Behavioral Targeting in Marketing: Is it Moving Towards Its End?

Amidst the tug of war between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and advertising world, the consumers are now seen deciding about target adverting. But the fact is both advertising and behavioral targeting is never going to stop. The idea of behavioral targeting based on the past behavior patterns of consumers is not just the only digital source to consumer data. If you consider the social media platform, the users willingly enter their personal data (like phone numbers and date of birth) to its data management systems which are now turning out to be a great back end data bank. This harmless kind of practice of rendering information gives marketers and advertisers the opportunity to target their customers for the different items they purchase along with making things perfect to focus on their credit values.

Advance level targeting is moving ahead of behavioral targeting
Today, the advance level targeting world is seen rising up to a new height, in fact way ahead the idea of behavioral targeting and it will simply seems to evolve as you see more amount of money pouring inside the digital space. This has therefore pushed the publishers and different networks to try and establish themselves with some insight or competitive benefit which can help them in contending for the available money.

The blame game
If you find the behavioral targeting coming to an end with something else replacing, then you need to find out the elements that are responsible for this blame. Are the advertisers to be blamed for this, who have simply bombarded the entire digital space with vague, irrelevant, pointless ads which has cluttered and interrupted the web user experience? If you enforce additional restrictions over the granular level targeting, it will simply augment the influx of irrelevant and vague advertisements on customers. For example, if you get an email (ad) of completing your degree especially when your diploma is hanging over your office wall, then such ads are pointless.

Is the blame goes to different websites and publishers which open up their doors to different business networks layering upon a massive amount of targeting and selling out products along with carrying out things like brokering inventory on exchanges? The massive amount of inventory they have simply builds up a mess of inventory which can be identified by different non-personally identifiable elements. But these personal profile points are not taken into consideration as the credit score is usually treated as a personal element.

Lastly, are the consumers responsible for this blame, which often remain active over the digital space, using the current available data and information and cater this content via their online activities. For instance, Blippy is a social networking website wherein you will find its users willingly share their bank details and credit card information simply to allow the other users to see how and where they are putting their money on a daily basis. It is really incredible to hear such things where people simply share their critical information with strangers telling them that they have spent some 15 dollars getting any medical or hygiene product. However, the users then showcase their concerns about getting piles of online ads which they receive for being identified as per their behavioral pattern during seen during their online shopping.

The solution
In order to address this blame game, each of the above discussed group is required to carry out a couple of things as given below in their respective subheads:

The advertisers and ad agencies group
For people in this group, you are supposed to develop something beyond your monotonous kind of advertising and render your customers something tangible and valuable. Most importantly, you need to give your consumers relevant and useful stuffs in your various ads. You need to understand that consumers’ time is really precious in todays fast pace world. Hence when you are creating and rendering different ads to them you are supposed to put some utility or value in it.

The publishers and websites group
This can be a bit complex, yet can be addressed. It begins by realizing a fact that your inventory you have purchased cannot be sold off to thirty different vendors at thirty different price tags especially when all the products are the same. The second step is to refer a couple of guidelines pertaining to the ad network made available by the Interactive Advertising Bureau which can help you in understanding the transparency standardization elements.

The consumer group
You need to be conscious about what you do and share on the web by simply remaining modest in your online behavior. This can be carried out by understanding different default settings seen over a number of online properties and networks along with learning to accept or reject anything that can add up in your user experience.
Though behavioral targeting can be seen affecting at the moment, but the fact is it cannot be wiped out completely from the marketing world. The moment you see spaces and avenues evolving, the different options for marketers, advertisers, publishers, agencies and consumers too would embark. You just have to understand the way to benefit from this idea.

About the author
Alyssa Clarke is a freelance blogger who is passionate about writing. She frequently writes on tech and social media related topics. Lately she has been a lot interested in eco gadgets and hence is a big fan of Ecofriend and Styleguru. She is a social media addict and can be actively found on twitter @alyssagclarke.