Integrating Mastercard offline purchase data with online Google AdWords
Search Advertising is well, Priceless
! To the marketer that is.
According to the wired.com
report, Mastercard is trying to sell aggregate data to marketers for the
holidays.The wired.com article wonders about exactly how Mastercard offline
purchase data could be useful in online applications and here is one
possibility by tailoring Google AdWords search advertising based on Mastercard
aggregate transaction data.
So for example, if you used your Mastercard to buy online electronic gifts
after Black Friday or offline last minute clothing gifts on Dec 23, its
very likely that your behavior from last few years will not change. OK you
might have resolved at the 2012 New Year to do your holiday shopping
early… but that was back in January and now you are back at your old ways! At
an aggregate "big data" level, credit card data can point to customer
behaviors like off line clothing gifts on December 23 and online
electronics soon after black Friday in November. And you know that there are say
100,000 people, mostly men in their 30's and 40's in Cleveland Ohio who
did this for the last 3 years.
If you are an electronics retailer with a store in Cleveland Ohio
launching a geo-targeted Google AdWords search campaign at Cleveland Ohio with
keyword search terms that appeal to the demographic can be really effective.
Adding direct mail flyers, Facebook and banner advertising just focussing on
reaching this 100,000 very specific audience can also pay huge dividends.
For example, if your online sales margin on an electronic gift is say $20
and you precisely know a great deal about folks who bought this type of stuff
last year you can be lavish in your keyword bids with Google and what you are
willing to pay for Internet banners, direct mail etc. The point is , there is
nothing more powerful than accurate data about past buying behavior.
Unless of course, there is a major innovation like an iPhone or game system
that pushes traditional choices to the background. Here too, past transaction
data gives you a good idea of what groups or segments of customers bought
a lot of $20 gifts and who are the folks who spent in the $200-300 range who
might switch to a new iPhone or video game system.
The marketing possibilities are endless and I guess consumers have to start
getting used to this lack of privacy in the digital age. Consider that today
anyone can take a video shoot of anything from their cell phones like the Philadelphia wedding
brawl video. At least the Internet and transaction data will be aggregated
but anonymous – hopefully. Contact StratoServe.