The benefits of an integrated audience platform enable marketers to apply offline practices to online advertising activities. Here's why that's important.

Historically, targeted advertising was a simple process, but like all things in the accelerated landscape of the online world, the industry has grown crowded with the proliferation of new platforms and targeting touch points.

Audience data now generates from numerous places and lives in different silos, which can often create confusion and obstacles on the marketing side of the equation.

According to Jeremy Mason, VP of Audience Gateway Solutions, it is critical at this juncture in the growth of the industry to have a unified system, an integrated audience platform when navigating the data targeting landscape, or you risk getting very, very lost.

Whatever your source of inventory is, however, it is important to access the loop of data sources, Mason said in his Spotlight presentation at the iMedia Agency Summit in Austin, Tex., and that audience data can be accessed from many places:

• Online behavior
• Workplace attributes
• Ad views
• Transactions
• Registration
• Searches
• Geo/DMA
• Third-party partners
• Offline data

Audience Science approaches targeting by segmenting the multiple sources of data mining and consolidating them into a single platform, a single view of the consumer. As a result, an integrated audience platform creates a wider variety of data and results in a more targeted audience.

"Finding a solution that has a lot of flexibility is very important," Mason said. "Get out of it what you put in."

A few of the benefits of integrated audience platforms include:

• Gather data from many channels, both online and offline, and integrate them into a single anonymous view that drives revenue and increases relevance in the consumer experience
  
  
• Reaching to get your messages out via all available channels makes the most of your audience intelligence and ensures consistency in communication across the board
  
  
• Advertisers should select data/technology partners who follow industry best practices regarding gathering and anonymity of data.

As an example of the benefits of an integrated audience platform, Mason pointed out that they enable marketers to apply offline practices to online advertising activities, and that audiences are created by marketers through combining and refining of data. They also provide a combination of audience segmentation, analytics, inventory access, and reporting capabilities that enable advertisers to target ads to audiences with high interest or intent to purchase their product/service.

Top secrets for successful targeting:

• Utilize non-traditional sources of data
• Eliminate data silos -- this is critical
• One data warehouse/platform for frequency accuracy
• Separate audience from media
• Continually optimize data sources
• Develop an audience strategy, not just one-off data source acquisitions
• Be a very good player in the privacy arena

On the issue of data and privacy commitments, Mason encouraged the following:

• Know where your data is coming from
• Work with companies that have a strong data heritage
• Lead the charge with best practices (with the IAB, NAI, Better Advertising, etc.)
• Start using Enhanced Notice NOW

Gretchen Hyman is executive editor for iMedia Connection.

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