What’s the Importance of Geocoding for Business?

Geocoding is, quite literally, the process of putting a place on the map, but it’s not only that. It also allows people and products to be tracked, finding where they are at any given time. 

Seems a little hard to understand. Here’s a simplification –

A retail company planning to open a new store can use geocoding to identify where they’ll find regular and ideal customers on the map. This way, they can settle on the best location for setting up a new store. 

A food delivery service company can improve its delivery by optimizing routes and finding the best way to reach its targeted customers. As a result, they can offer better service in a shorter time.

Businesses of all types (retail, eCommerce, etc.) are using this technology.

Here’s how and why businesses are investing in this technology.

What is Geocoding for Business? 

Geocoding is a useful tool for improving the day-to-day operations of a business. It allows business owners to create accurate and precise locations and addresses for customers. The result? It’s becoming easier to find them than it was before. Businesses can use precise geographic coordinates to target their customers better, plan their strategies ahead, and improve logistics. 

In short, as a powerful tool, geocoding helps businesses improve their overall customer experience. In addition, it also makes managing data smooth for users. 

Search and geocoding are connected. Maps, navigation, and AR are all part of every app that users explore to get specific solutions to their problems. 

Location, Location, Location

Geocoding services, like those provided by egon.com, turn addresses into coordinates. Unlike streets and neighborhoods, which can change names over time, the geographic coordinates will always remain the same. Besides, different countries have different conventions for naming places, while latitude and longitude coordinates designate a place with no ambiguities. Such coordinates make these addresses available for data analysis. 

Make no mistake: geocoding and geolocation, albeit they’re often related, are different concepts. Geolocation uses mobile devices and PCs for GPS tracking. Meanwhile, geocodes are used for many things: mapping software, search engines, data analysis and geotagging content like videos or images. 

The Benefits of Using Geocoding for Business: Mapping the Success

Putting your business on mapping systems has obvious benefits. For instance, it makes yourself visible to customers in your area and to be found on search engines. Yet, geocoding can do much more for businesses. 

Customer Data Management

Knowing where your clients are is essential for developing marketing strategies. Geocoded addresses can help organize clients into clusters on the map, making it much easier to create geo-targeted marketing campaigns with virtual and physical ads.

Geo Targeted Services

Likewise, this information allows companies to create services based on the needs of specific locations. A complete analysis of this information gives valuable insights into market trends and patterns. It’s decisive not only for marketing but also for strategic decisions like where to build a new distribution center.

Route Management

Thanks to Google Maps and other geographic information systems (GIS), it’s very easy to find the most efficient routes across different locations. Getting your geocodes correct will allow you to save considerable time and resources while moving or delivering goods. 

Payroll

Tax calculation is a less obvious use for geocoding for business, but it’s a very effective one. Geocodes allow for the precise location of tax boundaries, but they also affect the calculation of wage rates. It’s a life-saving tool for companies that hire large numbers of employees. Moreover, companies that include incomplete or incorrect information in their payroll systems are at risk of audits and fines. 

Enhanced Data Quality

Clients often provide incomplete or incorrect addresses. Geocoding APIs can clean up the mess by checking street names that have been misspelled or changed based on latitude and longitude coordinates. Keeping your clients’ profiles updated with accurate information is vital for marketing and other strategic business decisions. 

Different Use Cases of Geocoding

Geocoding for business is crucial these days. But, the technology isn’t limited to business alone. There are different use cases for geocoding an address, and it’s used across industries. Here are some examples –

Restaurants 

Most people look for a restaurant online when looking for a place to eat. Their smartphones have a geolocation feature, which uses their own location and the location of different restaurants nearby. This is how the technology works to offer restaurant suggestions when someone’s searching for restaurants on Google Maps. 

Public Sector

The GeocodedCensus Bureau summaries help determine the place for future infrastructure for community development. For example, the government can use geocoding to identify which place requires a school or a hospital, thereby improving community services. It helps determine eligibility for programs and services, establish voting precincts, crime mapping, etc. 

Healthcare

Aside from business, another sector that benefits from the geocoding of addresses is the healthcare sector. Batch geocoding helps with transmission tracking and helps identify almost real-time data on the spread of any infection in a locality. This was a very useful technology that helped during the COVID-19. In fact, healthcare personnels can pinpoint the source of an infection using geocoding. 

Manufacturing & Business

Geocoding of locations is the most useful technology for manufacturing businesses. It helps businesses understand if they should move to a different location for more profitable business. It helps them forecast revenue and optimize delivery routes for better logistics.

Geocoding offers a better visibility of the supply chain, inventory, distributors and the logistics of a business. 

Marketing

Marketing agencies also rely greatly on geo targeting features. This feature helps marketers target the right audience at the right place and tailor their advertisement and content specifically for the target audience. It also helps them optimize their campaigns and ensure profitable ROI.

Conclusion

It’s easy to understand why location-based services are growing so rapidly. They’re good for sales and crucial for many levels of management, saving time and money. Unsurprisingly, the global industry of location-based services is booming, having crossed the USD 26 billion mark in 2023. More impressively still, this industry is likely to reach USD 129.71 billion by 2023, growing at a robust CAGR of 19.5%. 

So, there’s no doubt that geotargeting is exceptionally important for businesses of any type (whether a manufacturing firm or a marketing agency). Hopeful you’ve found this article useful. Let us know if there are any queries through the comment section. Thank you for reading.

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