Location & Audience Targeting

Target by Audience

This method reaches devices based on their historic, real-world past visitation habits (e.g., targeting frequent gym-goers or coffee shop visitors). Start typing keywords into the search bar or select Browse Audience Library to choose from three distinct data tiers:

• Predictive Audiences: Powered by ZeroToOne.AI utilizing a Location Behavior Model (LBM). These segments identify what a consumer is highly likely to do next—and when—with over 90% predictive accuracy. [Read more about Predictive Audiences]

• Deterministic Audiences: GroundTruth’s first-party audience segments built entirely on verified, historic, real-world past visitation data.

• Premium Audiences: Verified third-party data segments provided by Datonics. These fill structural gaps between predictive and deterministic pools and carry a flatrate $1.50 CPM upcharge regardless of the number of audiences targeted. [Read more about Premium Audiences]

  

Target Neighborhoods

This proprietary technology builds a physical lookalike audience for a specific retail footprint. It serves ads to devices currently located in nearby geographic trade areas that demonstrate a high visitation frequency to specific stores or verticals.

Setup: Search and select from pre-existing brands and business categories, or build a Custom Location Group based on your own uploaded list of locations. [Read more about Neighborhoods]

Target On-Premise

Note: This targeting method is only available for the Mobile channel environment.

This real-time configuration instantly delivers ads to users currently standing inside a physical store, sitting in its parking lot, walking the retail block, or moving within a tight radial distance.

Setup: Search pre-existing brands/categories or select a Custom Location Group. Use the location dropdown menu to enforce your real-time boundaries:

• In Store: Targets users strictly inside the physical building walls.
• On Lot: Targets users inside the building or within its immediate parking lot perimeter.
• Retail Block: Expands targeting to encompass the entire structural retail block.
• Radial: Targets users within a specific custom radial proximity around the property.

Retargeting Framework Overview

Within the Location & Audience Targeting step, you can optionally enable Retargeting. When enabled, Ads Manager automatically creates a separate secondary ad group designed to re-engage consumers who were exposed to your primary ad creative (impression-based retargeting).

👉 For step-by-step instructions and start-date logic, see [Retargeting Ad Group Framework]

Key Setup Essentials

• Automatic Creation: The retargeting ad group generates automatically once both your Retargeting selection and Budget & Schedule steps are saved.
• Budget Allocation: Budget is capped at 20% of your primary ad group’s total budget and added to your overall campaign total (it is not deducted from your primary ad group). Note: In order to support the 20% budget allocation, your primary ad group must have at least a $40 minimum total budget to enable this feature.
• Flight Timing: To allow time to build an initial audience pool, the retargeting ad group automatically defaults to start 14 days after your primary ad group launches.
• Defaults & Inheritance: The retargeting ad group defaults to Mobile and runs Nationwide against unique devices that saw your primary ads.

Additional Optional Overlays

Demographics

You can refine your targeting parameters by toggling on Demographics and filtering across four primary criteria:

• Genders: All | Male | Female | Unknown
• Age Ranges: All | 18–24 | 25–34 | 35–44 | 45–54 | 55–64 | 65+ | Unknown
• Household Income ($): All | Under $50k | $50k–$100k | $100k–$150k | $150k–$200k | $200k+
• Alcohol Age Verification: Deliver ads strictly to ages 21+

Exclude Audience

Under Hide Advanced Options at the bottom of the builder page, there is an option to Exclude audiences, allowing you to negatively target specific cohorts you do not want to see your ad.

Troubleshooting & FAQs

1. Is geofencing and geotargeting the same thing?
   Yes, conceptually. However, to remain inclusive and accurately cover both real-time proximity and historical intent, the GroundTruth Ads Manager platform refers to this tactic collectively as Location Targeting.
2. Where do I configure my Retargeting windows and specific rules?
   The retargeting ad group automatically builds once the toggle is enabled. You’ll see it created directly on your campaign dashboard and will have the opportunity to click back into it to adjust individual parameters before launching.
3. What happens if I don't select any of the optional targeting methods?
   If you leave the optional targeting methods blank, the ad group will run as a Pure Geographic campaign. Your ads will be delivered to anyone who enters or is within your defined Target Locations boundary, without filtering for specific behaviors, lookalikes, or real-time proximity.
4. Why can’t I select both "Target by Audience" and "Target On-Premise" in the same ad group?
   These methods use fundamentally different delivery logic. Target by Audience relies on behavioral profiles layered over an area, whereas Target On-Premise looks for real-time mobile signals in a live physical area. To use both strategies, create your initial ad group with one method, then clone it to a new ad group at the end of the setup flow to apply the other.
5. Can I upload custom latitude and longitude coordinates in bulk for location targeting?
   Yes. By using the Upload in Bulk option, you can download our standard CSV template, fill out a mass list of specific Lat/Long coordinates or street addresses, and upload them all at once to generate your target locations instantly.
6. What does the "Unknown" category mean under Genders and Age Ranges?
   The "Unknown" designation includes users whose demographic data cannot be verified with absolute certainty by our partner/provider networks.
   • Best Practice: If you filter by a specific demographic group (e.g., Female), it is highly recommended to keep "Unknown" checked as well so you don't inadvertently block a vast pool of potential inventory.
7. Does enabling Retargeting automatically double my campaign spending?
   No. The system protects your budget by enforcing a built-in 20% budget cap protection on the newly generated retargeting ad group. This means it automatically carves out a small fraction of your primary ad group's spend rather than executing an entirely separate, uncapped budget request.