2 min read.
Since the era of TV advertising for the soap opera in the US in the 1950s, the consumer has been abused. All brands pushed commercials to consumers hoping they will gobble them and buy their products, regardless if they needed it or not. We thought we would be smarter with internet and limit the ads exposure with frequency capping, but it was still working on the same TV principle of pushing ads to certain target audiences with ok, a bit more precision on the targeting, but still pushing ads.
Regardless if we have served an ad to the right target, if the person is not interested in the product, the ad becomes a nuisance for the consumer and a waste of dollars for the brand. Now, we can use data to understand people’s interest in specific products and go beyond the old fashion way of targeting by age, gender, sports, hobbies, etc. We can even be smarter and create models that will predict who will be interested in specific product types and create segments that will match the model.
As a result, consumer will receive only ads that match their interests at a present time and brands will increase their ROI.
Another example where data has revolutionised marketing is with mobile. A mobile phone is a mirror of people’s personality and interest. What about if you could target people who have specific apps, have been using them and have been browsing specific websites? This is a perfect example of how ads can go beyond basic demographic targeting, to target people based on their centre of interest at a specific time.
Let me give you an example. A person has been looking at buying a new family car and therefore has been researching on cars websites (e.g. manufacturers, forums) different options and this person also has been using apps that shows he/she has a family (e.g. parenting apps, kids gaming apps). These criteria show that this person is considering buying a new family car of a specific brand. Then an ad for a family car from the right car manufacturers can be served to this person. The ad becomes then highly relevant and adds value to the person’s life rather than being a push nuisance.
Data is changing the game of marketing, are you leveraging it?
