The number of mobile advertising campaigns from national brand advertisers that leveraged geo-precise targeting saw a significant spike from the first quarter of 2012 to the same time period in 2013, according to a new report from xAd.

According to xAd?s ?Mobile-Location Insights ? Q1 2013? report, 58 percent of brand advertisers on the company?s network used geo-precise targeting in the first-quarter of 2013 compared to 27 percent one year earlier. The report points to a growing interest from marketers to hone in on location as one part of creating more contextually-relevant mobile advertising.

?I think for marketers what will be most surprising is the continued shift in targeting from standard geo-targeting techniques to more geo-precise techniques,? said Monica Ho, vice president of marketing at xAd, New York.

?I think a lot of marketers are still hesitant to try and really leverage the power of mobile-location on fear that this type of technique is complicated to set-up and doesn?t provide effective reach and scale,? she said.

?Over the last year there have been significant improvements in location-targeting technology that allows location-focused mobile providers to really reach and engage target audiences at a market level.?

Location, location, location
XAd?s report looks at trends on the company?s network from January ? March and also digs into some of the specific verticals that are using location-based advertising. 

Geo-precise campaigns include geo-fencing and geo-behavioral targeting.

As geo-precise tactics have grown in the past year, other tactics such as using a ZIP code, city or DMA decreased in use by marketers.

Sixty-four percent of advertisers on xAd?s network leveraged a standard geo during the first-quarter of 2012 compared to 40 percent during the same time period this year.

When it comes to verticals that are investing in location-based mobile advertising, financial services and insurance were the No. 1 category for the first-quarter of 2013.

Telecommunications and restaurants were the No. 2 and No. 3 most popular verticals, respectively.

Health and beauty and travel rounded out the top five of industries using mobile advertising.

The report also includes a look at a recently-launched Pinkberry ad from xAd.

The frozen yogurt chain used mobile advertising to drive foot traffic into stores to try a new greek yogurt product (see story).

Geo-fences were set within a one-mile radius around locations with two different offers for either $1 off or a buy one get one free coupon.

Two weeks into the campaign, the ad?s performance was double the client?s expected, per xAd.

The No. 1 city for mobile targeting on xAd?s platform is Houston, followed by Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami.

Las Vegas, San Antonio, Brooklyn, Dallas and Atlanta were also popular cities for advertisers to target mobile users.

?One key takeaway for marketers is that mobile technology available today allows them to target their audiences in ways that were never before possible in other mediums,? Ms. Ho said.

?But a word of caution to marketers ? behind the awesome potential of all of these new targeting methods lurks limitations that can come from targeting too granularly, meaning don?t limit your audience reach for the sake of just trying out the latest and greatest technology,? she said. ?It?s important for marketers to understand what is truly possible in mobile, and how targeting techniques can affect scale and reach in order to make more educated decisions.?

Advanced advertising
The report also looks at some of the company's findings at the end of last year.

XAd claims that the fourth-quarter of 2012 was the company?s strongest quarter for geo-precise targeting with 81 percent of campaigns using this type of targeting.

This is partly chalked up to holiday ad campaigns when bricks-and-mortar retailers and brands are particularly interested in luring consumers into stores for time-sensitive promotions.

During the fourth-quarter of 2012, 13 percent of campaigns used standard geo, and two percent of campaigns leveraged run-of-the-mill targeting.

According to xAd?s report, telecommunication was the top category for mobile advertising in 2012.

Financial services, travel, restaurants and retail rounded out the top five categories with home services and automotive as other popular verticals.

?I think over the next year we are going to see two things,? Ms. Ho said. ?One ? better transparency and measurement on the impact of mobile advertising not just in the moment, but its impact on the overall reach and effectiveness of other media as well as online and offline conversions. 

Second, I think we will see additional advancements in technology that allow marketers to target consumers in-store based on the actual aisle or department they are browsing,? she said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York