Do You Behave? Online?

• by Dan Bailey

Online consumer behavior and personal information are obvious hot topics in marketing today.  Interestingly, I read a lot about advertising possibilities to seek out and connect with specific consumer profiles. The research shows that consumers grow in researching online before purchases. There is also obviously more and more noise online. So how are marketers enabling customers to cut through the clutter and find what they’re really looking for online? Its a different way of looking at marketing, but it can work on the Web – because there’s always someone out there looking for what a specific company can offer. This of course harkens back to Chris Anderson’s Long Tail Theory – where niche offerings (and niche eCommerce and search marketing strategies) grow online due to the available, reachable customer base.

According to a recent article, there’s a lot of room to grow here. MediaPost.com’s “Keyword Campaigns Must Grow Longer Tails” by Laurie Sullivan says it in the title itself. The premise being that not only do more companies need more long-tail search marketing, but they need to monitor and adapt to changing consumer online search behavior. Its all too easy to fail by emphasizing company-centric keywords over evolving consumer preference.

The other, controversial side of online consumer behavior concerns issues of security, privacy and identity. It’s one thing for consumers to more easily find what they search for online, but what about when tailored one-to-one advertising finds specific consumers? Hence, another recent MediaPost.com article, “IAB: ‘Advertising is Creepy’” by Wendy Davis, shows the Interactive Advertising Bureau is conducting an ad campaign to defend itself against those privacy concerns. The attempt is to educate the public on interactive advertising, by hitting readers with headlines like “Advertising is creepy” and “Hey, this banner can tell where you live. Mind if we come over and sell you stuff?” Which, for me begs the question – how’s that working for ya?

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Jake Aull | Marketing Strategy | Social Media & SEO | Digital & Creative
email | zenofbrand.com | @jakeaull | jakeaull.wordpress.com