Nearly every marketer (96 percent) today considers location data to be important – with it, marketers have the unique opportunity to gain a rich understanding of consumer behavior, bridging the gap between online ad exposure and real-world behavior. This data presents opportunities spanning beyond attribution, gathering insights, and segmentation.

However, many marketers (40 percent) are concerned about the data quality. Rightly so, as it turns out that 59 percent of location data is inaccurate.

Accurate location data is key for media buyers, who are responsible for maximizing the impact of their client’s advertising budgets. If your brand is delivering location-based ads to people who are not anywhere in or near your target, that’s money down the drain. Our research suggests that at least 25 percent of the $16 billion spent on location-targeted mobile ads is likely squandered due to bad location data. Media buyers need solutions to validate location accuracy so their spend and efforts aren’t wasted.

As a response to this great need, we recently launched Location Verification — a new product that uses mobile carrier data to validate location accuracy of geo-targeted mobile ad campaigns.

So what can Location Verification do for a Media Buyer?

There are three use cases for how Location Verification can help: targeted campaigns, audience segments, and measurement. We’ll start with campaigns first and then dive deeper into the other use cases in our next two posts.

Validation. Now media buyers can know if they are getting what they paid for. With Location Verification, media buyers can check how accurate their location-targeted campaigns are. With carrier data, we can verify whether a mobile user receives a geo-targeted ad within a defined campaign geofence or if it’s outside or even well outside the target.

A media buyer will receive a report with percentages of daily impressions that either met or did not meet their targeted locations. In addition, they will get a map that shows all locations where ads were received – in target and out of target. Armed with this data, buyers can work with their location vendors to increase ad accuracy and make sure they’re getting what they paid for.

Example Maps:
Campaign Targeting 5 Stores in Florida. 5 mile geofence around each store. 

Each red marker shows an impression delivered outside geofence. Impressions were even delivered outside the state of Florida. These are wasted impressions and wasted ad dollars. 

Optimization. Location Verification can help a media buyer beyond validation. Media buyers can also optimize their spend and increase ROI.

First, Location Verification can help determine which creative messages perform best in which specific segments, and optimize accordingly. For example, media buyers could test three different sets of ad copy across a range of audiences, and then adjust their campaigns to only utilize the best-performing copy.

Second, media buyers can test the effectiveness of location vendors by conducting a “bake off” with each potential vendor. Using Location Verification, they can see how on-target (or not) a vendor is before committing to a larger budget. With Location Verification, media buyers are empowered with information to select the vendors who can best deliver on campaign goals.

In short, they can focus on getting the most bang for their buck. Location Verification optimizes campaign spend and increases ROI. It gives media buyers the confidence that their ad spend reaches their intended geo-targeted audience.

Do you know where your ads are really going? To find out, check out: Emodo Verification

Next up in our three-part series, we’ll share how Location Verification can verify your location-based audience segments.