The best weapon publishers and advertisers have for fighting off the effects of the recession is consumer behavior data. Follow these tips for incorporating this powerful tool into your strategy.

With an economic crisis threatening the online industry, I can't help but think back to the last time I faced a similarly daunting economic environment in 2000. Back then, I was the CEO of my first start-up, an online digital media company I founded. At that time, the online advertising world was dominated by banners, which accounted for 48 percent of online advertising revenue. Keyword search accounted for only 4 percent at the time, according to the IAB and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Fast forward to the first half of 2008. Banner ads now comprise 21 percent of online ad revenue (their share of the market since 2005), while search is up to 44 percent.

But the key difference in online advertising between 2000 and today isn't the change in the leading ad inventory vehicle. It's the availability and use of data.

Today, whether we're using banners, rich media or search, we have mounds of metrics that are helping us make smarter, more cost- and brand-effective decisions. In an environment driven by an intense efficiency-versus-effectiveness matrix, the use of targeting data exchanges and the smarter use of data will be the differentiators between those who weather the storm and those who are washed ashore.

Here is how the new world of data can fit into the strategic plans of both publishers and networks in the next few challenging years.

Publishers

1. Drive product extension via a solid data strategy.  It will be rough going out there for a while, and only publishers with strong balance sheets are going to survive. A great way to enhance your ad-based revenue stream is via a smart data sales strategy. Without any additional sales overhead and no use of ad inventory, you can build new revenue sources to buffer the down cycles.

2. Create audience extension opportunities. You have a hot campaign. Now, more than ever, you need to take advantage of it. Rather than under-deliver and leave money on the table, use your audience data in combination with a data-driven ad exchange to extend your audience and fulfill your campaign. How? Well, it may be hard to fathom, but your website visitors are going elsewhere. And just because they came to your site as 35-year-old males interested in a new SUV doesn't mean they magically morph into 22-year-old females interested in the latest handbags when they visit a gossip blog. By partnering with a data driven ad network, you can reach your same users outside of your site, delivering the same "tagged" high-value audience in a lower cost venue. Think of it as an out-of-market franchise that sells your product in addition to your flagship store.

3. Use behavioral targeting data to power premium sales. In our current economic situation, user behavior becomes as important as context. Consider adding a layer of behavioral targeting (BT) data to the campaigns you sell to enable a higher advertiser return and a premium for your already-valuable inventory. The fact that someone is interested in content on your site is obviously relevant to your advertisers. The fact that a visitor has also been identified as Hispanic, recently visited a travel site and searched for a flight to Europe takes that relevancy to a new level. Via partnerships with BT solutions companies and ad networks that leverage behavioral data, you can provide an enhanced level of targeting that turns your premium inventory into ultra-premium inventory.   

4. Focus on privacy friendly, non-personally identifiable data (as opposed to user profiling). With privacy still an important issue for users, Congress and the FTC, working with data exchanges and ad targeting tools that trade in anonymous user data, not user profiles, enables you to remain privacy-friendly to your readers and advertisers. Now is not the time to kill the goose that laid the golden egg -- and data can be your nest egg in tough times.

Advertisers

1. Include BT data to better target your ads. With greater pressure on advertising to perform, why not add a layer of behavioral targeting data to increase your rate of success? In the current economic climate, where consumers are changing their behaviors with the whims of the market, BT may prove a much better conversion indicator than context (especially when it comes to unemployed bankers reading The Wall Street Journal). It's time for you to push your media planners to really step up and be innovative. By including BT and lower-priced, less contextually focused inventory in your mix, you can lower effective CPMs and increase ROI.

2. Reduce targeting costs by using a data and media exchange. The economic benefits of the exchange model are self-evident. Advertisers only pay for user behaviors that are relevant to their campaigns, and publishers can end up with premiums for untargeted inventory. Investing in building a keen understanding of the dynamics of the media/data exchange landscape can yield a solid ROI, even in rough times. 

3. Think of every campaign -- even for the biggest brands -- as a direct response campaign. Even the most esoteric brands and campaigns will begin to have hard back-end goals. Now that we have better metrics for measuring performance across the spectrum of online advertising vehicles, it is easier to approach online advertising with a direct response mindset. This will enable you to focus on metrics such as conversions and cost per acquisition, which will improve an advertiser's ROI. Again, intelligent use of data to track the complete performance of an online campaign means any advertiser can turn into a direct response marketer.

4. Targeting by data and not by users. Though privacy issues have had more of a negative impact on publishers and data providers than advertisers, no one should consider themselves immune to privacy backlash. Therefore, even advertisers can benefit by running ad campaigns that utilize personally unidentifiable data -- as opposed to user profiles -- to stay on the safe side of the privacy debate. Networks have a big stake in keeping the golden egg from becoming a government omelet.

As we contemplate a new world of revised advertising and marketing budgets, hard deliverables and cranky media buyers, let's be thankful that this time around, we have the gift of better data. Though there are still metrics that need better definition and measurement, we are miles away from 2000.

Meir Zohar is the CEO and founder of eXelate.