For years, marketing agencies have used many methods to track consumers in order to increase the likelihood of reaching them. From the very basic – yet still in existence – use of postal change-of-address records, to appending marketing lists for increased deliverability, to today’s use of big data to track consumers, technology is better enabling marketers to deliver more relevant messages at more opportune times.

The problem with most digital advertising is that it is reliant on targeting individuals through tracking their online browsing behavior. It’s only when consumers start researching vehicles or show “in the market” behavior that dealers and third-party websites are able to start the process of targeting them. If the customer visits multiple sites, all of a sudden they are being targeted by all of those sites and dealers. The customer can easily be overwhelmed by the myriad of messages they receive.

What if I told you that you could identify in-market customers before they even give an indication through online research? Being the first company to gain the consumer’s attention will certainly give you an advantage over your competitors. Instead of the consumer being bombarded by multiple messages from multiple third parties and dealers, yours will be the only message they are exposed to.

We’re always looking for ways to increase effectiveness of marketing deliverability and conversion for our customers. A powerful method is through the use of IP matching. Think of these IP addresses as the physical addresses directly to your customer’s computers or mobile devices. In many cases, IP addresses can also provide physical addresses for the consumer.  Using this information, we can now take customer data, such as a physical address, and match it to their home IP Address to serve targeted digital ads. This will allow you to deliver your message straight to your targeted individual’s computer and mobile device prior to them displaying any behavior online that would initiate marketing efforts.

Your DMS is your most valuable asset and most dealers are not using it in digital advertising. IP matching can effectively deliver your message to every one of your targeted customers in which an IP match is found. In many cases, it can also identify a customer’s physical location, which can better assist your business at tailoring your message through geo-location. It can also provide you with the ability to reach your customers through multiple marketing mediums by giving you information that you may not have in your DMS. The fact remains that it’s only been a few years since dealers realized the importance of collecting e-mail addresses from consumers. Even today, dealers are RDR’ing cars with fake e-mail addresses. This, of course, means that they do not have them to use in their marketing efforts when it comes time to do so. IP matching allows you to take your entire DMS and fill in the blanks.  

Just like the car business, marketing is a numbers game. Data analytics and segmentation will increase the relevance of your message and allow you to improve conversion rates. Combine that targeted marketing message with increased deliverability using a multi-channel approach, and now you’re not only sending the right message, you’re ensuring that the customers receive it everywhere – through phone, mail, e-mail, and digital ads. The elimination of virtual “return to senders,” expired cookies, and wasted impressions will result in an increased return on your marketing investment.