Understanding Location Intelligence in Advertising: A Game Changer for AdTech

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As advertisers become more focused on hyper-personalization, the ability to understand consumer behavior in the physical world is invaluable. This is where location intelligence comes in—and it’s reshaping how advertisers build audiences and measure success. In the simplest terms, location intelligence involves gathering, analyzing, and applying location data from mobile devices and turning them into insights. This data allows advertisers to identify where consumers go, when they visit certain places, and what these movements say about their interests and behaviors.

Breaking Down Location Intelligence

Location intelligence can be categorized into three key types of data:

  1. Device-level data: This is the most widely used data in advertising and typically includes Mobile Ad IDs (MAIDs), which track a device’s movement by recording its location at specific times. For advertisers, this data can pinpoint where a device—and likely its owner—has been over time, making it easier to target specific audiences based on their behaviors.
  2. Aggregated foot traffic data: Handling individual device-level data for large-scale campaigns can be challenging. That’s where aggregated data comes in. By summarizing large data sets, advertisers can model audience behaviors and trends, making it easier to measure the success of campaigns, especially those that aim to drive in-person actions like store visits.
  3. Insights: This goes beyond simply knowing where devices have been. Insights combine aggregated data with contextual information to answer deeper questions about why certain behaviors occur. For example, why did foot traffic to a store increase? What types of people made up those visitors, and what are their buying motivations?

Why Location Intelligence Matters in Advertising

In the digital age, understanding online behavior is only half the picture. Location intelligence fills the gap between online activity and real-world behavior, allowing advertisers to connect the dots between digital campaigns and physical visits. Whether you're trying to drive foot traffic to a store, analyze visitation patterns, or understand how various campaigns affect consumer movements, location intelligence is a must-have tool.

However, with great power comes great responsibility. Ensuring data accuracy, ethical sourcing, and compliance with privacy regulations are critical. Unacast emphasizes data quality and privacy, helping advertisers make the most of their location data without compromising consumer trust.

To dive deeper into the types of location intelligence and its crucial role in the AdTech ecosystem, download our comprehensive report, The State of Location Data and Its Impact on Advertising.

Frequently Asked Questions

Discover how analyzing real-world movement patterns can reveal valuable trends in customer behavior, optimize business operations, and enhance strategic decision-making.

What is site selection and why is it important?

Site selection is the strategic process by which businesses identify, evaluate, and choose optimal locations for their operations. This process is paramount as the location of a business directly influences factors such as accessibility, visibility, profitability, and market longevity. For retailers, the right site can mean higher customer footfall and increased sales. In real estate, a well-selected site can promise lucrative returns on investment and tenant stability. Financial service firms leverage site selection to position their branches or ATMs in high-demand areas. Essentially, site selection plays a pivotal role in ensuring the success and growth of a business by aligning its physical presence with market opportunities and demands.

How does location intelligence enhance site selection?

Location intelligence refers to the harnessing of geospatial data to derive actionable insights, which can significantly enhance the site selection process. By analyzing data like consumer demographics, foot traffic patterns, competitor locations, trade area data, and more, businesses can make more informed decisions about where to establish or expand their operations. Location intelligence allows for a deeper understanding of market dynamics, revealing hidden opportunities or potential pitfalls. For instance, retailers can identify gaps in the market, real estate professionals can forecast property value trends, and financial service providers can assess areas with high customer demand. Advanced tools, like those offered by Unacast, further refine these insights by leveraging AI and machine learning, enabling more precise and timely decision-making.

What challenges do businesses face in the site selection process?

Unacast provides invaluable support to businesses during the site selection process through its advanced location data and analytics software, all powered and refined by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies. The company offers a suite of products designed to deliver accurate, actionable, and comprehensive location intelligence. This data proves crucial for businesses looking to understand consumer behavior, analyze traffic patterns, evaluate competitor locations, and much more. With Unacast’s robust tools, businesses in retail, real estate, and financial services can derive insightful information necessary for making strategic, informed site selection decisions. The platform not only provides reliable data but also ensures it is readily actionable for businesses, whether they are looking to open a new store, invest in property, or expand their financial services to new locations.

What types of location data are crucial for informed site selection?

Demographic data offers insights into the age, income, and lifestyle of people in a particular area, helping businesses understand their potential customer base. Foot traffic data provides information on the number of people visiting a location, which is crucial for retailers to estimate the store's potential popularity and for real estate professionals to assess an area's vibrancy and demand. Geographic Information System (GIS) data helps in visualizing and analyzing geographical details, supporting companies in identifying accessible and strategically located sites. Understanding the proximity to competitors, accessibility, and the socio-economic profile of the surrounding areas is also vital. Unacast’s platform aggregates and analyzes these various data types, providing a holistic view that significantly empowers businesses in their site selection endeavors.

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