Tuesday Morning Insurance Tidbit - Marvelous Marketing Magic

[InsuranceMan]

Happy Tuesday Morning to All!!!

 

     I have something very special on tap for you today in this installment of the TMIT.  You have probably heard the old adage of, “Use your powers for good, not evil.”, right?!?!?!  Well dear reader, I am always using my superpowers for good.  As you also know, I am always looking for new ways to assist you here on the forums.  Whether it is by improving your insurance options, coverage’s, or carriers, or offering referrals to great cooperage's, TTB experts, or whatever …  I have a very cool offering for those of you out there that are looking to market your products but are wondering how in the world to effectively get your message out without breaking the “marketing bank”.  I have a solution for you!!!

     I, InsuranceMan 2.0!!! have been working with and I have partnered with a media company that has one of the coolest offerings that I have come across in a while and I want to share it with you here.  Let me paint a picture for you, shall I?

                                        Imagine that you have a wonderful lineup of products, which I am sure that you do.  Imagine wanting to get your products

                                        in front of consumers, but not just any consumers, targeted consumers that are looking for alcoholic beverages.  Consumers

                                        that are wanting to buy alcohol, ones that are on their way into a local liquor store even, with the intent to buy product.  Why

                                        not increase your chances that they will possibly purchase your product?  But how?!?!?  Maybe on their drive to the store they

                                        may think of your product?  But how?!?!  A billboard outside of the most popular beverage store in your city or town?  NO!!! That

                                        would be expensive, and who even really pays attention to those things anyway?  OOOOooooo …  How about a radio ad touting

                                        your new products?  Nah, that would require it to play on one of dozens of stations at the right time so that the consumer would

                                        hear it as they are pulling into the store.  The chances of that are slim to none, and radio spots can be pretty spendy if you are going

                                        to deliver a consistent message (at least 7 times a day according to marketing experts) that people are likely to hear.  UGH!!!!  What are

                                        you going to do?!?!?!

     Well my friends, what if I told you that you could effectively get your message directly delivered into the hands of someone walking into a liquor store.  You would say something like, “Yeah sure, Insurance Man 2.0!!!, you are a superhero and all, but you’re not a warlock or a wizard.  That is simply impossible!”  Oh really!?!?!  What if I retorted back to you, “HA!  I can make it happen … so THERE!”  You probably still would not believe me, it just sounds too good to be true.  WELL, TRUE IT IS!!!

     There is an incredibly cool ability in this day and age of technology called “GeoMarketing” or “GeoTargeting” (I will refer to this henceforth as “Geo-ing”), have you heard of it?  Not to get you to “into the weeds” here, but did you know that you can literally  electronically “fence” an area (let’s say a Bevmo, Total Wine, or little local type store) so that when anyone crosses into the fenced area an advertisement, YOUR ADVERTISEMENT, pops up on their smartphone screen?  WHAT?!?!?  Seriously?!?!!  NO WAY!!!!  Yes way, dear reader.  Your ad delivered directly into the hands of a ready to buy alcohol consumer that features your product.  Maybe it is a picture of your new bottle with a catchy little saying like, “Hey, I see you are at the liquor store.  Our product is the best thing in here.  Better grab a bottle!”  That makes an impact that you cannot get anywhere else.

     Have you ever had this happen?  Have you ever gone into a store looking for something and looked at your phone and found an ad that alerts you to a sale going on or a featured product that the store just so happens to carry?  Yep, we have all had this happen to us and wondered, “What in the heck, how do they know I am here?”  That is the power of Geo-ing!  See, other people are doing it, and the craziest thing is, you can Geo any place you like.  Crazy, right?!?!  You could Geo a local bar that has your product and deliver an ad that says, “I see you are at Jakes.  Why not order a ‘your product name here’ on the rocks?  You deserve it!”  We can make that happen.

     I have a client that we piloted this for to see how it would work and he was amazed.  He had just opened a tasting room at his location but did not know how he was going to get the word out.  He thought about maybe a face-place post, but really that was only going to reach people that already knew it was coming that “liked” his page.  That was not going to do it.  Ads???  We covered that above.  Something in the paper?  Again, spendy and it only has a one day impact and who is really looking???

     So, what was the answer?  Geo-ing a couple of nearby liquor stores and several bars so that anyone going in and out of those places that were near by had an ad delivered to them letting them know when the tasting room would be opening.  Heck, those folks were in the neighborhood anyway, and obviously they were thirsty, so it seemed like a prefect match for what he was wanting to do.  He opened a few weeks later to a giant crowd and has been very busy and happy ever since.

     I know, it sounds too good to be real, but I assure you, it is real, and it is going on all around you.  I know, you are probably also thinking, “Well, just because they are delivered my ad, that does not mean they are going to buy my stuff on that visit.”  That is a very real possibility, but do you want to know another crazy aspect of all of this???  Well I am going to tell you.  Once this consumer has your ad delivered on their smartphone, it is going to popup on their home computer/laptop, tablet, and even their spouse/significant others devices as well!!!!  W H A T ? ! ? ! ? !

     When that person gets home and connects to their WiFi, the WiFi who’s IP address is associated with all the other devices in the home, the ad will be populated on their other devices.  Whoa … slow done here a bit, right?  Through the associated IP address and probabilistic matching and forecasting, the Geo-ing software knows what devices are associated with the original device and it effectively delivers the ad to all of them.

     You know you have seen this.  Again, you strolled into a store and came to find out that you had an ad popup touting something-or-another.  Maybe you didn’t pay attention to it at the time, but then you got home and hopped on face-place and were mindlessly scrolling about, and there, in the middle of the feed showing you who is traveling where, and what your friend had for dinner, there it is!  That same ad that you saw before!!!  Or a different ad for the same product.  It is like it is following you around, just trying to implant itself into your subconscious.  That is because it is.  People are always saying things like, “I was just talking about this to someone the other day and it’s like my phone heard me talking about it because now I am seeing it everywhere online.”  Wrong.  Your phone did not hear you, you did it to yourself.  You may have been at home on your laptop before bed and looked something up that you had been thinking about.  Then the next day you had spoken to your friend about it, and then later, at work, it was on your phone or work computer.  Again, probabilistic matching.  Your Wifi at home has linked your laptop and phone.  Once you got to work and logged on, your work WiFi associated the devices on that network, one of which is your phone, and because your phone was associated at home, and now at work, they gotcha and they deliver the ad to your work computer as well.

     I know, it is a lot to take in for sure, but you know it works because you have seen it.  Although a search for something that is following you from place to place is slightly different than Geo-ing, the effect is the same.  Instead of searching for something, you walked into a place, were delivered the ad, and now the same process essentially kicks in.  WILD!!!

     These ads popup in searches, in apps, when you are playing games, in websites, everywhere.  “OK, OK, InsuranceMan 2.0!!!, we get it … and we want it, but this sounds dang expensive!  Targeting a perfect audience with a perfect ad when they are ready to purchase (because who walks into a liquor store or bar to window shop) has to cost a ton!”  Again, sorry dear ADI Forum goer, that is incorrect.  This marketing company can effectively deliver a minimum of 30,000 ads in a 30-day period for $650.  $650????  Yes, $650.

     I have gone on long enough about this, but I could talk about it all day because it fascinates me, and that is why I have become involved in the process.  Call it a side hobby, call it a new fascination … call it whatever you want, but if you are interested in learning more about this (like the fact that it can actually track how many people have seen it, click-thru rates, and even store/tasting room visits from people that were delivered your ad), just let me know.  You know how to get in touch with me.  Flash the InsuranceMan 2.0!!! beacon against the night sky or give me a call or shoot me an email.  Until next time dear reader …

 

Stay Vigilant,

Aaron Linden

a.k.a. InsuranceMan 2.0!!!

307-752-5961

aaron@roaringforkins.com                   or                insuranceman2.0@yahoo.com