Marketing with IP addresses is one of the most important things any company can do. Not only does it give you a chance to advertise and connect directly with the users of a household, but it ensures you’re collecting and using information correctly.
Unfortunately, doing a poor job of this means you’re using the information incorrectly and possibly skewing it in ways you didn’t realize.
These are three common mistakes companies make when marketing with IP addresses and what they mean for your business.
One IP Doesn’t Mean One User
Just because you do an IP address lookup doesn’t mean you’re learning precise information about the person whose IP address you’re looking at. Multiple systems like ISPs and VPNs can all be interconnected, allowing users to share a single IP address.
If a couple shares a VPN, their devices are going to show up as the same one on their ISP, which is useful to them but complicated for tracking. It’s also difficult for those using public Wi-fi since it’s harder to separate who’s who.
Device Fingerprinting Matters
If you ignore device fingerprinting, you’re making a huge mistake. There are over 200 million unique user agents, but collisions can and will occur at single IPs. For instance, if two users with an iPhone get online, it can complicate who you’re communicating with.
Being able to tell which is which by country codes, times they’re online, or simple Javascript adjustments can save everyone a lot of trouble. Although there’s no way to make marketing with IP addresses trouble-free, they shouldn’t be this much of a headache.
Forgetting How Much Work From Home
As of late 2022, over a quarter of Americans work from their home. If they don’t use a VPN, then full families or neighborhoods can seem to come out of the same IP address since they rarely use their business information when logging into social networks.
This means you could be thinking you’re gathering leads, but instead, you’re wasting time and money on a company since business-to-business advertising isn’t as effective as advertising directly to consumers.
You want to get real people who use social media and would possibly purchase your product.
Is Marketing With IP Addresses Worth it?
It’s absolutely worth it! Using IP addresses allows you to accurately advertise specifically to the people that would be the most interested. This gives them a chance to click back through and close the sale. Although there are plenty of pitfalls, people are more likely to buy when it’s from a company they recognize.
This helps if they visit your site multiple times or they interact with your company on social media. You get to target them specifically. If you ignore this warning about the common mistakes made, you could be targeting the rest of their loved ones as well, wasting your company’s budget.
IP Addresses Are Useful When Used Correctly
IP addresses are one of the best modern tools for individuals and corporations alike, yet so many don’t truly understand what they do. If you’re working on a marketing plan with your company: remember these mistakes.
