Yahoo’s behavioral targeting platforms are called “Engagers” and “Shoppers”. These products succeeded Yahoo’s former platforms, Impulse and Fusion. This is the summary of an article written by Anna Papadopoulos, which interviews Richard Frankel, Yahoo’s senior director of product marketing, and talks about the two new platforms. You can get the PDF of the behavioral targeting article here: Yahoo’s New Behavior

Shoppers and Engagers

Frankel notes that they have used behavioral targeting for advertisers since 2000. The initial opportunities for marketers were for them to deliver ads located outside contextual placement to a relevant audience. However, during May 2006, a new platform was developed, targeting prospects at various stages of the purchasing cycle. The first product, Shoppers, allows advertisers to know which consumers are most likely to be active in the market based on their behavior. The second product, Engagers, is set for consumers who, based on their behavior, have displayed interest in a certain product.

Success of the new platform

Yahoo’s motivation to improve their behavioral targeting platform is based on their desire to look for the most inventive solutions for their users and advertisers. In fact, ever since Yahoo introduced this new platform, sizeable lifts have been observed, positive responses from advertisers have been growing, and interests towards Yahoo’s behavioral ad matching have increased. Evidently, a huge variation of advertisers utilizes behavioral targeting. You have those interested in brand building, including pharmaceuticals and automobiles. You also have those interested in direct response marketing, such as travel, telecommunications and finance. Yahoo’s platform is indeed very appealing to a wide variety of advertisers.

Dealing with challenges

However, Frankel points out that they also have challenges to deal with. One of these challenges is educating their clients about behavioral targeting, and helping them understand what it is all about. Another problem is telling these advertisers that while behavioral targeting is very effective, it works best when complemented with other advertising techniques.

Yahoo’s goals and key strengths

Yahoo’s goal is to hopefully make their clients fully embrace behavioral ad matching. With increased competition, they hope they will get more attention and awareness from marketers. Yahoo points out two key strengths that they have against other competitors: technology and scale. They continue to invest in technology to look for the best advertising technique for the right ads reaching the right user at the right time. For scale, Yahoo has the broadest and largest online audience, and they offer behavioral ad matching in a broad range of interest categories.

The past years, world economy has gone down. Thus, marketers went into a defensive crouch as they waited for world economy crisis to pass. The struggle and time for defensive, reactive measures is over. Today,marketers must look on the offensive ways to prove and increase the value of marketing by finding and exploiting opportunities to grow business. This is the summary of an article by John Frank, which talks about online marketing as an effective offensive step against the present economic downturn. You can get the PDF of the behavioral targeting article here: Get your head in the game

Business down? Market more!

The philosophy is true that when business is down; market more, up to the extent of putting up 5% to 10% of your market. There is no way for marketers to get rid of this. They need to talk more to their clients and find tools that would best boost their market. More productive use of dollars is the key to this boost. The strategies involved include learning more about your customers, hyper targeting, one-on-one marketing and behavioral targeting.

Advertising strategies

Email for marketing is the most effective way to reach people, not just through computers but through mobile devices. Efforts are made to make email marketing even more effective through targeting, and improved content which is suitable for mobile devices. Another advertising strategy that has successfully employed targeting is online marketing. Specifically, behavioral targeting is one of the fastest growing techniques for online targeted ads. Internal branding is also a key strategy; increasing brand promotion enthusiasm among a company’s employees. Indeed, there are several strategies used to be more aggressive in this downplaying economy.

Know your customers

Marketers should understand their craft very well, and have the guts to operate marketing without fear. This means knowing their customers very well, and understanding that their clients are not the sales reps as in the old model, but the customers themselves. Marketers should be customer oriented and focused.This also means that they should keep two marketing truisms. One is to retain existing customers and bring your market to your customers. Existing customers are a great source for new business, and you can bring your market by offering incentives on sales, causing spur buying. Another strategy is to implement win-back campaigns for old customers.

Cost-effective customer reaching

The next challenge is reaching the customers in the most cost-effective manner, yet credibility marketing must be maintained. Credibility is not telling the world how great the products and the companies are but how excellent the clients were. Thus, information and success stories may be put and printed on websites, newspapers, magazines, brochures and any social media existing in our society now as these are the major way to get into the customers for marketing.

Food companies have taken advantage of the steady rise of presence among kids and teens in the online world. McDonald’s, for example, has transformed its Happy Meal website into an interactive website, with various engaging elements aimed at developing a digital marketing ecosystem. In this ecosystem, children are being creative, engaging in social networking, playing games, entering contests, and more importantly, editing profiles which are valuable sources of targeting data. This is the summary of the article by Jeff Chester and Kathryn Montgomery, which talks about the impact of online advertising by food companies on the youth, particularly their health. You can get the PDF of the behavioral targeting article here: Interactive food and beverage marketing..

Indeed, digital marketing is one of the avenues exploited by these companies in today’s economic woes. This is because digital marketing has remained strong and dynamic despite the hard times; the latest advancements in digital marketing technology can only help so much to further make digital marketing a strong force in the marketing field.

Features

Digital marketing has several features. One is ubiquitous connectivity, or finding ways wherein users engage and are reached repeatedly. Another is behavioral targeting, or the use of data collection based on user browsing behavior to develop long-term relationships with customers. Another feature is immersion, or using the latest technology to tailor the appeals of individuals.

Trends

The trends have shown that social networks will continue to attract more youth as social marketing becomes more and more classy and complex. As such, ad expenditures are expected to continue to rise and generate billions of dollars for food and beverage marketers, through digital word of mouth campaigns and other strategies.

Trends also show that online gaming ad spending will be worth a billion dollars by 2014. Some food and beverage companies have already exploited this popularity to attract gamers to their website. Furthermore, online video viewing will continue to be very strong; ad revenues are expected to reach 4.6 billion dollars by 2013. Studies show that ads shown on online videos are 14% more effective than those shown on TV. Other advertising techniques that are on the better end of trends include mobile advertising, neuromarketing, behavioral advertising, and user interactions.

Policy and legal insinuations

These trends show that digital marketing will continue to be a strong force in the society, but it raises concerns about the possible health risks these highly influential ads can do to the society, and especially the youth and cultural minorities that have a unique susceptibility to obesity and other related health problems. Specific digital marketing practices that potentially raise these health issues should be regulated. For example, some practices makes it hard for consumers to distinguish between content and marketing, and blurs the lines between point of purchase and influence.

Generally, these practices should be developed under the considerations of adolescent and child development, government advertising rules, industry guidelines, etc. If not addressed properly, these emerging digital marketing trends could have a long-lasting unwanted effect on the public health.

This is the summary of the article by William Gilmore and S. Altan Erdem, which talks about the pros and cons of recent behavioral marketing techniques, and the use of biometrics to improve these techniques. You can get the PDF of the behavioral targeting article here: Online Internet Marketing Using Biometrics..

Common online behavior tracking techniques

The most common way to track user online behavior is with cookies. They are used to track behavior by observing a user’s mouse clicks. The aim is to obtain enough data to record a user profile and determine his/her preferences, so that ads can be personally served, increasing a user’s purchasing desire. The downside of this technique is that there may be multiple users in one computer, such as in public venues. Furthermore, browsers now have the option of deleting cookies and choosing to prevent some or all cookies from gathering data.

Another common technique is the use of username and passwords. This method is more effective than cookies because tracking a user’s preferences become more personalized. However, some users share their usernames and passwords with others, while it is highly likely for several users to have the same usernames and passwords. It may be frustrating for users as well to keep track of these info in various websites.

Use of biometrics

Biometrics can solve this problem, as it is a method used to look for unique clues in an individual for identification. There are many hardware/software devices to perform biometrics, but the most common device in the market right now is for fingerprint recognition. With this technology, consumers don’t have to memorize their biometric identification, and they can’t lose it; a problem with passwords, PIN numbers, etc. It’s possible to forge biometrics but that is too expensive and difficult. The efficiency of effectiveness of biometrics is just stellar.

Biometrics technology in demand

Biometrics is increasingly in demand, and this is primarily due to the prevalence of identity theft and online fraud. The internet banking environment has specified that the use of username/password is not enough, and that other methods, including biometrics, should supplement it. More recently released laptops also have biometrics in them. In the European Union, driver’s licenses and passports already have biometrics.

Biometrics in the market today

In terms of commercial development, biometric technology is still in its early stages. The fingerprint reader is sold commercially today more for its purposes of conveniences rather than security. There are also rooms for development; i.e., reducing the chances of accepting the wrong fingerprint. In that regard, a password is still superior. Security is also a concern, and there are instances of reported hideous crimes involving criminals cutting off fingers of victims to jumpstart a car that is protected by fingerprint recognition system. This may be on the extreme end of security, but as with new technologies, crime needs to be addressed.

Now, biometrics is slowly increasing in popularity in the United States. The primary push is hosted by online companies that seek to obtain more personalized data for marketing purposes. Biometrics can help these companies not only identify customers individually and hand out effective targeted ads, they can also provide unmatched security.

The approach is becoming more and more personal when it comes to marketing these days. The personal information gathered from sites are valuable asset to a company so that it can conduct effective advertisements. People leave information as accurate as log-in time, frequency, e-mail address, purchases made, telephone number and complete address. The question is, “how can this information be useful tools for future marketing”?

The need for revolutionized marketing is conspicuous as millions and millions of dollars are used every year for promotion, and better ROI (Return of Investment) is needed to compensate for the efforts. The use of individualized marketing makes sense as the behavior of the individual is taken into account in advertisement which will likely be converted into sales.

Let’s be realistic; spending money for advertisements that are aimed for “everyone” will account only for meager returns and compromise a lot investments. Therefore, it is not a good business decision. Timing is always important for any advertisement. The ultimate goal is to present the products to people when they need them and where they need them. There can be no other better way than knowing the individual’s needs through behavioral targeting.

Using this technique for marketing can help your business grow. For example, you are selling men’s basketball shoes. With the information you have, you can select who to send advertisements to base on their age, sex and purchases. People who also purchase basketball jerseys are likely to buy basketball shoes as well. Furthermore, you can specify the color and design of the products you advertise, and this will marvel your customers because your products are very accurate to their preferences.

To become useful information, the gathered data should be used the right way and used for delightful advertisements that will tickle the interest of the individual. The use of the information gathered is crucial in building a market for it and maintaining the old user while gaining others by minimized effort. The use of the information for correct marketing purpose can be translated to end user sales.

However, there are instances when behavioral strategy is not applicable. For example, if you happen to be selling Ferrari cars in your website, it does not necessarily mean that when someone enters your site, he or she will readily buy a car or has plans of buying it.

Another downside to behavioral marketing is that there are people who may become a user but requires advertisements for the product to come in their conception, thus prevents the broadening of user horizon. The opposition of people due privacy is also one thing that keeps behavioral marketing at the gates; true, information are being gathered for the purpose of marketing, but being cynical and all kills the spirit of it.

The demand for effective marketing strategy is now a battle down to every single user and behavioral strategy may answer the call.

Lead generation strategy is very important for the new generation of computer consumers as it continues to evolve into one of the most brilliant ways to raise sales profits without making a large investment. There are several different components that make up lead generation strategy, but the essence of the concept is aimed at discovering leads and angles that address your customers browsing habits and needs. Once you identify what products they are interested in and the best way to direct their attention to your company you can watch your sales revenues increase since you are targeting them specifically instead of trying to get a bite in a large consumer area.

A great example of a popular lead generation strategy is websites that utilize SEO (search engine optimization) tactics in order to attract business. SEO is largely a technique that involves anticipating how your consumer base will search based on their browsing habits. Thus, once you identify how they would search for products such as yours and the queries that they would make you can design your website to appear in the top of search engine results so that you are one of their first stops. The idea is that once they click you have their business since you are already targeted directly as their needs.

Of course, there are a wide variety of lead generation strategies that you can utilize for your business outside of simple SEO techniques, but at the core of each of these strategies will be a certain degree of consumer behavior marketing. After all, it is not enough to get your browser onto your website using lead generation strategy, but once they are there your products or services need to meet their specific needs. Consultants can be helpful along with a careful compilation of the data that your company already has.

After all, one of the best predictors of how a future client will search and purchase is the behavioral of a past consumer who had roughly the same search habits. Thus, it may take some time to rework your marketing department in order to bring solidarity to your lead generation efforts across the board. However, even if it requires new management or training the sales revenues increase will be enough to pay for your new approach. Once you learn how to proactively find your consumers and lead them to your product, services, or information you can count on watching the amount you earn rise proportionally.

Target Marketing can be defined several different ways, but in general it is the practice of gearing your advertisements or marketing efforts directly to a specific group of consumers who would be the most interested in your product or service. While target marketing employs many other components of marketing such as consumer research, behavioral studies, and market knowledge in general, it is a broad term or concept that can turn your marketing efforts and sales profits around overnight if practiced correctly.

The basic concept of target marketing is to research your audience so that you can proactively find them and present your product instead of waiting for them to stumble upon you. For instance, if you owned a business that specializes in hunting gear you may place advertisements on websites that offer detailed hunting tips or location guidelines. Conversely, you may decide to include this information on your website since you target audience may be searching for it. Thus, your marketing efforts clearly only reach the people who are truly interested in your product instead of a wide range of people out of which only a few may be interested in hunting.

Target marketing is best used alongside consumer research and in the online world along with behavioral research that denotes the browsing habits of those who purchase your products. This is because when you know what the needs and wants of your audience are then you know where to find them when it comes time to producing a marketing project. You can see a great deal of target marketing employed on most major auction sites such as eBay and Amazon when they provide users with related products.

The related products are usually products purchased by customers who looked at the same products as you. Thus, the company targets their marketing efforts to you because based on their consumer research they feel you are most likely to purchase their items. While you can emulate this basic recommendation process on your own website, if you are a startup company your best use of targeting marketing would be to identify browsing habits.

This is because you need to understand how to draw your target audience to your website, and the best way to find them is by identifying locations they already visit. There you can market products or services directly to them. With the astounding growth rate of the internet target marketing is continuing to grow into a very specialized highly marketable skill. If you decide to use target marketing you can find a wide variety of consultants who can provide you with consumer research. That way your target marketing efforts will be most efficient.

Segment marketing is the practice of defining your customers needs and wants by placing them in specialized groups that receive different attention and different levels of marketing.  The way customers are segmented by a company can vary from business to business but generally include areas such as income, regional location, sex, socioeconomic factors, and previous buying or business associations. Once the groups are designed, the object of segment marketing becomes unified; to offer customers marketing strategies and offers that are designed with their group characteristics in mind to produce profitable results for the company.

The concept behind segment marketing is that if you can identify the needs of your consumers by groups then you can direct your marketing efforts to make a larger impact. For example, in the Southern regions of the country hunting is a part of culture, while in the northern sector it is more of a sporting event without any end goal. Thus, following the principle of segment marketing a hunting rifle association may target viewers in the northern regions with more fancy gear that is more impressive to own and target those in the southern regions with more practical rifles. The end result would be higher sales in both regions.

Segment marketing is aimed at addressing consumers needs without forcing them to look for items that they desire. When you place the appropriate service or project dressed in a marketing effort they appreciate and with a price tag that meets their expectations you can watch your marketing sales profits skyrocket, but it is not an overnight process. In order to see segment marketing work oftentimes a company needs to rework itself from the management level up and invest in either consultation agencies or a consumer research team. The profits from segment marketing are dependent on how invested and thorough the business is when dividing its market.

Online, segment marketing can also be used and seen frequently. For example, international companies like Nike and Coca-Cola often divide their website entrances by country. Thus, they are able to divert customers into the area of their website that is designed to meet their needs in particular as product availability differs internationally. While your company may not be that large, you can take care to segment your website on a smaller scale. Divide your consumer base to target email advertisements and optimize marketing efforts at different segments of your clientèle based on their preferences and buying habits.

Consumer marketing strategy is the best way to optimize your advertising and pr team. In order to maximize your profits from advertising you need to ensure that your target audience is receiving the proper information about your product or service. Effective advertising is one of the best ways to streamline your marketing budget without sacrificing your profits, but learning how to do so is a step by step process that is fundamentally based on consumer marketing strategy.

At the core of consumer marketing strategy is a focus on your consumers’ wants and needs. They need to feel as if you are concerned with their well being and see this reflected in the product offerings you have for them. The only way to do this is by researching the consumer behavior of your specific market and addressing their key concerns in advertising.

For example, Wal-Mart has received an extensive amount of bad press in the past for their lack of environmental products and business ethics. In order to address these concerns they redressed their image by advertising products that they teamed up with to donate proceeds to the environment. Thus, they promote the products and answer the widespread consumer concerns, making it a consumer marketing strategy that has paid off two fold. And all it took was a little commercial time to change public opinion. Incidentally, commercial time that still highlighted a few products.

Online, consumer marketing strategy is practiced more with a focus on web browsing habits. It is most effectively used when businesses take the time to research what their consumers are interested in so that they can tailor advertising directly to them. For example, if web browsers of weight loss pills frequently visit websites that are written about exercise habits, including an instructional guide on the same web page that sells diet pills is an excellent way to promote interest and make consumers feel their needs are completely met by one visit.

As the internet continues to open up a wealth of marketing opportunities the need to stay directly in tune with customers’ specific wants and needs will increase twofold alongside. In order to market a product it will no longer be enough to discuss how a product works, but how a product can work for the consumer. Thus, an effective consumer marketing strategy is needed in order to create a solid customer base that recommends your services or products and continues to return for repeat visits.

Behavioral marketing is the science of studying consumers actions in order to determine what products, topics, or conditions influence their decision to purchase a new product. In short, it is way to present a consumer with conditions that will make a new purchase possible certain, which is why it is a study of psychology and behavioral patterns. For online companies it often includes studying browser habits of potential consumes to discover what makes them buy and what their buying tendencies are. A great example of behavioral marketing is selling popular related items next to a news story that viewers of the story will find interesting enough to click over to.

This information can be very useful to those who wish to save money and time while marketing their products. That is because the aim of behavioral marketing is to search out and find your target audience so that your marketing efforts hit the people who are most likely to purchase your product. You can spend time waiting for your target audience to find you, or you can simply take some efforts to find them. This is because once you know how your consumers shop you know exactly how to advertise where they can see you.

By now you may be wonder what behavioral marketing is, well the truth is that the easiest way to practice behavioral marketing is to hire a consultant team. Online it can be as simple as tracing and watching your customers browsing habits. You have probably already noticed large websites such as Amazon that offer you lists such as their popular customers who bought this also bought X.

This is an example of behavioral marketing in which Amazon takes its data to market additional purchases to customers while they browse. Amazon also utilizes a clever trick when they take their behavioral marketing to the next level and offer higher priced but appealing combination deals to get you to purchase two products instead of just one.

So how can you use behavioral marketing? If you are a large company you probably have an extensive list of product data and sales that you can utilize to figure out what your customers want, which is a good reflection of what your target audience wants overall. However, smaller companies may not have as large of a data collection in which case hiring companies such as Google Adsense, Facebook ads, or other marketing companies that will place your marketing efforts in the correct place for you using behavioral marketing techniques.

With the proper utilization of your data or of behavioral marketing companies you can increase your sales without spending an immense amount of money. And if the current internet landscape is a proper indication of the future, behavioral marketing is simply going to become more vital as time passes. Therefore, it is beneficial for you to jump on board now, or risk falling behind in the competitive landscape of the Internet.