Apple’s new privacy updates have already rocked the marketing and advertising world. Even the most prepared brands are feeling the pressure as cookies are becoming less and less reliable and third-party tracking is slowly going the way of the dinosaurs. (Okay, so that’s a little dramatic – but iOS 14 sucker-punched me and I’m still reeling from the impact). So, we all know that the digital landscape is changing, but what does iOS 14 mean for your offline channels? And how can marketers adapt to this new world without kissing ROI goodbye?
How to Prepare for iOS 14
iOS 14 is HERE, whether you’re ready or not. We put together this emergency preparedness checklist to help make sure you’re covering all your bases:
- Verify your domain and configure events in Facebook Business Manager (this is a must!)
- Set up Facebook Conversions API
- Strengthen your SEO + UX
- Shift budgets to experiential acquisition channels
- Build a strong 1st party data strategy
- Focus on your list building strategy
Focusing on these six things will set you up for success as your brand adjusts to the changes on the Facebook platform and to the shifting digital landscape as a whole.
How iOS 14 Impacts Offline Advertising
The biggest impact of iOS 14 is on paid social advertising, but that doesn’t mean that other marketing channels are immune. Fortunately, offline advertising is unlikely to see any significant impact from Apple’s new privacy updates. The benefit of offline ads is that they don’t rely on highly personalized targeting and attribution tracking. Your offline ads can continue to run without disruption in the wake of iOS 14. Can I get a hallelujah? 🙌
Offline advertising is extremely resilient when it comes to privacy changes. iOS 14 won’t be the last privacy update – we all know that. Investing in offline advertising now gives you a leg up to start testing and finding your customers before other brands make the pivot.
iOS 14 and Direct Mail Marketing
The days when we could spend 80-90% of our budgets on Facebook ads are gone. The brands that emerge as winners will be the brands that diversify their marketing mix. Direct mail offers a MAJOR opportunity to meaningfully connect with your audience (the RIGHT audience), while maintaining the high ROI you’ve been used to with digital advertising.
Other traditional offline media lets you reach a large audience without privacy concerns, but it doesn’t help you connect to only the people who already have an affinity for your brand. That’s where direct mail comes in! If you focus on building a solid foundation of first party data and growing your list, you can target your prospects with direct mail pieces that are highly personalized for them – even if you can’t serve them personalized digital ads. And your message won’t get in front of prospects who just aren’t the right fit for your brand.
You don’t need your Facebook pixel data to give your customers content that matches where they’re at in the buyers journey. As long as you have first party tracking set up on your website, you can leverage that data to serve your customers exactly the right message to book more meetings and close more deals.
How to Improve Returns with Experiential Direct Mail
Okay okay, so you might be thinking that even if you can get direct mail in front of the right people, that doesn’t mean it’s going to give you the ROI that you need. After all, we’ve all received a postcard with a penny taped to it one too many times. 😉 BUT, when you combine the highly targeted nature of direct mail with the engagement of experiential marketing, you get a one-two-punch that will improve your ROI and match the ethos of your brand.
Instead of sending traditional flat direct mail, experiential direct mail programs incorporate three dimensional packaging and gifting components to increase the engagement with the campaign. Consumers are much more likely to open a package than to review a postcard. By choosing a more experiential direct mail product, you will give your brand a better chance at creating the ah-ha moment you need to get the recipient to take your desired action. (I mean, everyone likes opening a gift, right?).
Best Practices to Improve ROI for Direct Mail:
Write a custom message to accompany the package to provide a more personalized experience for the recipient. At the end of the day, people want to know that you’re a human. When you send a more personalized note, it sends the message that you took the time to go the extra mile, and earning their business is important to you. And if you went the extra mile to earn my business, that tells me that you will work very hard to keep my business when I become a customer.
Get creative! Create custom packaging displaying your branding and messaging. Find a gift that is both unique and correlates back to the campaign messaging.
Target the right accounts. Account Based Marketing is all about focusing on the right accounts that have the highest close rates and the most proven success. It’s critical that you get your target list right. If you don’t know who your target accounts should be, team up with your executive team or sales leaders to better understand which accounts they have seen the most success with. Use this insight to create the target account criteria you can use to begin building your target list.
If you have the resources, we recommend validating the address of your recipients before shipping out the packages. With many people working from home, it can be difficult to know which address to send packages to. One way to identify the correct address is to ask the recipient directly. It can take a bit more time, but it will guarantee the package will get to the right place. Brands that use validated addresses see a 2x higher response rate than brands that don’t.
Follow up after the send. On average, it will take 9+ touch points before you will receive a response. Ensure your Business Development Team is armed with follow up scripts / talking points, email templates, and follow up materials.
Interested in Corporate Gifting for Your Brand?
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