Why personalising audiences increases profitability

For advertisers and publishers alike, the struggle to direct content to the right eyes and ears is real. While the battleground is cluttered, users are constantly on the lookout for relevant and useful information to absorb.

When it comes to targetable advertising, Facebook and Google are the undisputed trailblazers. Their proprietary data is heavily protected and intends to remain that way in the future. There are opportunities when they do share their data and information but these come with strict guidelines.

Due to the plethora of audience information and targeting solutions at their disposal, these Goliaths have grown consumers accustomed to a uniquely personalised online experience. In the maze of advertising, where personalised experience signals victory, audience segmentation is the prized map. The path is set.

© Dmitriy Denysov – 123RF.com

The competitive pressure inflicted by the giants of the industry has forever changed the advertising landscape and while publishers once peddled impressions to interested buyers, the focus is now on plugging deep audience demographics and psychographics to monetise inventory as CPMs take a petulant back-seat.

To unlock the full potential of digital advertising and become a worthy contender in the race, publishers need to enrich existing audience data and segment their profiles. Integration into DMPs where planners can easily lock in an audience profile, affords them the opportunity to align digital content with users 4 basic advertising requirements:

1. Interests
2. Needs
3. Consumption habits
4. Propensity to purchase

These days, planners booking placements on ad networks or in real-time care little which publisher is serving the ad. They care only whom their ad is reaching.

From an audience perspective, the less personal or relevant an ad is, the higher the likelihood of ad-blocking. Shifting the focus from environment to audience puts the brakes on ad-blocking. The relationship between publisher and user is based on trust, in which an identity is established in exchange for value.

Tools like Effective Measure’s emPower offer segmentation data, which enables agencies and advertisers to target specific audiences online via rich demographics. These include age, gender, profession and income and people who have interests in online content such as automotive, sports, shopping and real estate.

By using audience data to enrich data and systematically segment the market, publishers are able to uncover potential niche markets, where they can maintain a lead and cash in on efficient customer conversion and market expansion.

Publishers in control of their audiences have the clout to discuss identity as something that powers strategy, inspires creativity, and facilitates innovation, all the things needed to compete alongside the titans of the industry. It also presents a significant opportunity for publishers to boost the value of their inventory by offering premium inventory and one-to-one precision targeting.