Geofencing vs Geoframing: The Strategy Shift Driving Location-Based Marketing Campaigns

Fences keep people out. Frames pull your best customers in. That’s the difference marketers face when choosing between geofencing and geoframing, two location-based advertising tactics that sound similar but work very differently.

In a world moving rapidly toward cookieless marketing, location has emerged as one of the most reliable and powerful signals left. But not all location-based strategies are created equal. Many marketers default to what they’ve heard before: set a geofence and deliver ads in real time. Few realize that this limits reach, attribution, and long-term performance.

That’s where geoframing comes in. It flips the strategy on its head, using historical device data to build high-intent audiences from where people have been—not just where they are right now.

In this guide, we’ll break down what geofencing and geoframing really mean, clarify which use cases each approach supports, and show you how advanced marketers are using location data to drive ROI across channels.

At OnSpot, we help brands and agencies turn location into measurable growth. Let’s dive in.

What Is Geofencing?

Geofencing is a location-based advertising tactic that creates a virtual boundary around a physical place—such as a retail store, polling site, or bank branch. When a mobile device enters that area, geofencing advertising campaigns can trigger ads in real time through apps or mobile browsers.

For example, a retailer might geofence its own storefront to promote an in-store sale. A political campaign might geofence a polling location to encourage same-day voter turnout. These campaigns are often managed through geofencing software or platforms that specialize in geofencing marketing.

• Real-time only
• Requires opt-in
• Best for short-term promos

But there’s a catch. Geofencing only works while someone is physically inside the geofence. As soon as they leave, the opportunity to engage them vanishes. These campaigns also depend on users opting in to share their location through apps or settings, which can drastically reduce reach.

Attribution is another challenge. Since the engagement happens in the moment, it’s harder to tie ad exposure to future outcomes like store visits or conversions, especially across channels like CTV or direct mail.

Geofencing can be a powerful tactic for real-time activation, but for marketers seeking long-term engagement or measurable ROI, it often falls short.

What Is Geoframing?

Geoframing is a more advanced, data-driven form of location-based advertising. Instead of triggering ads in real time, geoframing captures anonymized device IDs from people who visited a specific location during a defined timeframe. This could be days, weeks, or even months in the past.

This historical view allows marketers to re-engage high-intent audiences long after the initial visit, using geoframing advertising campaigns across digital, CTV, audio, or direct mail. Unlike geofencing, which stops the moment a customer walks away, geoframing supports lookback windows of up to six months and offers unmatched campaign flexibility.

• Historical data up to 6 months
• Retarget audiences over time
• Activate across channels and measure attribution

Because the data is privacy-compliant and fully anonymized, geoframing delivers both precision and scale. For example, one campaign used OnSpot’s geoframing software to analyze foot traffic at gas stations and convenience stores, achieving 3x the reach compared to previous benchmarks.

This level of control makes geoframing ideal for use cases such as B2B lead generation, event retargeting, and competitor conquesting. These are areas where real-time tactics often fall short. With advanced geoframing technology, marketers can build reliable, high-performing audiences based on behavior instead of assumptions.

Leading geoframing companies like OnSpot Data help turn these insights into measurable ROI. Through advanced geoframing technology and custom audience solutions, marketers can activate high-performing campaigns across channels. In today’s cookieless marketing environment, location remains one of the most powerful signals available.

Geoframing vs. Geofencing: A Side-by-Side Comparison

At first glance, the terms sound interchangeable, but the strategic differences are significant. This comparison chart breaks down timing, precision, attribution, and use cases so you can see exactly where geofencing stops and geoframing goes further. 

In short, geofencing is useful for immediate engagement, but geoframing delivers precision, extended reach, and measurable ROI.

When to Use Each Strategy

Both geofencing and geoframing have their place in a well-rounded marketing strategy. The key is aligning each tactic to your campaign goals. If you need instant engagement based on location, geofencing delivers impressions in the moment. But if you’re aiming for audience building, attribution, or long-term performance, geoframing is the more strategic approach.

Here’s how different industries apply each strategy effectively:

Advertising Agencies
Use geofencing for event-based activations that grab attention on-site, and geoframing to prove multi-channel lift, audience quality, and ROI over time.

Retail Marketers
Use geofencing to deliver timely store promotions based on proximity. Geoframing helps you re-engage past visitors across digital, CTV, and direct mail—even weeks after the visit.

Commercial Real Estate (REITs)
Use geofencing to monitor visitor behavior at shopping centers or properties in real time. Geoframing enables real estate investment trusts (REITs) to analyze foot traffic trends, identify high-performing assets, and support leasing or valuation strategies.

Financial Services
Use geofencing to reach nearby prospects with branch-specific offers. Geoframing allows you to nurture that audience and measure ROI across accounts, products, and channels.

Political Campaigns
Use geofencing to activate voters at polling places or campaign events. Geoframing helps retarget those attendees afterward with reminders, donation asks, or follow-up messaging across channels.

Understanding when to use each tactic is the first step. Next, we’ll look at how to build geoframes that drive measurable results, starting with precision, dwell time, and intent.

Building Effective Geoframes

Building an effective geoframe starts with a clear goal. Are you looking to retarget event attendees, identify customers visiting a competitor, or analyze behavior for market research? Knowing your objective will inform how and where you frame.

The next step is precision. Use polygon mapping to trace the actual rooftop of the location you want to frame, rather than relying on broad radius targeting or including surrounding parking lots. This level of accuracy ensures you're capturing real visitors, not drive-bys.

Once your boundaries are set, apply dwell-time filters to separate true customers from passersby. For example, a shopper who spends 15 minutes inside a store is more likely to be a conversion target than someone who idled in the parking lot. These filters sharpen your audience quality and help reduce wasted impressions.

After building the frame, validate the audience. If the device count looks inflated, revisit your boundaries to exclude irrelevant areas like sidewalks or neighboring businesses. A precise frame results in more reliable data and stronger campaign performance.

With OnSpot’s platform, you can also enrich geoframe audiences with demographic overlays, device behavior, or visit frequency to create high-value segments. Once validated, these audiences can be activated across display, CTV, audio, or direct mail channels with confidence.

Done right, a geoframe becomes more than just a location. It becomes a repeatable, ROI-driven system for finding and engaging your best customers.

Execution & Measurement

Executing a geoframing campaign is simple with the right process and tools. OnSpot’s platform unifies location intelligence, audience activation, and advanced performance analytics—giving marketers a full view of ROI across every channel.

Here’s how the process works:

1. Choose your location(s): Identify venues, events, or competitors to frame based on your campaign goals.
2. Set your timeframe: Define the historical window to capture devices, ranging from a single day to several months.
3. Activate audiences: Launch your campaign across display, CTV, audio, or direct mail using OnSpot’s integrated DSP or your platform of choice. 
4. Measure success: Track cost per visit, visitation lift, and conversions.

Each metric tells a different part of the story. Cost per visit highlights efficiency. Visitation lift measures audience responsiveness. Conversions tie engagement to real business outcomes. Together, these insights help marketers optimize in real time and improve performance over time.

For example, a financial services brand could frame visitors to a competitor’s branch or a nearby office park where high-income professionals work. They could then deliver follow-up messaging across digital and CTV promoting incentives for switching or opening a new account. OnSpot’s analytics would help measure which audiences and channels drove the highest response.

This approach transforms location data into a full-funnel strategy that connects audience behavior with measurable business outcomes.

Geofencing and Geoframing: The Smart Marketer’s Edge

Winning campaigns don’t stop when a customer leaves the geofence. They continue the conversation with geoframing: the strategy built for attribution, retargeting, and ROI.

Geofencing is useful for real-time engagement, but it’s limited to the moment. Geoframing turns those same visits into future opportunities, capturing high-intent audiences you can activate across digital, CTV, and direct mail. That’s why leading retailers, financial services firms, and political campaigns are shifting to frames: it’s not just about foot traffic, it’s about measurable growth.

OnSpot’s location-based marketing platform makes this shift simple. Don’t just fence in opportunities. Frame them, measure them, and turn them into lasting ROI. Request a personalized demo to see how it works.

FAQ – Geoframing in Action

Q: Can geoframing improve event marketing ROI compared to geofencing?
A: Yes. Geofencing only reaches people in real time, but geoframing allows you to re-engage attendees long after the event across digital, CTV, and direct mail.

Q: How long can geoframing track audience behavior after a location visit?
A: With OnSpot, marketers can define lookback windows of up to six months, enabling campaigns that extend well beyond the initial visit.

Q: Does geoframing work for B2B lead generation campaigns?
A: Absolutely. You can frame trade shows or competitor office locations to identify high-intent B2B audiences and activate them across channels.

Q: Can geoframing help analyze competitor foot traffic patterns?
A: Yes. Frames around competitor stores reveal visitation patterns that can guide conquesting strategies and market expansion planning.

Q: Do marketers still need geofencing software if geoframing is available?
A: Yes. Many geofencing companies offer geofencing software that helps with real-time campaigns, but these tools are best for short-term promotions. Geoframing platforms capture audiences over time and deliver multi-channel attribution, making them better for long-term ROI. Leading geoframing companies like OnSpot Data offer integrated solutions.

Q: What metrics should marketers track to measure geoframing success?
A: Key KPIs include reach, cost per visit, visitation lift, and conversions. OnSpot’s analytics tie these directly to ROI.