When behavioral targeting first launched a few years ago, everyone was excited about the incredible possibilities that it offered to advertisers. Pundits endlessly spun out scenarios for advertising tailored to an individual's specific interests. Then the more tactical questions started to arrive: Does it work? How is it bought and sold? What is the scale?

If the tremendous growth in behavioral targeting over the past year and the predictions for 2006 spending are any indication, these questions have largely been answered. With those operational issues resolved, it is time to turn some marketing attention once again to the more advanced possibilities that behavioral targeting holds for marketing and answer this question:

How do I use behavioral targeting to get the most ROI for my marketing campaigns?

One of the great advantages of behavioral targeting is that it enables marketers to consider multiple consumer behaviors when developing their advertising campaigns. Using behavioral targeting, marketers can modify their messages based on how consumer behaviors evolve over time.

That is to say, behavioral targeting can help move a consumer through the four key stages of the purchase decision cycle:

1. Brand Awareness
2. Message Association
3. Brand Favorability
4. Purchase Intent

To do this, advertising doesn't rely on the traditional "call to action." Rather, it matches the consumer's own decision-making pace by drawing the customer closer with a sequence of ad creatives that prompt successive mental commitments.

Let's take a look at two campaign examples to illustrate this.