Do you want to get more leads and income? 
You need to read this.
This is the first article I’d ever publish on behavioral targeting. Thanks to Ruben for making it good.
Behavioral targeting is a marketing technique that has been used online for quite some time now, used as a means to increase sales and consumer interactivity.
As the name suggests, behavioral targeting allows entrepreneurs to match their sales tactics to the observed purchasing behavior and internet activity of their prospect buyers.
Seeing as how this method not only monitors user activity but takes the interests of their consumers into account, appreciation for behavioral targeting has been demonstrated by businessmen, advertisers, and internet users alike.
Why focus on behavioral targeting?
Here we basically have a win-win situation where consumers can easily find the products they need, making them more likely to become a repeat customer of a business.
And merchants themselves will enjoy higher sales. Additionally, this benefits advertisers who come up with the ads and outputs that effectively grab the attention of target buyers.
The findings from recent surveys illustrate that behavioral marketing techniques are in fact efficient in growing a consumer audience. It is reported that 22% of marketers are interested in investing in the behavioral targeting market techniques for 2013.
IMedia Connection revealed that 83% of businessmen who used behavioral targeting techniques were satisfied with their results.
Results from Forrester Research’s studies show a growing increase in the same direction of technique uses. Behavioral targeting is already used by 52% or marketers in the US alone. With the current information, the study managed to define three main benefits of behavioral targeting.
Increased number of clicks
If you think about it, hosting advertisements that are more interesting to consumers are more likely to be clicked and browsed.
For the very same reason, behavioral targeting allows advertisers and marketers to get two to three times more clicks than they would with normal means of advertisement and consumer interactivity.
Did you know that the usual means of advertising, usually sporadic in nature (think random advertisements when streaming a TV show), only reach about 60% of their targeted audience?
Even marketers who are targeting audiences with specific, albeit estimated, interests of their average consumer get only sub-par results in the long run.
This is all due to the tight competition on the internet these days; there are numerous sites out there all targeting the same audience, wanting to cater their services to the same clientele, and the means of standing out are starting to look slim.
However, it’s actually possible to reach 100% of a niche audience. With behavioral targeting, a merchant or business can target the audience of consumers belonging to a unique demographic or niche.
This has a double benefit for merchants, as not only are all the tools and elements than can attract potential buyers are being utilized, but the waste of resources on the wrong target consumers is being minimized.
The benefits of both, behavioral targeting and advertisement clicks, work in favor of the business and the buyer.
Converting Visitors to Consumers
For a businessman, it is important to be able to monitor some consumer behavior, as well as the activity on their site, ranging from page visits, popularity and preferred content to interactivity.
This type of information can help businessmen determine the ways to reach the right target audience and devise sales strategies. Knowing what buyers want can give you and other entrepreneurs the upper hand in the world of e-commerce.
You can provide the right content and products to the right spots, and visitors and consumers will see products that fit their interest and/or niche. Businesses can also learn to customize their landing pages based on the activities online that they observe.
A strong case of the above has been made by Interactive Data. The company’s targeting efforts led to a 40% spike in their entire leads and a 50% rise in their deals.
How did they make their sales cycle as effective as possible? Executives say they aligned their promotions and sale tactics with significant customer information to match up the right interests at the right time.
One of the simplest acts of this is when a department store puts winter clothes on sale in the summer; no one needs winter clothing, so they go for cheaper, and the department store still makes money instead of none at all.
Improvements in the Return of Investment
It is plain as day to see that a businessman can reap the maximum results from his investment in behavioral targeting if done correctly.
By getting more clicks on advertisements and an increase in sales, one’s profits can easily be doubled, tripled, or more.
Straight from those who specialize in analyzing internet marketing, they claim that online advertisements are climbing in popularity.
Newspapers and magazines are far from dead, but they have started to dwindle, and that is because the cyber market is growing in its ability to reach specific audiences and consumers.
Other companies are starting to see returns in their investments in behavioral targeting.
E-marketer, a company dedicated to studying the direction of the cyber market, has collected and compiled the data—US advertisers using behavior targeting have a projected 1.2 billion dollar growth in revenue.
This is 30% higher than what was recorded back in 2005, and has exceeded the entire growth rate observed last year, 2012, at a mere 24.7%.
Numbers don’t lie; the facts are all set out in front of you. A number of diverse studies have been analyzed here, and their findings are not a surprise.
Taking into consideration that numerous enterprises are in fact attesting to an increase of efficiency from the use of behavioral targeting, it would seem that these strategies gave their businesses a much-needed boost. However, nothing is perfect, and just like anything with positives, there are negatives.
Behavioral targeting has some disadvantages, not covered here, that may turn businesses away at first.
However, this is only when looking at the smaller picture.
When looking at the grand scheme of things, the drawbacks that may occur are well masked by the colossal advantages brought on by implementing behavioral targeting into advertisements.
Have you used behavioral targeting before to grow your website traffic and sales? I’d like to know what your thoughts are.
About The Author – Ruben Corbo is a freelance copywriter who specializes in tech, online marketing, and smartphone related topics. He’s recently been diving into Behavioral Targeting & Personalization and other traffic to online sales conversion tools. You can find out more information about these other conversion tools at Maxymiser.com When Ruben is not writing, he is writing and producing music for short films and other visual arts. You can find Ruben on Twitter via @WriteOnTheDot.
Photo Credit: business people