How Targeting Can Make All The Difference With Online Advertising

admin    Web Marketing     Advertising, Difference, Online, Targeting

How Targeting Can Make All The Difference With Online Advertising

One of the keys to successful online advertising is the level and sophistication of the targeting used. There are three main types of targeting: contextual targeting, behavioural targeting and yield targeting.

Contextual targeting which analyses the content of pages on the network to deliver the most relevant ads. Behavioural targeting profiles web users based on their navigation behaviour determined by anonymous cookies on their browser. Yield targeting optimises the campaigns in real-time to place ads on sites which are performing best in terms of click through or conversion

The typical approach to behavioural targeting starts by advertisers analysing user data and segmenting users in to discrete user groups. Each group is analysed and assigned a virtual profile. These profiles can be based around personas that give the website operators a starting point in terms of deciding what content, navigation and layout to show to each.

When it comes to the practical problem of successfully delivering the profiles correctly this is usually achieved by either using a specialist content behavioural platform or by bespoke software development, or analysing the profiles against yield data. This latter approach has proved successful.

Social media users now offer a new wealth of data previously difficult/impossible to gather. Data about friends, linkages, location, influences, and content created; from web, mobile and TV. Behavioural targeting is taking on a new remit, which is not just to focus on what you want, but what your friends want and how you influence them. This data is now in real time.

Many online watchdog groups are becoming increasingly concerned about the privacy rules around this type of targeting. Many advertisers try to contain this by using constraints to either keep the user information anonymous or by seeking permission.

One ad network has developed ‘cluster’ targeting. Clusters are created as with the above mentioned profiles. They are then subject to continual yield performance analysis and the clusters refined, to ensure clusters are perfectly segmented for behaviour and click through performance equally. This then takes behavioural targeting to a new level, one that is less based on theory but actual user behaviour and one that is already showing a +35% performance enhancement over normal behavioural techniques.

This new way of ad targeting means online advertising no longer need to experiment or blindly guess which sites or which times of day will work best for their campaign. They have a higher chance of running a successful campaign, where the system already knows when and where to place ads for optimal performance. This is particularly useful for smaller businesses that may not have the budget necessary to continuously experiment until they find the “right” websites to advertise on.

The latest developments are intended to help publishers increase their eCPM and also give advertisers better returns through better targeted campaigns, without the advertiser having to do anything different.

Find More Online Advertising Articles

If you enjoyed this article please consider sharing it!