Remember last year when the hit musical “Hamilton” was being talked about everywhere you went? The hype has certainly died down, but if you listen closely enough, you can still hear the reverberations of the empowering, hip-hop inspired songs on TV talent shows, high school performances, and even blasting in the cars of the most unsuspecting individuals.
So, what does this all have to do with direct mail? It goes back to one of the more popular songs from “Hamilton,” where he talks about not throwing away his shot.
We’ve written about the benefits of direct mail, especially in an age where the average attention span is 8 seconds. Direct mail increases the odds of consumers viewing your advertisement more than one time, unlike most emails. It can also be tailored to certain geographic areas and contain variable data to help personalize your message even more. What if you could ensure that this one “shot” at marketing wasn’t thrown away and forgotten? The answer: by turning that one shot into many, of course! This can be accomplished with a new service called Targeted Display Ads, a revolutionary IP targeting service. Here’s how it can help:
Increases Visibility
Sometimes, direct mail just doesn’t come at the right moment: a customer may be on vacation, they may be more concerned about a bill in the mail than an advertisement, or they may just not be in the right mood. Unfortunately, there is nothing a business can do to control the moment that an individual receives mail. Controlling the amount of times that person sees an advertisement, however, is certainly possible.
IP targeting works by taking the physical address list of targeted prospects and using it to find the IP address associated with their mailing address. Doing so means that advertisements can start in the direct mail form, and then take on multiple touches through online advertisements on any device at that home. This allows an advertisement to gain traction over the course of a few weeks and target a customer during their leisure time, instead of relying on one view of a direct mail piece to be effective. This is exceptionally beneficial, considering it usually takes around six to eight touches to generate a sale.
Contract-Free
It’s rare that a business can try out a new form of advertising without being locked in. This discourages experimentation with different marketing channels, and it can create unneeded pressure and unrealistic expectations from the onset. A great benefit of IP targeting is that it is contract-free, which means that companies can use the service on a per-project basis without being locked in. This is especially useful for companies that regularly send direct mail, but want to go the extra mile for a big event or promotion.
Perfect Timing
Once a direct mail advertisement or email has been sent out, there is absolutely no way to alter the advertisement itself. When a business adds IP targeting into the mix, however, they have the opportunity to change online ads on the fly. Flexibility is an important asset to have, especially since it is often hard to predict which version of an online advertisement will perform the best. IP targeting allows us to monitor the performance of banners and videos and quickly change them in the event one is not doing as well as desired. This ability extends your “one shot” direct mail piece tenfold!
Sometimes, direct mail runs into unexpected delays. IP targeting can be a great backup plan for time-sensitive promotions. Depending on the circumstances, it may even end up being the redeeming factor – an expensive direct mail campaign that comes a few days late, for example, may render an entire promotion useless. Additionally, IP targeting has the ability to adjust when ads are displayed based on popular traffic times, or to correspond to days of the week that the direct mail piece will arrive.
Brings Clarity to Data
These days, companies are anything but starved of data. What matters more than having twenty spreadsheets on a screen, however, is what is going to be done with all of it. Yes, having increased traffic to a company’s website is good, but it means nothing if it isn’t converting to sales.
IP targeting puts that data to the test by providing a post-campaign match-back analysis, which focuses on actual sales made through the campaign, instead of just views. As a cookie-less form of advertising, the metrics aren’t skewed by bots. In turn, the behaviors of the contacts are clear and focused on how many of them made purchases during the time the ad was displayed. When conversion metrics are this clear, and not clouded by clicks and views from bots, click farms, and other false web visitors, it paints a better picture of exactly who the valuable contacts are. Even after the IP targeting campaign is over, the insight from the data can be extended into all other areas of marketing to help make better decisions based on customers with the greatest buying potential.
Don’t throw away your one direct mail shot! Learn more about Midwest Direct’s Targeted Display Ad solutions and how they can bring success to your next campaign or contact us to get started!
