By Ken Parnham

Advertisers need to apply more focus on maximising efficiencies and better targeting their audiences. By using targeted ad delivery you can: achieve a better response rate, increase revenue; save inventory and improve the visitor experience. Really try to make the most of your data so that it makes the best decisions on which ad to display to the right user, and optimises content.

So how to target? Well, there are several different types available on the market:

• Behavioural targeting – carried out by following the paths of visitors (anonymously) across websites by dropping cookies which can then be used to check what the visitor has seen (and done). This leads to higher click and conversion rates and more precision when building interest-based profiles/ segments.

• Retargeting – Allows advertisers to retarget a user who leaves a website without making a conversion the next time they visit the same site or within a network. It can also be used to up-sell additional products. It is implemented through a cookie dropped by an ad the first time in a user’s browser, which then retargets the user with a reminder or related offers. By retargeting users who have previously seen a certain campaign, clicked it or made a transaction, publishers can make campaign delivery penetrate to a deeper level. So based on a user’s behaviour on your sites, you can control what banners they will see next. It is possible to retarget users based on where they have been on your website, enabling you to reach them with an advertiser’s message on a less valuable part of your site.

• Online targeting – when the ad is requested certain information is passed with the ad request. Ad servers are able to target based on this information enabling an advert to be targeted to a user’s connection speed, operating system, service provider and even the device that they are accessing the internet from - very important for mobile campaigns and video with the uptake of html5.

• Key word/value functionality – Here a dynamic connection to CMS / database and search engines means that information in the database can be scripted into an ad call to make sure ads are pertinent and relevant. The creation of keywords or key values matching to a website and its user data enables more defined targeting criteria within campaign booking.

• Geo and local targeting – this is a pretty straightforward technique where through IP ranges and addresses you target campaigns to a specific country, region, county, city, town or post code. The advertising you book is only shown to Internet users from the region you specify. This type of targeting is based on IP addresses. The IP geolocation databases of market leading specialists form the foundation for the complex analysis of user IPs together with an ad servers own database. In order to localise an IP address, all databases are constantly cross-checked with one another. This ensures the greatest possible degree of accuracy and current data for regional targeting.

• Contextual targeting – this technique scans the text of a website for keywords and returns advertisements to the webpage based on what the user is viewing. The advertisements may be displayed on the webpage or as pop-up ads. For example, if the user is viewing a website pertaining to sports and that website uses contextual advertising, the user may see advertisements for sports-related companies, such as memorabilia dealers or ticket sellers. Contextual advertising is also used by search engines to display advertisements on their search results pages based on the keywords in the user's query.

Targeting techniques have really come into their own in this post-recession market and provide new and more focussed ways to up-sell to buyers and prospects. Modern adservers have an open interface and can connect with external/ third party targeting providers to ensure deeper targeting.

Retaining customers and improving online marketing effectiveness are top priorities for publishers. Targeting can help. There are many different variants to try, but the upshot is that your audience should feel you are catering to their preferences and as a result, should encourage loyalty.

There is a constant need for information and from a technical point of view, you can find out a lot of detail through targeting. On the flip side the many different types of targeting does tend to confuse marketers, so it’s our job to listen to the ad networks and publishers and translate their performance ideas into the adserver’s language and maximise campaign output.

Targeting can be a very powerful tool and provides added value like no other type of media. In fact, with targeting everyone’s a winner – from the marketers to agencies, publishers and technology providers. It helps everyone to get a better result. The user benefits from targeting too because the ad appears less like a pure advert as it is more relevant to their needs and interests.

I’d recommend you re-consider your inventory from an audience perspective, maximise it and target visitors as accurately as possible. It will serve you well.

About the author

Ken Parnham is Managing Director at ADTECH UK & Ireland. Appointed as Managing Director for ADTECH across the UK and Ireland in June 2009, Ken’s remit is to lead the sales and delivery organisation, as well as providing leadership to all staff by communicating vision and direction. More specifically Ken is tasked with the challenge of increasing ADTECH’s market penetration and to manage client satisfaction. With 11 years of experience in the new media and advertising market, Ken’s got a strong commercial background coupled with excellent product and operational skills. With a focus on standards and a committment to getting all clients to reach operational excellence, Ken sits on the Internet Advertising Bureau‘s (IAB) US Committees for Digital Video Advertising/ Rich Media, Mobile Advertising and Best Practice Forum. Prior to joining ADTECH this year, Ken was the Director of European Ad Operations at AdLINK. He’s also held senior management roles at Wanadoo and 24/7 Media.

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