If you value your privacy, this article may disturb you. If you’re looking for new customers, rejoice! We’ve talked many times about various aspects of target marketing and its importance in getting a strong return on investment.
While “marketing” covers pretty much every type of publicity, I want to focus here specifically on advertising – the paid placement of a thoughtfully crafted message – how targeting works, and how precise it can be.
First, some basics. We recently interrupted our Serial Killers of Business series to let people know what was happening around the European Union’s new privacy laws and why consent was being actively sought for the use of cookies.
Cookies are a tiny bit of programming code that is placed on your device when you access a website, app, or really, any online activity. That cookie then tracks what you are doing – your IP address, which pages you view, which auto part you ordered, etc. On social media sites, like Facebook or Instagram, the site captures more data about you (e.g. your age, gender, high school you attended), and it captures data about the conversations you have, which posts you’ve viewed, which ads you’ve clicked on, what you’ve “liked.”
The recent uproars about data being sold, traded, or stolen, is because this allows bits of data to be combined into an even more comprehensive profile. We, of course, do not approve or participate in any illegal or immoral practices; but we do recommend taking advantage of information that is freely offered and used with consent, and there’s plenty of that.
Starting next week, we’re going to illustrate targeting ads based on five factors: age and gender, interests and platform, and location. So dig up what you know about your ideal client and you’ll see how that information can be used to significantly increase the value of your advertising dollar.