Targeted advertising

Advertising is one of the most important decisions a marketer makes and media purchasing is the most expensive of all advertising spending. Ensuring that media is bought effectively and not directed toward the “wrong people” has always been a challenge for marketers (Iyer, Soberman & Villas-Boas, 2005). Traditionally, the goal in media planning was to minimize wasted advertising this was done by reducing the quantity of advertising sent to consumers who are unlikely to purchase or have an interest in their product and who are not active in the category (Iyer, Soberman & Villas-Boas, 2005). This is the reason target advertising came to be. Targeted advertising is a form of advertising that focuses on certain traits of the consumer, these traits are based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting. They are located in areas where consumers with those traits are likely to come upon. These traits can either be demographic which are focused on race, economic status, sex, age, level of education, income level and employment or they can be psychographic focused which are based on the consumer’s values, personality, attitudes, opinions, lifestyles and interests (Jansen, Moore & Carman, 2013). They can also be behavioral variables, such as browser history, purchase history, and other recent activity. Targeted advertising has proven to be beneficial for the advertiser as it is cost efficient because it is focused on certain traits and the consumers who are likely to have a strong preference will receive the message instead of those who have no interest and whose preferences do not match a product’s attribute this eliminates wastage (Iyer, Soberman & Villas-Boas, 2005).