This is the technique that two of the fastest growing companies in surveillance use, but most incumbents miss.
It offers incredible low cost plus high quality targeting that no other historical option has ever provided.
Indeed, IPVM has been using it as well to drive many new members and radically increasing our brand awareness to more than 10,000+ surveillance professionals for just hundreds of dollars.
Inside, our 11 minute video screencast and explanation will let help integrators, distributors and manufacturers, to take advantage of this immediately.
*** ********* ** ***********. *** **** than **% ** ***** ************ ************* we ******** *** *** *****. ****, many *** ***** ***** ** **.
Retargeting ***
*********** ***** ************** ** ****** *** have ******* **** ******* ** ***** websites. ******* ***********, *** *** ****** tailor *** *** ** ***** **** those ******** ****** ** **** ****. For *******, **** *** ***** ******** on ***** **** ***.*** *** ***.*** to ******** *** ****** ** ***** on ***'* **** ***** ********.
**** ** **** * *** *** look ****. *****, **** ** *** NFL.com:
*** ****'* ******* ** *** ***.***:
*** **** ** *** ***.***:
Retargeting *********
****** ***** ** ***** *** ***** 3 ******* ** **** ** ****** explanation ***** ** *** * ***** of *** ** *** ***********:
**, *** ***** ** * ***** at *** *** ** *** ***** above *** ***** ** *** ********** in *********** ** ******* *** ********.
Everyone ****** ** **
****** *** ***** ******** ** ******** or ************, **** ***** *********** ** independent *********** ****** *** ***********.
***** ** ***, ** ** ********** inexpensive. ***'* *** *** **** **** 1,000 ****** **** ** **** **** each *****. *** *** **** ** average ** ** *** ** **** person, ******** **,*** ***********, *** **** $50 *** *****. $** ** ***** to * **** ** **** ** most ************'* **** ** **'* ** expense **** ** **** ** ****.
********, *** ******** * *** **** awareness. **** ***** *** *** ** mind ** ***** ******, ******* ****** to ***** ****, ***** ******** ***, or **** **** **** **** ** your ****. ****, *** *** ***** them ******* ********** ** **** ***** what *** *** *****. *** *******, we **** *** ** ***** * dozen ****** **** ** *** *** know ******* *** *** ** ************** with **. *********, ***** *** *** or **** ****** **** *** **** impact **** ** **** *** ************.
98% **** ********* **** ***** ****
** *** ****, ********* *** '****' option *** ***** ********* **** ******* ~$5,000 *** * * **** ** with * *********** ** ~**,*** ******. With ***********, **** **** $*,*** ******** 2.5 ******* ** *********** (******** ** 30,000 ******) ***, **** ** * conservative/low *.*% ***** ******* ****, *,*** visitors ** ***'* ****. ****, *** can ***** ** *** ******* ****** and ** ** ************* ******.
Limits - ******* ******** ** *** ***** *****
*** **** ********** ** *********** ** that *** ***** ** **** ******** to ***** ******* ** *** ***** place. ** ** ***** ********** ********* from **** *** **** *** ******* people *** ** *** **** ** never **** ** ***'* ****.
*******, ******** (***, ********, **** *** surveillance), ******** *** ******* *** ********** options *** ******** ***'* ********* ** new ******. **** ** **** ** a ***** ****.
Update **** - ********* ** ********* **
**** *** **** *** *****, *********** has ****** **** ****** *** ** has **** ******* ***** **** **. Advertising **** *** ********** **** *********** can ***** ***** ******* ******* ******* by ****** ** *** *** *** following *** ****** ****** ******** ***** on *** ********. ***** **** *** be **** *** ******* ***** **** revenue, ** ***** ***** **** ****** to ** ****** ***, ********** ***** increasing ******* ********.
This is a great post; unfortunately many who make budget decisions for marketing/advertising in the security industry are old timers who are unwilling to move from paper to digital advertising. They still feel that cold-calling businesses is the best way to get business.
Signed,
A frustrated young person in the security industry
"old timers who are unwilling to move from paper to digital advertising"
Part of it, I suspect, is not having credible alternatives online. That was certainly the issue for me historically. We just refrained advertising at all because print was obviously very expensive with low return and online did not seem to present any reasonable options.
I think showing them newer online options will help convince others.
A lot of these things literally were not possible even a few years ago - retargeting and social media advertising are new within the last 3 to 5 years.
John, that is great stuff - thanks.
I particularly appreciate your transparency showing how you use these tools in your own marketing efforts. I hear so often from small to medium sized businesses - whether integrator or Tier 2 manufacturer that they just don't have the budget to create the marketing footprint in order to generate opportunities and compete with the "big boys". Yes scale does have advantages (and can cover many weaknesses) - yet the gap is certainly decreasing with disruptive business tools such as these...enabling the smart and effective business leaders to win more frequently - regardless of size.
I guess the question I would follow up with is....best and most cost effective ways/ideas to get folks to the site to begin with - and how do you measure that?
"best and most cost effective ways/ideas to get folks to the site to begin with - and how do you measure that?"
Good question and we are going to do another post on that.
I am not going to suggest content marketing / blogging, only because lots of tried it and most have given up pretty quickly as they realize it is time consuming / expensive to produce real content.
Getting people on an email list is key. Every good online marketer agrees with that. For the people who come to the site, make a prominent offer ('free book', 'free report', 'free guide', etc.) to get emails so you can reach out later.
I do think twitter and linkedin are increasingly viable and important ways to outreach to new people. See the second half of the video above.
We'll definitely do another post but if anyone has more feedback or ideas, please share them here.
Cost per impression using this marketing style is insanely lower than anything in print for sure.
But what about the reverse-effect of hammering people with your ads after they've seen your site and chosen a different solution? Or maybe they use your site already and don't want to see your repeated ads?
I travel a lot and my browser is full of ads from the very companies I already use... up to 4 different ads from the same company on ONE page!
Imagine if a door to door sales person stopped by and tried to hawk their wares at your house? You listen (maybe) then politely decline....
...and every day for the next year they leave door hanger marketing materials on your screen door.
Re-targeting can have this same effect.
Marty,
The risk of over bombarding people can be controlled.
Dropcam, for instance, is really on the extreme end of that scale. I notice at least 10 Dropcam ads every day and frequently it's a double whammy of top and side ads on the same page. They must have explicitly decided to take that approach.
Honestly, I think a lot of marketers will say, "Screw you, this works."
That said, I am with you about that risk. Our rate of display is far less than Dropcam. Plus, we only tag visitors if they are (1) not signed in and (2) the IP address one is visiting from has no record of logging in. This helps to stop marketing existing members.
..and every day for the next year they leave door hanger marketing materials on your screen door.
True that! I looked at buying a hand held Flir camera over a week's time, soon Flir ads were on every other page it seemed! I bought the camera and stopped searching for Flir and insolently the ads only seemed to show up more frequently. Almost out of desperation it seemed, as if they sensed they were losing me.
There was no reasoning with them either. I went so far as was to heard to exclaim: "If I get even one more Flirking ad, I'm returning the thing just so I can tell them why". Of course this only enraged the pesky promos and soon the 'Flir was flying' all over the place. I finally regained control, but only after 'bouncing my IP' and 'tossing my cookies', followed by a regulation three-fingered salute.
My thought was they need a button to say 'Treat me like I haven't been to your site recently". Funny thing is that once they were gone I realized that, WTF! its always one ad or another, and its not like I want more variety in my ads, ya know? So I went back to flir.com, just once, and now the 'Flir is flying' again...
@John, like you I also was targeted by Avigilon for a while but they slowly went away even though I still went to their site... and then one company in my case (Flir) end up dominating my screen. Is it because they would pay more than Avigilon?
Also, what exactly were you planning on doing with that 35mm to C-mount adapter?...:)
Rukmini,
I do think adding a 'do not show' / 'stop' button on each ad would be mutually beneficial for advertiser and user. This way, it would reduce the nuisance factor and would save advertiser money. Though, the reality is those ads are so cheap, even if FLIR shows you 100 of them, that's like a quarter....
Most of these ads are done via auction, so bidding is certainly one factor. There are also differences in display networks, etc. I am not an expert here so I am not sure what all factors impact ads on varying sites.
As for the 35mm to C-mount, we had talked about taking a conventional camera and testing it with a 'real' photography lens.
I can remember when the only solution was $20,000 number one spot in the Yellow Pages. We also did well being one of the first to use Google add words spending around $500 a month. My advise is get in early because the bidding rate will rise quite quickly.
Is it possible to Geo tag the advertisments John.
PS sorry my VPN stuffs up the adverts but it certainaly got you the sale.
James, good question about geographic targeting. Yes, you absolutely can. We don't because of the nature of our site / business. But you can very much run different campaigns for different locations or only run them in certain locations. For instance, let's say you are a Tampa integrator, you can limit your ads to Central Florida or just Tampa metro, etc.
Here's an example of geographic targeting options:
I don't think the bidding rate will rise that much because it's not limited to people who search for a specific term (like 'video surveillance', e.g.), it's open to anyone who visits your site. As more retarget in a certain sector, there will be more competition and higher prices, but the 'inventory' available is immense as it crosses hundreds of thousands of sites who have display ad space.
Here's a really interesting new feature, just announced today, that would address how to reach out to people even if they did not visit your site. It's from the retargeting service we use, Perfect Audience.
Watch the short video:
While this is not something we would do, this makes a lot of sense for manufacturers and their dealers or manufacturers who partner together. This way, they could 'pool' their visitors and market to all of them.
I was just on YouTube and here are ads from IPVM and FLIR (thermography) side by side:
Not too bad! Do you only do Woody or others?
ok try and tackle this on for size, my brothers-inlaw does Yule Brenner impersoning the former princess of Wales. you can really hear them both, at the same time! he calls it 'the king and di" good luck!
Although Ari coyly didn't weigh in on this one, I believe B&H can be counted among the targeted adopters with their progressive and thoughtful abandoned e-cart strategy. I looked at the B&H page for this 'trail cam' once for six seconds yesterday and its been hot on my trail ever since, pushing aside the mighty and ubiquitous Flir for an insecure camera with an identity problem. I am going to keep a rough estimate of how many impressions I get and for how long...
I'd give you the direct link to B&H but I don't want waste your ad space.
I believe the term often used to describe what B&H is doing is dynamic product retargeting. My understanding is that they link their product database with the retargeting service such that it dynamically creates ads for each of the thousands / tens of thousands products B&H sells, based on what each visitor looked at, in your case the trail cam...
All opinions expressed here are my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. They're kind of strict on employees making statements on the company's behalf without permission.
Loved this post. Thanks IPVM!
great stalking tool; highly irritating to people trying to keep their browser cache no more of a threat cesspool than it already is. no, not irrelevant comment - we're in the security business here.
Rodney, I am pretty sure ad block plug-ins will stop retargeting ads so there is a straightforward solution to it.
