Proxies and marketing are deeply entwined. Marketing is a continually evolving trade, and it follows technology very closely. Marketing can be simplified through proxies, as many processes that require hard manual labor can be automated.

There are two primary types of proxies based on their IP address – dedicated and shared. Dedicated proxies are private proxies that only you can use, while shared proxies are universal proxies with more than one user per IP address.

Proxies allow for faster, better, and more in-depth market research, data collection, and campaign management. In this article, we’ll explore proxies, how they can benefit marketing as a whole, and establish whether dedicated IP vs shared IP works best for you.

How Proxies Help Marketers

Proxies can help marketers with many things – the most important of which is probably market research. Marketing executives deal with a lot of data, and getting the right kind and amount of data can be quite tricky. That’s precisely why they employ crawlers and spiders to collect data from the internet.
Data crawlers and web spiders require proxies to operate, and since they’re integral to most marketing campaigns, marketing executives use them. Proxies can also be used to collect vast amounts of data that can be used for all kinds of things, such as analysis.

Through these crawlers, marketers can accumulate a lot of data, which helps them stay on top of the competition. Alternatively, proxies can allow marketing executives to traverse the digital world in a moment, which can accommodate further research.

How Do They Work

Proxies work by masking your IP address. When you’re using a proxy, you appear in a geographically different location. A proxy connects you to a proxy server that makes requests on the internet on your behalf, meaning it acts as an intermediary between you and the website. The original IP address is masked through a proxy, as you do not directly make any requests on your behalf.

Do You Go for Shared or Dedicated Proxies?

That depends on what you’re looking for. Shared and dedicated proxies are two very different things that serve the same goal. While shared proxies are suitable for web crawlers, affordable, and can be a viable option for market research, you can’t get much better than a dedicated proxy.

A dedicated proxy, better known as a private proxy, can do everything a shared proxy can, but it is faster, more stable, and more private. The main drawback is the price associated with private proxies.

Shared proxies are ideal for web crawlers or if you’re looking to mask your IP address for a quick task. Dedicated proxies are a far more superior full-stack option but aren’t nearly as affordable as shared proxies.

What Challenges Do These Two Types Pose?

There aren’t many challenges, aside from the price and cost of operation when it comes to dedicated proxies. They can also be more elaborate than shared proxies, depending on a multitude of factors.
Shared proxies do have some issues associated with them. Their connection isn’t the most stable compared to private proxies, and they’re much slower in general. Their affordability works to their advantage, as web crawlers and data spiders usually need more than one proxy to operate correctly.
If a data crawler is detected, they’re likely going to get IP banned from the website, and if that happens while the spider is on a dedicated proxy, switching to another one can be very costly. Shared proxies work far better for this, even if their connection is nowhere nearly as fast or stable.

What Benefits Do They Bring to the Table?

There are a lot of benefits associated with using proxies for marketing. Using dedicated proxies, you gain a full-stack option for marketing research, analysis, and a very important security measure to protect you from any nasty data leaks.

The primary benefits of shared proxies are their affordability, malleability, and applicability to web crawlers, which aid marketing research by a considerable margin.

In Conclusion

When it comes down to dedicated IP vs shared IP proxies, the best option is one that fits your needs the most. You might need both if you’re looking to run an elaborate marketing effort, as both have their unique benefits and disadvantages. Using proxies is ultimately very beneficial for marketing and business as a whole, as proxies have a lot more applications than only marketing research. If you liked this article, you might also want to check the detailed Oxylabs’s post about dedicated IP vs shared IP and learn more.