American Politics

American Politics  » Customer Preferences in Online Advertising-Part 3 of 3

Customer Preferences in Online Advertising-Part 3 of 3

In part two of this series, we discussed the annoyance

factor of online ads and how to overcome them. In this

last article, I'll tell you how to use behavioral traits to

direct advertising efforts rather than demographics.

I am a strong proponent of defining your target audience.

If you don't know who you are communicating with, how

will you be able to do it effectively? Jupiter

Communications' (www.jup.com) survey backs up my

claims.

What Difference Does Behaviorism Make?

I'm sure almost everyone has heard the phrase features

vs. benefits. The entire premise behind this statement

is that you must tell the audience what's in it for them.

How, if you don't know their concerns, their hopes and

their needs, are you going to define benefits that will

make a difference to your target customer?

The difference between demographics and behaviorism

is that one tells you the basics and the other tells you

the details. Demographics let you know that your

customer is a man employed in upper management who

is 45 years old, has 2 children and makes approximately

$50,000 per year.

Behaviorism tells you that, because he's a man, he is

compelled by information-type ads. (If he were a she,

she would most likely respond to animation or sound.)

It also tells you that he's burned out on corporate politics,

having a mid-life crisis, can't being to think of how he's

going to pay for college for 2 kids and is in bad need of

a raise! Now… which profile do you think you could

communicate more effectively with? The demographic

or the behavior? (It's a rhetorical question!)

Target Everything About Your Advertising

People hear the phrase "target marketing" and "target

audience" all the time. But do you understand how

extremely important those phrases are to the success

of your marketing campaign? You simply must, MUST

know your target audience.

When you communicate with them through advertising,

you absolutely have to be able to address their fears,

their problems and their concerns with a solution. They

want to know what's in it for them. If you don't

understand what they need, you simply can't answer

that question.

Targeted advertising increases sales!

When you create an advertising piece, especially online,

every aspect should reach out and grab your target

customer. This means the copy (especially), the design,

the colors, the photos, the graphics, the packaging

(if applicable), the ordering process… absolutely

everything.

Segmenting Your Broad Market

One trouble that often plaques businesses is the fact

that their target audience is so broad. If that is the

case with your company, try segmenting the market

and appealing to each segment's behavioral traits.

For example: perhaps you're a Real Estate agent. You

need a Web site and want to appeal to several segments

of the Real Estate market. What can you do to

incorporate the behavioral traits and other preferences

of so many people?

Divide your site into smaller areas specifically targeted

to each segment. You might choose to have a link on

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your home page that says "Need to sell your home?

Click here!" In that section you can speak specifically

to the needs and concerns of home sellers. (Who are

usually women!)

Another area might be directed toward home buyers.

These people want lots and lots of information, including

pictures. Be sure to give it to them along with some

articles dealing with hiring a moving company, transferring

your utilities to a new address and how to prepare

children for a new school. Get it? Major decisions

require lots of information.

Keep Focused On the Customer

Above all, keep focused on your customers and their

needs. Resist the temptation to use your favorite

shade of pink as a primary color in your Web design

if your customers are mostly men. Remember that

you can choose to include an optional flash presentation

within your site if you're dealing mostly with women.

And always, always address your target market's

concerns and needs with benefit-oriented copy.

By combining the information within the 3 parts of this

series, you can truly make your online advertising more

powerful… and more readily received by your customers.

***The initial survey (about which I have written this

commentary) was conducted by Jupiter (www.jup.com),

a worldwide authority on Internet commerce.

About the Author

Karon is Owner and President of KT & Associates who offers

targeted copywriting, copy editing & ghostwriting services.

Subscribe to KT & Associates' Ezine "Business Essentials" at

BusinessEssentials-subscribe@topica.com or visit her site at

http://www.ktamarketing.com