Owners of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) will now be able to drive in-store traffic and increase awareness of their store locations with the launch of the new ad program called Waze Local.

This ad program is similar to seeing physical billboards on the road where the targeted advertisements on the Waze map informing drivers about nearby business and offers.

These advertisements are integrated into the map and navigation experience, allowing for geographic targeting and the ability for businesses to reach out to more customers by selecting peak traffic hours.

In addition, Waze facilitate businesses to track the number of potential customers who have engaged with the advertisements.

It also provides quantifiable marketing metrics for local businesses, which regularly face challenges in increasing location awareness and driving in-store traffic.

Waze in a press statement claimed that out-of-home advertising grants brands to reach people who are on the move, but it has historically lacked the ability to target and optimize based on consumer behavior.

“Waze Local not only help local businesses bridge their mobile experiences and real-world marketing and decision making, but also drive customers straight to their front doors,” said Waze.

By using Waze Local, advertisements appear on the Waze app in three different formats namely ‘Promoted Search’, ‘Branded Pin’, and ‘Zero- Speed Takeover’.

The which are ‘Promoted Search’, is when business will be given priority rankings in drivers’ search results, while the ‘Branded Pin’ function raises driver awareness of nearby stores.

Last but not least, ‘Zero-speed Takeover’ helps to drive in-store navigations to businesses by showing Waze users an advertisement when they are in stationary mode, for instance, when they are at a complete stop for more than 3 seconds.

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