Online and offline data are inherently different.
Online, your basic demographics and interests are extrapolated from single-variable touchpoints – a user profile, a purchase, a web search, a site visit, etc.
In offline-based marketing, your profile is defined as a result of data collected from multiple empirical sources that identify you by address, affluence, voter registration, ethnic profile, auto and home transaction history, and more.
For example: if we were putting together a campaign for a $1000 riding lawn mower, we could check our offline data for prospects who own a home and have at least an acre. We would also limit the field to households with high enough discretionary income to afford this particular lawn mower, and to households within 10-15 miles of the home improvement store.
Online, this situation would profile differently. An advertiser’s option would be to select from multiple segments of people tagged as DIY home owners, people with interests in lawn care, and people who may have bought lawn items before. Segment targeting would be narrowed to the zip code. Note that there is likely to be inter-segment duplication of anonymous cookies that can’t be identified.
Exclusively using online tactics also limits unique user reach. In most cases, the match rates for one-to-one cookie onboarding are between 30% and 50%. This is fine for some campaigns, but it will depress results for consumer and business markets where (by definition) only a third of a trade area is covered.
In an ideal world, the goal would be to combine the best of both efforts. Traditional methods can create an audience base, and offline data-enhanced profiles can be onboarded to provide audience extension through IP targeting.
Through our patented process known as Smart Zone-IP Targeting, we provide advertisers with household-level mapping by demographics and rooftop location to 249 million people and 18 million businesses associated with over 750+ variables. We can extend current audiences and support reach with nearly 100% match rates and no device or household duplication.
Learn more by downloading our Smart Zones product overview.