Pablo Melchor cautions marketers about excessive reliance on targeting technologies, warning that it might lead us to neglect the emotional pleasures of variety and the experience of shopping around.

But by and large, Forum participants expressed optimism about the opportunities that targeting opens up for our clients – and for digital agencies. Gary Templeton, for example, pointed out that “… site retargeting, creative retargeting, behavioral targeting, mobile app dev, Facebook fan pages, Twitter fan pages, dynamic creative, etc., all are designed to deliver back to the client's planned KPIs. These combined actions allow us, digital marketers, to now take a seat at the "big table" when marketing mix budgets are determined and AORs are decided.”

Amy Manus sums up the discussion and offers her perspective in our POV.

Opportunities for optimization

In a time when advertising dollars are down, digital continues to drive growth. And if that is the case, it is largely because digital offers the ability to gain insight and results through analytics. Targeted media provides vast amounts of data, which give marketers the opportunity to devise metrics and variables for optimization analysis against key performance indicators.

Targeting extends beyond the online environment to the digital platform in its entirety: marketers can reach consumers effectively through a variety of methods, including social marketing, email marketing, and mobile efforts. But keep in mind that the fundamentals still apply, even to advanced targeting techniques. Among the basics: recognize your target consumer; identify the context; determine when and where people will see the message; and establish the means of communication. Once you decide to use advanced targeting methods, be sure to take advantage of tools like dynamic creative and attribution modeling. That way, in addition to covering the basics you’ll benefit from increased relevancy and insight.

A few caveats concerning consumers

When you consider targeting, it’s essential to think about your consumer’s interests as well. In a December 2009 Deloitte report titled "State of the Media Democracy Fourth Edition: Select U.S. Highlights," 54 percent of users declared that they were more likely to click online ads if they were targeted to their needs. Indeed, our own experience teaches us that for consumers, relevancy is a key factor. So is privacy – a subject that will surely remain on consumers’ radar, since legislation in this area is still pending. Because consumers continue to voice concern over how much Big Brother really knows about them, it’s advisable for marketers and advertisers to understand the methodology behind publishers’ targeting programs.

A top trend for 2010

As 2009 drew to a close, experts offered the traditional end-of-the-year glimpses into their crystal balls. No stranger to this practice, Geoff Ramsey released his “Seven Predictions for 2010 from eMarketer’s CEO.” Four out of the seven refer to targeting, including those touching on media fragmentation; personalized media based on consumers’ online behaviors; increasing engagement and efficiencies; and identifying the users most likely to respond.

Although it cannot be the sole foundation of a sound media plan, as tools and techniques become more sophisticated, targeting will inevitably emerge as a central pillar of integrated media strategies.