainly do a decent job of getting interested customers to a website, content is what ultimately gets people there without having to pay for each visit.  The more original content appears on a site that benefits people in a way that they find what they are looking for, the more the site should eventually rank for the keywords involved in that content.

Thus, determining keywords and creating useful content based around them can ultimately help both customers and company owners alike.  Also, content marketing helps with social media as good, current and relevant content is easier to share and more likely to be passed along.

Companies should definitely have some form of content marketing enabled now, and should maintain a strategy that is ongoing and flexible enough to handle widespread changes in search engine optimization or social media. What are some ways you are all using content marketing to drive business?

With so many social media networks to advertise on, businesses may feel a little bit bewildered as to which will gain them the most awareness for their brand.  While sites like Facebook and Twitter might boast more users, they are not the most visited platforms.  YouTube is by far the most visited and searched "social media" site that exists today!  Businesses can no longer ignore the benefits of video marketing on this well-traveled platform.

While not everyone is a member of Facebook, Tumblr or Instagram, many are visiting YouTube daily.  Where a user might post a status update a few times a month on another social media platform, many check YouTube multiple times weekly.  A business would do well by their video marketing and branding to ensure that they are searchable and have content available on YouTube.

Even those without a YouTube account still browse the network. It has become a go-to for research and information, and companies should adapt their video marketing to include some representation on the platform.  Seeing as Google and YouTube are intertwined, it is quite possible that posted YouTube content may result in an SEO boost as well, depending on competition and optimization of the video description, title and keywords.

Overall, a business can't afford to not have a presence on YouTube for its video marketing, for the simple reason that it is the most visited and utilized social media platform today!  What are some ways you're able to use YouTube to promote your dealership?

Many businesses have avoided social interaction for fear that an existing bad reputation, or possible negative comments will come back to bite them.  These ideas may be true if the issues are left unchecked, but for a business that is highly active on social media, negative comments can turn into a positive experience.

Legitimate customer comments around a product or service will definitely start to pop up when a business decides to start regularly using social media to promote their business.  Many of these could be negative comments which may cause some alarm to those not well-versed in the ways of social media marketing.  However, there is one simple solution - use social media as a platform to address customer issues head-on and allow customer service to shine.

Rather than hiding legitimate concerns or negative comments, a business should provide a thoughtful response with options to further assist a customer via phone or email.  Also, someone should follow up internally to ensure that these concerns are addressed before they spread to other customers.  The more these issues are professionally handled, the more brand evangelists will emerge to come to a businesses' aid to fend off the negative comments and critiques!

While it can be tough to see negative comments and feedback, a business should view it as an opportunity to show that they can turn a positive into a negative.  How do you all handle less-than-positive feedback on social media?

With access to ever more precise PPC optimization tools, it can be tough to resist tweaking every minute detail.  Like a child let loose in a candy store, refraining from touching and trying everything can take serious willpower.  Most of the available tweaks are great ideas individually, but as a whole they can possibly impair performance.

Typically, data needs to accumulate in order to make decisions.  On a large PPC budget, a lot of data can be gained quickly, however making daily or even weekly tweaks can derail an account's success when over-optimization occurs.  Google has actually suggested 2-4 weeks worth of data be collected before considering data optimizing on a particular area of an account.  While 3 or even 7 days might seem like enough time, many times this is still too small a window to actually have any actionable data.

Most PPC accounts have more than one ad group, so just because a marketer or business is letting data accumulate in one area of an account does not mean they are not doing anything towards the betterment of their campaigns overall.  While an A/B test occurs in one area of an account, other things can usually be tweaked elsewhere that will not contribute to over-optimization.

The capability exists to make big changes fast, and sometimes those changes are obvious and need to happen immediately.  However, sometimes something good might be changed before it has a chance to prove itself.  What are your thoughts on how much data is enough to make a decision for PPC?

Many businesses are great at making and/or selling products and services.  Most can succeed at getting their message in front of their target market and getting some clientele.  However, a critical point that is tough to perfect is retaining those customers - especially in today's business climate where much of the reputation and engagement is carried out online.  The key to making a lasting enough impression for return business is understanding customers.

Rather than treating customers as simply a source of revenue, today's successful businesses give customers a more rounded-out experience.  The first step generally involves getting shoppers to listen to the sales message.  If a business is good at understanding customers, it should be able to devise a few messages based on the different types of buyers it has and get those messages specifically in front of those that are best to respond.

Step two in the process that leads to retention is emotionally connecting with shoppers.  Understanding customers really boils down to the emotional drivers that motivate them. Many share similar drivers, but most will have differing emotions that would cause them to consider a purchase with a business.  If marketing can stir the emotions and the company seems like it cares about its customers, this can raise feelings of trust and connection between a potential client and a business.

Finally, getting clients to participate in the business can seal the deal with keeping shopper's loyalty.  A business can demonstrate that it is good at understanding customers by getting them involved in areas that don't necessarily strictly involve transactions, such as reviews, social media posts and live events.  These efforts can also further humanize a business and win over the sympathies of its target audience.

Today's businesses have to take things a lot further in order to get loyalty and this is built upon simply understanding customers.  What are some other ways that we can understand our clients?

Many businesses wonder where they are at in the grand scheme of things.  While success is definitely a relative term, for marketers the gold occurs when shoppers begin to develop brand loyalty.  There are three typical stages a business will go through before achieving brand loyalty at large.

The first stage a business would want to achieve is awareness.  At it's most basic, this means that people are aware that the business exists.  Many never even reach this stage!  Marketing and a logo can go a long way towards establishing the existence of a business, but the path to brand loyalty doesn't truly begin until the enterprise becomes known for something. Once this occurs, the next stage should hopefully follow.

When shoppers begin to develop affinity for a company, brand loyalty is on its way to being established.  In order to achieve this, a business needs to get the customer to care about it and feel that it represents them in some way.  Smart product placement and marketing, including building a social media presence that reflects the brand in a way that sparks this attitude is key at this stage.

The final stage for long lasting brand loyalty is amplification.  At this point, customers identify with the brand so much that they will forgive a misstep and even defend the brand.  Only a proven track record of positive action, branding and customer interaction will pull a company through to this stage.

Getting brand loyalty from customers is key to return business and word of mouth publicity.  What are some other ways to help build customer loyalty and brand recognition?

Digital Marketing is one of the largest advertising expenses a business can take on.  Since the science behind digital marketing is growing as more and more data is collected, many of the kinks are being worked out with respect to wasted digital marketing spends.  There are many reasons why digital marketing could be ineffective enough to be considered a wasted spend, with two being fraudulent/bot clicks and poor targeting.

Fraudulent clicks makes up a large part of wasted ad spend.  While platforms such as Google AdWords attempt to mitigate and investigate fraudulent clicks, it is safe to say that detecting every single wasted click would be a near impossible job.  Free analytics solutions don’t really provide the keys to making sure only legitimate traffic reaches a site either.  While IPs and URLs can be excluded on platforms like Google Analytics, the interface can be cumbersome and less than straightforward.  One solution is to operate on a custom analytics platform.  Such a platform could be built that could tell via IP address, country of origin, or referral URL which clicks are likely fraudulent and compile this into a report for further analyzation.  If these clicks are detected as being from advertising, a business would then have a good case towards getting some marketing dollars refunded from whatever advertising platform the traffic originated.

Another way digital marketing spend can be wasted is through poor or nonexistent targeting.  Simply blasting out a display ad, boosting social content to a huge audience or using generic broad match keyword terms via PPC might be a way to get a lot of traffic, but much of this traffic is unqualified and unlikely to buy.  A Zero Moment of Truth approach is to try and catch users when they are closest to buying.  This ultimately means making sure to set targeting that makes sense with regards to interest, geography, demographic, time of day, etc.  Narrowing down the audience will result in less traffic, but theoretically this traffic will be better traffic that is more interested in a product or service being offered.

All in all there are many reasons digital marketing dollars might be going to waste.  Can you name some other basic checks a company should be doing to minimize wasteful spend?