Our media strategies editor lays out some guidelines for navigating the technologically dependant, data-driven media and marketing environment.

In my column of Jan. 22, I began a discussion of how modern marketing determines the success or failure of its own endeavor.

In a technology-heavy marketing environment, a lot more of what informs marketing decisions is based on consumer action that has been rendered into machine-readable form. That's another way of saying that pretty much all the stuff you do, say, think, say you think and buy are all turned -- as best they can be -- into data points that can be fed into a black box out of which comes answers about your likes, dislikes, and how to use those as a means of talking to you about the stuff I'd like you to buy.

In that column, I talked about the kinds of metrics readily available to the modern marketer, and how he or she can turn that into an advantage in a technology-driven media landscape.

I'd like to conclude that discussion now.

Segment profiling
What if, in spite of proprietary research conducted and syndicated research studied, half of those who would actually be interested in my product fell outside of demographic and action data points? What if I have a lifestyle product that appeals more to a consumer's state of mind and the things they do, rather than to his or her age or socio-economic standing?

Demographics have been used as surrogates for more specific behaviors or actions associated with endemic qualities of a given product or service.

With the advent of the internet as a medium, marketers are afforded, for the first time, the opportunity to reach an audience while they are authentically engaged in their selected enthusiasms. This means I can talk to you at a time when you're glad to be doing what you're doing, and I can do it in a place you're glad to be in. For the first time, audiences can be reached at moments between anxiety and boredom. Advertising that can be based on these engagements with enthusiasms can be more meaningful and more effective.

Imagine if I could read data on a user's activities, product consumption patterns, declared likes and dislikes and content engagement, and then determine what kind of advertising that user would be most receptive to?

As it stands today, demographics serve as surrogates for more meaningful information about a particular audience. Segment profiling and behavioral targeting are ways to identify an audience based not simply on statistical data points, but their likes and dislikes as deduced from their actions.

Through the use of behavioral targeting, one can decipher where a desired demographic intersects with a particular psychographic, as defined by given behavioral characteristics based on individual activity on a given site.

The data behavioral marketing technologies and research can bring together -- from a variety of user actions and engagements -- allows an advertiser to "triangulate" individuals within a desired target audience. That information can be what content section a user has visited regularly, what products they may have researched -- or even purchased -- online, or what email messaging has been recently encountered.

The opportunity offered is being able to get around demographics as a surrogate and instead go straight to the target.

For example, imagine if it was possible to target a potential audience based on their "worth." Behavioral targeting could allow for buying media inventory based on what kind of spending is committed by individuals rather than assumptions based on the content an audience consumes.

If you are an advertiser with a product to sell, wouldn't you like to know that your message was getting in front of someone you know spends a certain amount of money in your product category? 

With the kinds of data provided by technologies available to marketers advertising online, planners could be able to more precisely decide the placement of messaging in locations throughout a given site.   

After a brief run of media on a site, agencies can look at data and segment a given site's audience based on information that identifies those who were most responsive to messaging that was run. Take that and then cross-tab it with information about where these people go, what else they do, how they identify themselves on particular properties through declarative data (which is becoming more and more common online), and what other media they engage with. This would allow for precision targeting of messaging, better messaging design based on what is known about what this segment is like, and even what combination of assets and placements work best. 

With what could be learned about what an advertiser's best prospects like and do, the advertiser can build a surround-sound marketing environment with a comprehensive communications package that includes a variety of inter-media vehicles.

By using behavioral targeting, an advertiser would be able to essentially determine what inventory was garnering what quantity and quality of interaction and allow the advertiser to focus on the "sweet spot" of the audience reached, while still paying attention to other segments in the funnel.

The advertiser would know how, where and how much to allocate to resources against each segment, not just where else your ads can run, and not just what the most responsive audience does while on your site, but where else they go and what combinations of approaches works.

I can't emphasize enough what advertising technologies are enabling in a technologically driven media environment at the risk of diminishing what we humans have to offer. So much of marketing depends on the human element; we can't under-emphasize the role that plays. Marketing, advertising and any endeavor that seeks to understand human actions and the motives that inspire them, rely on both solving puzzles and the deciphering of mysteries. While machines are great at solving puzzles, leave it to the humans to decipher the mysteries.

Technology continues to open untold opportunities for advertisers, and the time has come to start using them. Somewhere between reflection and anticipation is the present. The future isn't waiting for any of us, and it is time we involve ourselves in it before we find ourselves living in the past. 

Media Strategies Editor Jim Meskauskas is vice president and director of online media for ICON International, Inc., an Omnicom Company. Read full bio.