---
id: "action-incorporate-competitor-locations"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ A New Strategy for Location Targeting", "¶18"]
tags: ["data-operations", "targeting-setup"]
related: ["concept-relative-proximity", "framework-four-step-spatial-strategy"]
action: "Overlay competitor store locations onto targeting maps to prioritize areas where you are the closer option."
outcome: "Improves targeting efficiency more than any refinement to the radius itself by eliminating spend on customers closer to rivals."
speakers: ["Bowen Luo", "Bhoomija Ranjan"]
sources: ["tail1"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail1"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tail-115-location-based-advertising"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/03/a-better-strategy-for-location-based-advertising"
sourceTitle: "A Better Strategy for Location-Based Advertising"
---
# Overlay Competitor Locations

**Action:** Overlay competitor store locations onto your targeting maps and prioritize the areas where **you are the closer option**.

**Outcome:** Improves targeting efficiency **more than any refinement to the radius itself**, by eliminating spend on customers who are closer to rivals.

## How to execute
This is a **straightforward data exercise most ad-ops teams can do today** using existing GIS or mapping tools. Identify the geographic boundaries where your store is closer than the competitor's, then **manually adjust geofences to exclude low-probability conversion zones** — even if they fall inside your traditional radius. This is **Step 1** of [[framework-four-step-spatial-strategy]] and the operational form of [[concept-relative-proximity]].