Big Brands and Direct Marketers Alike Can Recognize Greater ROI Through Dynamic Profiling.

One of the most common demands from brand managers and CMOs is the ability to access good quality traffic at scale. The problem is that all too often, it is hard to differentiate good traffic from bad because not enough is known about the potential customer. If more information was available, particularly more relevant information, then advertising could be intelligently targeted with a resulting increase in conversions. Dynamic profiling is the solution.

What is dynamic profiling? In this context it means identifying various consumer segments within an existing customer base and creating specialized customer relationship management (CRM) tactics for each segment. There’s a lot of flexibility in terms of how much or how little personalization
is involved and so the extent to which a particular advertiser may implement profiling tactics is completely within their own control.

To take an example, Advertiser X as a grocery brand may be interested in increasing awareness through social media. One approach would be to engage as
advocates for the brand customers that have lots of Facebook “friends” or Twitter “followers”. Once they’ve identifi ed this group, the advertiser can find ways to provide them with free samples, coupons or branded merchandise in hopes that these consumers will amplify the brand’s message online.

In another example, Advertiser Y as a provider of financial services may be seeking to identify new customers for its two most profi table service categories, life and auto insurance. Through research the advertiser might learn that individuals who are at least part-time employed, and receive direct deposits, and have a household income of over $75,000, are more than four times more likely to become long-term clients. With this insight, the company may then choose to revise its outbound call center processes to allocate these high value leads to more experienced agents in order to increase sales potential.

The question then becomes, how can advertisers go one step further and gain more insight and data points on existing customers or newly generated leads? At my own network we have found that it can be as simple as just asking for more information at the right time and place in the customers online experience.

In an ongoing effort to better understand the needs of consumers visiting the sites that we service (in addition to our own portals), we have profiled over half a million Americans on a wide range of cultural, lifestyle and economic topics. This initiative has generated over 6.5 million qualified responses through our survey module. As a result, we are hugely better equipped to market to these visitors because of the extra insight we have gained into their situation, wants and needs. Furthermore, once the consumer has expressed an interest in one of our advertiser programs, we are able to pass that data along to the advertiser so they may market to these consumers more effectively.

Market intelligence gathering via consumer surveys is not a new idea, but what is new and exciting is what we can do with current technology. Static surveys, landing pages, email messaging or call center scripting, to name a few examples, are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Through very basic programming, brands and marketers can generate more relevant profiles on consumers through conditional questioning. While these dynamic features do bring a little more complexity to marketing programs, it is very manageable with the right tools and the added value makes it well worthwhile.

Businesses have long recognized the value to be gained from high volumes of traffic across digital media. By collaborating with their marketing partners more strategically, brands are now able to also increase revenue by segmenting that traffic efficiently, allowing them to then focus only on consumers that
fall within a tighter effective demographic. Through dynamic profiling, they are able to engage the right audience with the right message at the right time, thus rendering their programs more profitable and adding value to the bottom line.