The online space is moving swiftly toward audience targeting, where demographic, behavioral and contextual data are aggregated to create a better picture of a target audience. While the offline world has already established relatively structured data trading processes, online marketing is just beginning to really trade in this valuable currency. In fact, one of the companies I moderated a panel for, eXelate, is about to announce a partnership with Nielsen, which would make Nielsen’s panel data available for purchase and use on display targeting campaigns.
While it is true, as Emily Steele notes in the Wall Street Journal, that Congress and consumer advocacy groups are concerned about so much data being aggregated for online marketing use – which could cause improper use of consumer data for targeting purposes – it is also true that both marketers and consumers can benefit from this use if it’s done right. Using consumer behavior data is not new, but what is new is how easy it is to aggregate data and get a clearer picture of what a customer wants. For interactive marketers, this presents both opportunities (giving customers better deals on things they like to buy) and risks (targeting with data that should remain private.)
Navigating this terrain can be difficult for marketers who want to create a good customer experience but don’t want to cross the line into murky territory. To help determine how to maximize your use of customer data, join us for our panel. We will have some of the leading players in the data space on a panel at the Marketing Forum on April 22 to discuss how data plays a role in the interactive media buying process. To learn more click here.