The provider of a unique marketing solution that creates personalized direct mail using real-time consumer activity — PebblePost — recently announced that it has appointed new vice president Richard Flynn to grow its automotive vertical.

In an environment where the digital age has changed how consumers are often marketed to, the company aims to combine the power of connecting online with that of direct mail through its Programmatic Direct Mail solution.

Flynn brings over 20 years of experience with the auto ad business and has held previous positions at both AOL and Sports Illustrated.

“Rich is a master at understanding the customer and their business,” Pebble Post chief growth officer Geoff Dodge said in a news release announcing Flynn’s hire in January.

“His depth of knowledge of the auto vertical — having worked with Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, to name a few — is invaluable as he builds our go-to-market strategy for these marketers hungry for innovation,” he continued.

In a crowded media landscape like we see today, Flynn believes that Programmatic Direct Mail can be a changemaker for automotive business looking to reach consumers and move more metal.

He says that direct mail marketing allows dealers to pursue consumers in a way that will rise above the noise they often receive online.

Effective frequency

Now that traditional channels are not as large or arguably as effective as they used to be, Flynn suggests that when it comes to marketing on the dealer side of the auto industry a lot of noise locally can turn off consumers.

“Frequency is always a concern for dealers. How do you weigh too much versus too little in today’s marketing mix?” Flynn told Auto Remarketing by email earlier this this month.

“The challenge is heightened when you consider how many messages are out there already, every day, from search and social to display retargeting and traditional methods like direct mail. Consumers have developed an ad blocker muscle that can’t be ignored, so it’s important for dealers to remember that more isn’t always better if it leads to noise that’s easily tuned out,” he continued.

In addition to being designed to pick up on dealer website visitors and recognize whether or not an individual is an existing customer or prospect, Flynn says that PebblePost’s patent-pending digital platform provides dealers an option to connect with customers and leads that is relevant, personal and respectful.

The solution blends segmentation, campaign management, production, analytics and optimization. Its tools include: Campaign Management, Address Graph, Dynamic Production, Real-Time Analytics and Continuous Optimization and Intent Data Capture, which picks up real-time visitor signals, such as page visits, keyword searches, cart abandonment and behavioral activity.

“PebblePost’s Programmatic Direct Mail platform offers dealers a relevant, personal, and respectful way to communicate with existing customers — come back to the lot for service, e.g. — and most intriguing, connect with new prospects,” said Flynn.

“The latter are potential customers already visiting the dealer’s website — driven there by some call-to-action — but the dealer doesn’t know who they are. Our Website Prospect Remarketing solution picks up on that signal. We recognize that someone is not a customer, but a prospect. Then we leverage our proprietary technology to create connections between an individual visiting a website via a cookie and where to send the mail and find their postal address,” he continued.

To inform dealers where to send the mail and find car shoppers’ postal addresses, the Address Graph tool determines the most accurate USPS-verified postal address for a segmented customer.

“You have this tangible reminder in the prospect’s home urging them to visit the lot,” Flynn explained.“That impression doesn’t disappear like a display ad — it picks up more eyeballs in the home as that purchase is discussed. If you think of the enormous pressure on dealers to create new business, Programmatic Direct Mail can be a real game-changer for their bottom line.”