Almost everyone reading this owns a cell phone, and there is a rather large probability that you are reading it on that phone. According to a recent study 77% of people in the US own a smartphone which has more than doubled in the last 8 years (35% in 2011). While these devices have taken over the world, and many of our lives, something else in the world of mobile advertising has begun happening too.

It comes as no surprise that advertising strategy tends to follow consumer behavior. So as the ownership of smartphones has exploded the mobile advertising phenomenon has grown right along with it. So as we spend more and more of our time looking into our screens the images that we consume have become advertising, not content we want, at a higher pace year over year.

We have seen traditional static banner ads come and for the most part go. Video advertising on mobile devices is growing at a similar trend-line on desktop. The one buzzword people have been using for a year or two now is “geofencing.” As smartphones get better at following us around geographically, it was only a matter of time before advertisers could take advantage.

Basic geofencing works like this: when you step foot inside an invisible digital barrier (fence) an ad is pushed to your mobile device through an app you have open or trough your notifications. Think about the times you’ve driven past a retail store or mall and had your phone light up and push an ad for that store to you. Or if you’re at a baseball game and your phone sends you an ad for a local team themed bar. Companies can leverage their customers location to coordinate an ad that will be effective.

The future applications of this can be mind blowing. You can target someone with a fence and see on a map where they go after they leave your store. Then use that data to target zip codes where most of your customers spend their time. You can set up “conversion zones” where people’s devices are tagged and followed until they step foot inside one of your retail stores to confirm they bought something.

In many digital media shops today you can buy these services, including ours, the applications are nearly unlimited as there are no technical violations of privacy and the consumers don’t know they are targeted this way. As trends change and our mobile culture continues to grow, it’s exciting to see what else will follow.

Contact us today to find out how mobile advertising can fit in your strategy.