How to Find Relevant Audiences with Geoframing

If you're looking for a smarter way to reach highly relevant audiences, Geoframing may be your new secret weapon. The most powerful audience data doesn’t always come from online engagement—it can also come from real-world behavior. If you're still advertising to people based on their real-time location, you're risking ad dollars on guesswork. Geoframing flips the script.

Understanding Geoframing: What It Is and How It Works Instead of serving generic messages to whoever’s nearby, Geoframing lets you zero in on people who’ve already shown up somewhere—people who walked into your competitor’s store last week, attended an event, or are loyal visitors to your store location. These aren’t cold leads. With historical, consent-based location data, you’re tapping into pre-qualified intent and turning it into precision-timed outreach that performs.

Understanding Geoframing: What It Is and How It Works

Instead of serving generic messages to whoever’s nearby, Geoframing lets you zero in on people who’ve already shown up somewhere—people who walked into your competitor’s store last week, attended an event, or are loyal visitors to your store location. These aren’t cold leads. With historical, consent-based location data, you’re tapping into pre-qualified intent and turning it into precision-timed outreach that performs.

In technical terms, Geoframing is a data-driven advertising technology that identifies mobile devices that were present in a specific location during a defined timeframe. Unlike geofencing, which attempts to use real-time signals to deliver immediate ads to anyone within a geographic boundary, Geoframing looks backward in time. It identifies users who were in a location after the fact by capturing their unique Mobile Ad ID (MAID) from the GPS of the device—only from users who have consented through the ad exchange or app ecosystem.

This distinction is critical: Geoframing does not track users in real-time, nor does it collect data without consent. Instead, it leverages historical location data and matches it to anonymized identifiers, allowing marketers to reach individuals based on where they were, not where they are.

With platforms like OnSpot Data, marketers can use these consent-based MAIDs to send targeted ads compliantly. For a deeper dive into how to apply Geoframing successfully, check out our best practices guide.

Real-World Uses of Geoframing for Targeted Marketing

Some marketers assume that Geoframing is just another form of location targeting—the immediate, invasive, and imprecise kind. Others confuse it with geofencing or believe it’s only useful for brick-and-mortar stores. But when you see it in action, the reality becomes clear.

Geoframing in action looks like this:

• A retail chain builds a Geoframe around a competitor’s storefront to identify foot traffic
• A concert promoter targets mobile users who attended a music festival last year
• A coffee brand targets visits to regional convenience stores to optimize ad spend

These aren’t hypotheticals. According to GeoPlugin, 9 in 10 marketers report that location-based marketing leads to increased sales. But beyond that, they are Geoframing to:

• Identify high-intent audiences based on actual behavior
• Deliver relevant offers to those users
• Improve engagement and conversion rates compared to broad geolocation tactics

For example, one quick-serve restaurant chain used OnSpot’s Geoframing tools to increase foot traffic by 280% after targeting high-intent audiences with precision-timed campaigns. Read the full case study here.

You can also extend the power of Geoframing beyond digital ads. In fact, over 84% of marketers already use location data across channels, according to TipsonBlogging. You can activate Geoframing audiences across everything from digital banners to direct mail, simply by tying historical location data to your CRM records or demographic segments.

How Geoframing Enhances Audience Research and Insights

When you have enhanced insights, it’s like switching from a blurry photograph to a high-resolution image. Suddenly, you can see where your audience has been, what they care about, and how they move through the world—not just demographically, but behaviorally. It’s the difference between guessing who might be interested in your offer and knowing who is already demonstrating intent. Geoframing is like a lens for uncovering behavioral patterns that actually drive decisions.

Geoframing gives marketers:

• Insight into consumer routines and preferences
• Clarity around which competitors your audience interacts with
• The ability to identify new market segments based on geographic behavior

For example, if a home improvement retailer finds that many of its in-store visitors previously visited a nearby gardening expo, that behavioral signal can inform:

• Seasonal campaign planning
• Lookalike audience creation
• New customer acquisition strategies

This type of insight elevates your audience segmentation strategy and drives improvements in both ROI and return on ad spend (ROAS).

Need a primer on how to define your target market? Hootsuite’s guide is a solid resource.

Actionable Steps to Successfully Implement Geoframes

Building a Geoframing campaign doesn't have to be complex. Put simply, you’re pinpointing the exact location where your ideas customers have visited. Within days, you're serving them tailored digital ads that mirror their behavior and interests. Behind the scenes, your CRM is now talking to your location data—syncing insights and segmenting audiences. Your campaign launches, ads hit the right screens, and your analytics dashboard lights up with engagement spikes. That’s what it looks like to take actionable steps and make Geoframing work for you. Here’s how to start:

1. Define the Target Locations and Timeframes — Pinpoint key locations such as competitors, complimentary businesses, event spaces, or your own stores to build highly relevant audiences
2. Enhance Segments Through First Party Data — Integrate your own CRM lists with OnSpot’s Data Management Platform for even sharper targeting across digital and direct mail campaigns
3. Deploy Multi-Channel Campaigns — Seamlessly activate your geoframed audiences across display, connected TV (CTV), social media, direct mail, and more with OnSpot’s in-house DSP
4. Measure and Optimize — Measure campaign performance with OnSpot’s analytics tools, allowing you to refine audiences, optimize messaging, and maximize ROI

Whether you’re targeting a local event or looking to reach a nationwide audience, geoframes can scale. With platform automation, national brands can deploy thousands of custom frames across cities, categories, or events with consistent ROI reporting. Campaigns built on geoframe audiences outperform traditional geo-targeting by prioritizing historical intent over proximity.

Geoframing Done Right: Ethical, Insightful, Effective

Geoframing is more than a targeting tool—it’s a strategic insight engine. By tapping into location history (with consent), it gives marketers a powerful way to:

• Reach the right people
• Reduce waste
• Respect privacy

And when paired with Demographic and CRM data, it becomes a launchpad for creative, data-driven, and high-performing marketing.

Your audience is already out there. You just need to know where they’ve been. If you’re ready to drive better results with less waste and more precision, now’s the time to make your move.

Book a demo with OnSpot Data and see exactly how Geoframing can change your campaigns—starting today.