The Right Message to the Right Person at the Right Time
Among the many advantages of online display advertising (banner ads) is its ability to deliver relevant messages to specific targets. However, the range of available online targeting options is HUGE and becoming more and more complex.
How do you choose the right targeting mix to meet your advertising goals?
Le’ts shed some light on some of the major categories of targeting and focus on what they have to offer for different companies and objectives.
Demographic Targeting – Age, Gender, Geography
Online, the demographics used most often for targeting are age, gender and geography. Sometime additional factors like income will come into play. Many times this type of targeting is based on the geral demographic profile of a site or specific info provided by users during the registration process.
When to Use It
Mass Market campaigns use demographic targeting sucessfully to meet both awareness and persuasion goals. It is less likely to be useful for other types of categories, except when specific products are used primarily by a particular demographic.
Geographic Targeting
This type of targeting can be based on a number of different factors like a user’s IP address or registration info. User supplied info is generally accepted as more accurate (may not always be available). Most geo targeting is IP-based. My company, Cox Media Group, used the Yahoo! platform for advanced targeting and I have to say the functionality is amazing. The geo targeting used by Yahoo! is based on three key factors: Universal Location Manager (user identifed default location), IP (location of internet connection – not always accurate as servers are many times based in an entirely different state than the user), and Registration Location(user defined location at registration).
Contexual Targeting – Site-level, section-level or content-level)
This is a popular option for online advertisers in it’s ability to reach people who are in the market for their products. Context based targeting includes beauty ads and beauty sites, sporting goods ads on sports sites, tax software ads on finance sites and so on.
Contexual targeting is very common on the large Google content network – for example, a coffee ad can be place on a page in which coffee is being discussed. Combining text-focused targeting with placement on specific sites is also possible, though this approach is more appropriate when you are more concerned about the mindset of the user rather than the website you are on.
When To Use It
CT can helpincrease the chances of reaching people who are in the market for a specific product. However relevant contexual sites may be hard to find for some categories like telecommunications. Best for durable goods and services.
Behavioral Targeting – Surfing and Search Behavior
Behavioral targeting – the practice of delivering ads in response to users’ online activity–is becoming more and more common as a form of premium targeting. Behavioral targeting is practical only when using ad networks or websites like Yahoo! that can serve ads across a rich web platform in which many types of functionality, content and therefore behavior can be observed.
Simply put, behavioral targeting techology monitors a users web / search behavior and surfing habits and serves ads accordingly. For example, someone who recently visited a car site or section will be served with a car ad. Cool, huh?
When is BT appropriate?
For a brand building campaign, BT or timing of the ad placement may not be important. However, in categories like travel or retail, a consumer may progress from resarcher to purchaser in a very short space of time. For this to be effective, the profiles must be updated frequently to ensure relevant ad delivery. No point in delivery a vacation ad to someone who just booked their trip to Hawaii.
Privacy and BT
We are all very conflicted about privacy and the internet as you can see from the constant stream of news stories related to online tracking, facebook, open graph, etc. etc. Some appreciate ads that are relevant and personalized. Others have qualms about their online behavior being tracked (makes you wonder about their surfing habits). Overall, there will always be different perspectives on this issue, but as long as behavioral targeting is used sensitively and adheres to industry guidelines on privacy, the benefits should gradually be appreciated.
In Summary
Online advertising offers exceptional targeting opportunities, but also challenges marketers to balance potential complexity with practical and cost effective implementation. Good creative and a stringent optimization plan are keys to a successful campaign.
Any questions? Interested in online advertising? Contact me!
Information provided by Millward Brown, “Targeting Online Ads: Aim for the Bulls-Eye or Focus on Hitting the Target?”
Minyanville created a 
The HPNOTIQ-branded event invitation template contained pop-up recipes for five HPNOTIQ drink mixes, while rich-media banner ads, driving users to HPNOTIQ.com, matched women with the best HPNOTIQ cocktail based on clothing preferences, among other traits.
The campaign took the Hauser Group three months to create, one month to produce and stayed active for five months.
Members of Shine, the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, and Chef Tory Miller created the 30 selected recipes. To date, more than 100 additional recipes have been added to the academy gallery.
