Online advertising can be confusing, so we have created this glossary to guide you through the ins and outs lof location-based advertising.

A

Ad Impression
What is an Ad Impression? An ad impression is the number of times a consumer is exposed to an advertisement.

Ad Server

An ad server is a web-based technology dedicated to the delivery of advertisements. This specialization enables the tracking and management of advertising related metrics.

Ad Tag

An ad tag is a code snippet that has to be inserted within the HTML code of a webpage where an ad is due to be displayed and can track impressions and clicks. 

Audience Targeting

Audience Targeting is a way for marketers to reach likely consumers with precision and scale based on their past online and offline behaviors, interests, location, and demographic information.

B

Behavioral Targeting?

Behavioral targeting is a method of advertising that targets consumers based on their online and offline behavior. Online behavioral targeting is made possible by the use of cookies. When a consumer visits a site that has an advertisement, a cookie is sent to the computer and tracks future browsing behavior allowing marketers to target their advertising more accurately. For example, if someone visits a tool blog, he or she may be targeted with advertisements from a recently visited tool e-commerce site. Offline behavioral targeting is possible by way of mobile location technology. If a consumer opts into location-based services on an app on their phone, this information may be used to reach consumers based on their real-time location. For example, targeting a consumer with a coupon when they are within a half a mile radius of a particular store. 

Mapped Technology

Mapped is the industry’s largest and most accurate geofencing platform. Unlike typical geofencing platforms, which creates radiuses around a location, Mapped form polygons by tracing the store or place boundary based on satellite images to capture the precise boundaries of a location. All mobile location signals BroadProximity, LLC. sees on its platform are mapped back to a business or POI using map technology. It’s the only mapping platform that accurately draws brands and multi-layer POIs, which we believe is necessary to fully understand who mobile users are and how they engage with their surroundings.

C

Click–Through Rate (CTR)

Refers to the percentage of users that see an ad with some sort of call to action and click on the ad to follow through. A higher click-through rate signals an enticing advertising campaign and/or offering. 

CPV (Cost Per Visit)

Is a guaranteed performance buying model in which marketers only pay for ads that result in a store visit. The Cost Per Visit buying model removes the risk or guesswork of traditional media buying and shifts accountability from buyer to partner, bringing improved transparency and simplicity to the advertising industry. We’ve come a long way since the days when CPM (cost per thousand impressions) was everything. 

The metrics we use to buy advertising have evolved to keep pace with new technologies, consumer behaviors, and industry trends. Performance-based models like Cost Per Visit (CPV) marketing are now allowing marketers to secure the results they need—guaranteed. With all of that said, you may be wondering: is there still value in CPM? The answer is yes. CPV doesn’t replace CPM—rather it complements it. Together, these two models can deliver the reach and the precise, real-world results advertisers need. While CPM and CPV play different roles, both should be a part of every marketing strategy. Here’s how you can get the most out of using them. 

Cost Per Impression (CPM)

CPM, also referred to as Cost Per Thousand, is an ad payment model most common in desktop, that calculated to determine the cost of 1000 impressions and typically accompanies brand awareness campaigns. Calculate your CPM► 

Custom Audiences

Custom audiences are created by marketers to tailor audience segments based on visitation data, behavioral attributes, demographic details, and purchase information.

Conversion Pixel

A conversion pixel is a piece of code that is provided to advertisers to place on a website landing page. It allows brands to track and report on the actions of users who visit their page after viewing or clicking on an ad.

D

Designated Market Area (DMA)

Also referred to as a media market, is a region of the United States that is used to define television and radio markets. There are 210 DMAs covering the whole United States and are usually defined based on metropolitan areas, with suburbs often being combined within. DMAs are determined by the Nielsen Company and impact the cost of advertising in a specific area. The more viewers in a particular DMA, the more an advertisement will cost. This is why a television ad in New York City costs more than an ad in Montgomery, Alabama. When evaluating your marketing mix it is important to understand the DMAs you are targeting and weigh the potential opportunities and costs. View the DMA Map► 

Dynamic Creative (or “Dynamic Ads”)

is a method of programmatic advertising that results in an ad’s messaging being updated in real-time based on predefined parameters and rules defined by the advertiser. This highly automated approach allows advertisers to create very relevant, unique, and personalized ads to each user on the fly, helping to vastly improve the effectiveness of the campaign with little time investment. An example of this would be for an auto manufacturer showing the appropriate offer based on the geographic region of the impression. Common parameters used in dynamic creative are location, weather, time, etc. The more parameters that can be defined, the more effective the ad is likely to be. 

Dynamic Distance Overlay (DDO)

Is dynamically populated text on the ad creative that indicates how far the user is from the nearest business location.

E

Effective Cost Per Visit (eCPV)

Is calculated by dividing the total store revenue during a given period by the number of visitors for that same period. For example, if a store had 10,000 visitors driven from its location-based marketing efforts and the store’s revenue for the same period was $100,000, then the eCPV would be $10. 

Engagement Metrics

Measures the effectiveness of how a user engages with your advertising message. Some possible engagement metrics on mobile include a click on your ad, a click to get directions, or completed video views. The term engagement metrics may also be applied to things other than advertising, such as how long a visitor spends on a website or if a person ‘likes’ or ‘shares’ a social media post.

Engagement Rate 

Ad engagement rate is the ratio of ad engagements to the number of impressions of the ad unit where the engagement happens.

G

Geofencing (also known as “Mobile Geofencing”)

Is the application of defining a set geographic perimeter around a location. Oftentimes the output of this method is to prompt an advertisement based on location data signals derived through a mobile phone. These alerts are triggered when a mobile device enters the radius around a pre-established point of interest on a map and users have opted into the app’s location services. Geofencing is most often used in advertising to send an advertisement to a user through an app. This is often in the form of a promotion, sale or a simple reminder to drop in. One could even create a geofence around a competitor so a customer will receive an ad when they get close to a competitor’s store. This type of geofence is called geo-conquesting. 

Geofencing Marketing (also known as “Geofencing Advertising”)

Is a method of location-based advertising where consumers are targeted based on their location in real-time in relation to a defined radius (or geofence) around a specific location. This is made possible by consumers opting into location-based services on their mobile phone. Geofencing marketing can be used to attract users into a brick-and-mortar location based on variables defined by the advertiser, including distance from location, weather, online and offline behavior, time of day, and more. One method of geofencing marketing (called “Geo-conquesting”) is to attract customers away from competitors as they get close to a competitor’s location. While geofencing marketing can be a great strategy, it’s important to understand its limitations. For example, a geofence to determine whether a consumer is in a location may not be the most accurate use. In these instances, it is better to use polygons. 

Geo-Farming

Is commonly known as geo-retargeting, is a tactic used by mobile advertisers to target customers at a specific location – whether on premise or in proximity of a point of interest – and re-target them at a later time with the same ad.

Geo-conquesting

Is a technique that uses location data to identify a brand’s competitors in an effort to promote a competing or competitive offering to their customers. This can be done in two ways:

• Geofencing – The most popular form of geo-conquesting leverages the technique of geofencing to reach and engage consumers when they are in or around a target competitor location. At this point, an ad is served to the potential customer to try and persuade them to come to the advertisers business instead of the competitor. For example, if a potential customer is at a local restaurant, an ad may be served to the customer from a competing restaurant.
  
• Mobile Location Data – Another form of geo-conquesting involves leveraging a mobile device’s past visitation history allowing marketers to reach consumers who have previously visited a competitive location. For example, if a customer stopped at a fast food restaurant for a meal, this customer may be served an ad for a competing fast food restaurant close to their location. 



Geo-Tagging
Is the process of adding geographical information (metadata) to various media (images, videos, status updates). Example: Tagging yourself or an image with your current location on Facebook. 

K

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)

Are metrics and benchmarks that measure the success and overall performance of a campaign. 

L

Location Audiences

Are defined as mobile users who have visited a specific brand or category within a specified timeframe, usually up to 90 days. 

Location Targeting

Uses GPS coordinates to serve ads to users on their mobile phone based on where they go in the physical world. With location targeting, an advertiser can serve a mobile user an ad based on their current physical location and/or previously visited locations. For example, if a user visits a gym then one could serve ads to the customer at a later point in time based on their current location (i.e proximity to their gym or a competitor gym or at a time they think the customer is likely to convert (e.g. after the work day).

Location-Based Marketing

Uses data on mobile device users’ current or past locations to display relevant content to them. Other names for location-based marketing are location marketing, geo-targeting marketing, geolocation marketing, proximity-based marketing and hyperlocal marketing. A common way to use location data is through geofencing or geotargeting. For example, if people visit a real estate office, in the future that office could target a promotion to those users when they’re in the area to encourage them to come in and buy a home, or list their home for sale.

N

Neighborhood Targeting

Can help marketers reach mobile users in areas with a high visitation affinity to your brand or store by coupling visitation patterns and audience segments with custom geographical boundaries.

O

On-Premise Marketing (also called On-Premise Targeting)

Allows marketers to reach consumers in real-time when they are in a precisely defined geofenced or ‘Mapped’ location. With on-premise marketing you can target users at specific locations (such as a mall, parking lot, point of interest or a competitors store) or areas within walking distance, to immediately impact present and future behaviors. For example, a department store targeting a user with a sale or coupon when they enter the store or a restaurant serving an ad to a previous customer when they are in the proximity of the restaurant. To make on-premise marketing possible, users must opt into location services on their mobile phone.

P

Proximity Targeting

Is a marketing technique that uses mobile location services to reach consumers in real-time when they are around a store location or point of interest. This is done by defining a radius around a specific location. If a consumer has opted into location services on their mobile phone and enters within this radius, proximity targeting allows you to trigger an advertisement or message to that consumers in an effort to influence their behavior. For example, if you are a restaurant and you want to target consumers within a 1 mile radius. You could set up proximity targeting around your restaurant so when consumers walk into that radius they will be triggered with an advertisement. 

R

Radius Targeting

Is an advertisement technique to target consumers when they are near a predefined location. Radius targeting is considered the most basic method of real-time location targeting known as geofencing, whereas a radius is placed around a place’s address, targeting mobile users within that radius. Radius targeting can be customized to any size down to .25-mile radius. However, since addresses were built to provide directions to the location, many times the physical location is across the parking lot or on the street. Depending on your goals, this could lead to wasted ad spend.

S

Secondary Action Rate (SAR)

Is a performance measure based on the percentage of ads that resulted in action beyond the initial ad click. In mobile advertising, this could be clicking to call an establishment or to get directions to the nearest store.  

Store Visitation Lift (SVL)

SVL measures the increase in foot traffic to a brick-and-mortar location or point of interest that results from a mobile ad campaign. This measurement is made possible by leveraging mobile location signals to track the whole marketing funnel, from the time consumers were exposed to an ad and then entered into a defined location. There are a variety of tactics available to increase Store Visitation Lift by targeting consumers with an advertisement based on their real-time location, including geofencing, beacon technology, and Mapped technology. This area of marketing is called location-based marketing or geolocation advertising.

V

Visitation Metrics

Are indicators that measure foot traffic into physical store locations.

W

WeatherTargeting

Also called Weather triggering, is an advertising tactic enabling marketers to target their advertisements against many weather conditions and quantifiable weather parameters including temperature, wind, UV index, and weather alerts. For example, an ice cream shop may want to use weather targeting to reach customers within a defined radius when the temperature is over 80°F. Alternatively, a department store may want to run an advertisement on winter coats when snow is in the forecast. Weather targeting helps improve relevance based on real-time information to help create better-targeted ads that greatly impact the conversion rate.

Z

Zip Code Marketing

Also known as Zip Code Advertising, allows marketers to spread mass awareness in key geographical areas of interest based on specific zip code(s). By targeting mobile users at the zip code level, you can engage consumers in specific locations to impact immediate and future behaviors. 

Contact our team of dedicated advertising experts who can answer your questions and help you start achieving your goals.