6 Ways Retailers are Using Hyperlocal Video to Drive In-Store Traffic

Despite the rise of e-commerce and online marketplaces, brick-and-mortar businesses today operate on a local level, relying on traditional foot traffic to generate a significant portion of their sales. However, thanks to the rise of the digital medium, smart retailers are also embracing innovative technologies to better communicate with consumers where they now spend most of their time — online. Dramatic advancements in online data capture mean that retailers are now able to understand and target their audiences in a far more sophisticated and strategic way than ever before.

One of the most intelligent and effective ways of leveraging customer data to better target an audience is through personalized online video advertising. While we're just emerging from the craziness that is the Super Bowl advertising hype, broadly speaking, retailers are shifting away from the one-ad-fits-all approach. Instead, retailers are leveraging new tools and technologies to not only identify their target audiences, but to really understand them and tailor both the message and content of their advertisements accordingly.

Specifically, hyperlocal video targeting has become one of the most effective strategies for driving in-store sales. By tailoring ads based on location, retailers can deliver information, deals and incentives tailored to a specific geographical audience, dramatically increasing the relevance and impact of the message.

How can retailers do this? Here are six keys to successfully launching hyperlocal video targeting campaigns:

1. Identify consumer groups: Target consumer segments that have shown direct interest in specific products on your website (e.g., a particular piece of furniture or item of clothing) in conjunction with look-alike audiences who share similar online profiles or behaviors. This enables brands to leverage personalized video to an audience with a high likelihood of interest in similar products.

2. Relevance: Keep video ads relevant by featuring products, prices and deals that correspond to local events, news or promotions. Spotlight the best-selling products locally.

3. Weather and environment: Consider the impact of weather on consumer behavior, and feature products that match the local daily or weekend forecast. If rain is in the forecast, showcase umbrellas or protective clothing. If your area is expecting a snowstorm, spotlight all terrain vehicles or indoor heaters.

4. Online-offline: Incorporating local maps that denote the location of a nearby store or dealership is a simple yet effective way of making an advertisement directly relevant and actionable to an audience within driving radius.

5. Activate mobile: Use video in a smart manner to communicate with audiences online at a local level via their personal devices — i.e., smartphones and tablets. For example, you could activate mobile in a hyperlocal manner with a timely coupon sent to the mobile phones of nearby shoppers.

6. Smart sequencing: Show different products when serving repeated brand messages to the same viewer to keep the creative fresh and interesting and the consumer engaged.

As companies like Amazon.com make buying online easier and more mainstream, brick-and-mortar retailers need to become more aggressive and sophisticated in marketing to get consumers in-store. By effectively taking advantage of hyperlocal targeting and personalized video ads, retailers can target consumers more effectively in an innovative way. Hyperlocal video ad targeting is a useful tool that should be incorporated into every savvy retailer's video advertising strategy.

Tal Riesenfeld is the co-founder and vice president of sales at Eyeview, a provider of personalized video advertising technology.