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?