Increased ROI with Demographic and Behavioral Targeting

The infamous iPod has brought users of all age, demographic and gender from runners, to students, to business people, making the iPod quiet a catch. The interest in music and advancement in technology is obvious. Most likely these users are going to iTunes or other music sites, which brings about the question of whether or not gender matters when targeting behavior online.

If the Internet is meant to be a universal medium where physical world boundaries don’t matter such as geography, culture, financial status as well as equally empowering both genders then do behaviors differ for men and women that are online? According to Pew, the answer is yes.

Pew found that men tend to use the Internet as a task-accomplishing tool finding information on the sports, news, weather, and financial information whereas women use the Internet more as a communicating vehicle with e-mail as a prime reason for usage.

Although the site navigation may differ between man and women, they both exhibit similar interaction patterns related to their search behaviors. With search being a critical part of online marketing, we must understand the application of behavioral targeting.

Emotion vs. Function
Most experienced marketers know that content and experience are key factors for a brand or product to distinguish itself from its competitor. Based on these two elements, successful branding can help establish an emotional attachment and loyalty by an audience.

As for the iPod, its clear to see why companies spend such a large part of their marketing budget on branding because there is the opportunity to drive such a diverse customer base.

To be able to communicate efficiently with an audience, demographics and behavioral information must be understood. However, unless a site is gathering personal information, it’s hard to determine gender usage. MSN’s new adCenter is one media vendor that offers both demographic and behavioral targeting. With the success of both targets, ROI can be very pleasing.

Read the full story here.