Waze Local Advertising – Info Guide Before You Commit

Waze Local Map Mockup

Waze Local Advertising – Info Guide Before You Commit

The all you need guide to pitch Waze Local to your team.

This guide takes a look at the different options available and demonstrates the main three types of ad formats available. Whilst this blog does not tell you how to set-up Waze Local – this should get you started.


What is Waze Local?

If you find yourself driving in the city or are often stuck in traffic on the M1, many of you will have probably come across Waze and/or use it daily.

With over 90 million drivers using the app, and with it being owned by Google, it’s not surprising that Waze have capitalised on this and allowed brands to advertise their businesses on the map.

The great thing about Waze Local is whilst big brands such as BP are advertising their garages on the map, not many small and local businesses are – making it the perfect opportunity to fill in a gap before your competitors get the memo.


Getting Started

Getting started is really easy, you just need to fill in a few company details and your daily budget. There is a minimum budget of $60 USD a month, which is equivalent to $2 a day. Depending on how many drivers go past your business and how many other businesses are bidding near will determine your bid amount. If you have a small budget, we would start small and work your way up if you get results.

Despite the layout and options being very similar to other PPC platforms, I’ve found it’s not the easiest thing to get your head around – so you may be visiting the help pages for the first couple of weeks.

Luckily, I’ve gone through them all already – so if you’re looking for set up or ongoing management of your Waze Local account, then get in touch.


Budgets

As I mentioned above, the minimum spend is $2 a day, that’s $60 a month if your targeting your adverts 7 days a week – this is reduced if you only target during your opening times.

Zero Speed Takeovers (see more about them below) are only available for businesses investing $3,000 a month Waze – which is why we’ve only seen large corporates such as BP make use of them. We’ve found that if you start low and then work your way up as you see engagement and results. Remember, don’t be afraid to ask people where they heard about you – or if they saw your logo on Waze!


Ad Formats

Branded Pins

Branded pins act like a store sign on the map – your logo can show up in the map view when a driver is passing.

When a driver taps a pin, they can catch your business information, make a call directly from the app and add it as an additional stop to their journey.

Promoted Search

Promoted search is very similar to more traditional methods we use –  however, it only appears when a user is typing in your business name. Instead of the usual text result, you get a branded, highlighted, search result.

Promoted search is part of Branded pins, so you don’t pay for search impressions – win!

Zero-Speed Takeover

This is a great feature that many petrol stations make use of on the motorways and in towns. When a vehicle is at a complete stop, what Waze call a “Digital Billboard”, and what we call, “a pop-up”, appears.

What’s different about these is that it’s not just about asking the user to “Drive To” your business, but your call to action options include, “Save Coupon”, “Download App” and “Save for Later”.


Starter Vs Plus

If you’ve jumped straight to this section, there are some important differences between Starter and Plus.

StarterPlus
$2 a day minimum$100 a day minimum
Pins & SearchPins, Search, Zero-Speed Takeover & More
Geographic TargetingGeographic & Time Scheduling
Self-Service (or we can manage it for you!)Dedicated Account Manager (and we can still manage it for you!)
Credit Card Billing OnlyCredit Card & Invoice Billing

Waze for Brands

If you find yourself spending a minimum of $15,000 a month on Waze, then Waze for Brands is for you. This is an enterprise level solution that is perfect for businesses with a national footprint.

Also, if you have a real big budget, you can even sponsor a custom car and custom voice.

Find out more about Waze for Brands.


Case Studies

Waze offers some insightful detail about when drivers are on the road, and the places they are going.

Waze for Brands offers some case studies which also covers aspects of Waze Local too. Sadly, most of them are American based – so us British drivers might react differently to adverts.

McDonald’s – The fast food company made use of A/B testing to ensure continued success.

Adidas“Ads on Waze have the power to literally drive consumers to offline stores”. Adidas mapped 59 of their stores across Brazil, and added in a 20% off coupon code too – allowing for conversion tracking – and an immediate benefit for the customer too.

Kia – Search Engine Land Case Study – Waze Local is attributed to a 57% increase in leads, which equates to 360 new customers in a quarter. “[…] most of the ad creatives included incentives such as free coffee or popcorn. He also said that of the various Waze Local units, search ads generated the most clicks”.  


Agency Management

If you’re struggling with setting up your account, or can’t make head to tail of the metrics – then get in touch with CS One.

We plan, strategize and deliver digital marketing campaigns every minute of the day – and we’re really enjoying get our teeth into Waze Local and Waze for Brands campaigns.

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