tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18012046.post6388741839696994669..comments2024-03-25T23:56:43.770-07:00Comments on Digital Marketing and Analytics by Anil Batra: Behavioral Targeting at eMetricsAnil Batrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10987449618439416854noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18012046.post-50991234979386326572007-10-24T08:28:00.000-07:002007-10-24T08:28:00.000-07:00Sorry Jim, but I'm a bit confused about your take ...Sorry Jim, but I'm a bit confused about your take on behavioural targeting and wonder if you're missing the point. Yes, we can argue about the precise definition of the term behavioural, and maybe 'interest targeting' may be a closer fit to what actually happens. But that doesn’t take away the enormous advantages that behavioural targeting offers over traditional forms of advertising - both on and offline.<BR/><BR/>The whole idea behind behavioural targeting networks is that, as users visit different sites in the network and look at pages with different types of content, an anonymous profile of their interests is built up. <BR/><BR/>Then these users can be targeting with relevant advertising (relevant, because we know what they are interested in) <B>on any page</B> containing an ad space in the behavioural targeting network. <BR/><BR/>The site and the context is irrelevant.<BR/><BR/>By the way, you can also target people who have bought something (like a cruise), requested a brochure or done something else that has a 'known value' (your definition of behavioural). It's called re-targeting and has been used for years by online advertisers. <BR/><BR/>As you say, finding 750 people interested in cruises (because they visited a cruise site) may not be that big a deal - but how about being able to target your cruises at 7,500 or even 75,000 potential customers? Sure beats throwing a load of ads on the web and hoping someone might be interested in them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18012046.post-66111332191930628972007-10-23T10:01:00.000-07:002007-10-23T10:01:00.000-07:00Reading your previous post on BT (linked to above)...Reading your previous post on BT (linked to above) and Joseph's comments lead me to (once again) state that calling this type of adserving "Behavioral Targeting" is inappropriate, at least by established marketing standards. It's much more like psychographic targeting through traditional media, namely lifestyle publications.<BR/><BR/>I know that's not your call and you are just using standard terminology, but I really think this issue deserves discussion. <BR/>The crux of this matter is how we define "behavior".<BR/><BR/>A behavior in offline marketing has a known value, often a purchase of some kind. Visiting a web site and looking at a cruise page doesn't strike me as a "behavior", it's more like picking up a travel magazine and leafing through it. That's an impression or maybe an experience, not a behavior.<BR/><BR/>Offline, BT would target people who have previously bought cruises. This is an actual behavior with a known value; finding 750 of them would be fantastic because the expected value of this audience is very high relative to marketing cost.<BR/><BR/>However, finding 750 of them who have leafed through a travel magazine would not be such a big deal. This is because the value of this experience is quite low, in terms of expected outcome of marketing to them.<BR/><BR/>And that's because leafing though a magazine is not a "behavior" for marketing purposes, it's the consumption of media, which has a much lower expected value.<BR/><BR/>So with a tip of the hat to Don Quixote, I know I'm not going to change the ad media juggernaut that is BT. But I think it's useful to understand that behavior in the classic sense is not being targeted here.<BR/><BR/>Is BT advertising more targeted than general banner ads? Sure. BT is really what I thought (around 1999) banner ads were supposed to be all along. But somehow we missed that part and just went straight to calling any space on any web page "media".<BR/><BR/>And now, finally, we can target some of that media to specific media consumption patterns across multiple web sites.<BR/><BR/>That's what is now called BT.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com