With its ability to target consumers based on their actual shopping preferences, behavioral advertising has become a very popular tool among marketers and retailers. And the behavioral targeting trend shows no signs of slowing down, being applied not only to traditional online marketing campaigns but to mobile marketing as well. That’s because behavioral marketing has proven to be more effective than non-targeted advertising, converting consumers into buyers at more than two times the rate. It’s also more profitable, generating 2.68 times the revenue per ad than non-targeted advertising, according to the Network Advertising Initiative.

How behavioral targeting works

Behavioral targeting uses the cookies from a person’s browser to show that person ads for things they have a proven interest in. So, for example, let’s say you have a client who sells consumer electronics (digital cameras, camcorders, printers, etc.). Using behavioral targeting (and an ad network; see below), you can find consumers who recently performed a search for “digital cameras,” and show them ads for digital cameras just about wherever they go online that features ads.

Similarly, if the person just purchased a digital camera, you can use behavioral targeting to show them online ads for, say, photo printers or photo editing software.

As a marketer, that kind of targeted approach to advertising is incredibly powerful as you can now target campaigns based on consumers’ actual buying and browsing behavior instead of having to guess – and achieve better results (more clicks, higher conversion rates).

As an educated consumer, I realize that online ads are not going away any time soon — and if I’m going to be served ads on all my digital devices (I have too many) why not make them relevant to me? But I also realize this comes with a price. Ads can quickly become irrelevant to me, and marketers may misinterpret my online behavior or invade my privacy.

Privacy advocate groups have the similar concerns. In fact, Google and Mozilla are now introducing Do Not Track features to their browsers (due in part to pressure from the FTC). There is also talk of an opt-out registry, which could be similar to a telemarketers “Do Not Call” list. However, it will probably be a while before advertisers and ad networks adopt such a system.

Targeted mobile marketing

As stated above, one of the hottest areas where behavioral targeting can make a big difference is marketing to a mobile audience.

Mobile devices (namely smart phones) are increasingly becoming a part of the shopping process, as well as a way for brands to really connect with their target audience. More and more, shoppers are using their smart phones for comparison pricing, looking for coupons and discounts, and sharing information about products and services on review and social media sites.

Using mobile behavioral targeting (aka mobile and location marketing) you can now target customers when they check in at locations (using Foursquare, for example) or scan products, pointing them to products or promotions they might not have otherwise been aware of.

Advertising networks and behavioral targeting

To implement your behavioral advertising campaign, you are going to need to partner with an advertising (or ad) network that understands and tracks consumer behavior. Similar to media buyers, ad networks allow you to run targeted ads across hundreds, even thousands, of websites, rather than just on specific sites.

However, all ad networks are not the same. So make sure the ad network you work with understands your target audience (and defines it in the same way you do) and can and will place your ads on sites your target audience is likely to visit.

How behavioral targeting benefits your clients

Not only is behavioral advertising more targeted than traditional advertising, it also tends to be less expensive. So clients don’t need a big budget in order to cast a wide net to catch their target audience. Additionally, the returns are higher, because behaviorally targeted marketing campaigns and ads are reaching the right people at the right moment.

Everyone knows the economy is bad. I was talking to a friend in the home construction business the other day. His business has dropped nearly 60 percent, and he’s doing better than most in his field. He thinks that a tide of rising inflation over the next six to twelve months will make the economic situation even worse. We’ve all been told that we have to weather the storm. I see it a little differently. I’m a surfer. When a storm comes, I don’t just weather it, I relish it.

This past weekend we saw one of the biggest swells to hit the Northeast in at least half a decade. Hurricane Bill produced waves that averaged 15 feet or more. Everyone was told to stay away from the beaches. But the surfers, those who were brave enough, flocked to them. They saw opportunity and challenge when others saw only adversity. I see the economic storm in the same way. These challenging times require that we work harder, not hide under cover and wait for the storm to pass.

This is exactly the time to be thinking about your online strategy. Connecting with your customers online allows you to be more targeted and ROI-centric, and to do more with less. Email campaigns, building networks though social media, and targeted online ad campaigns are all relatively inexpensive ways to stay connected to your customers. What’s especially good about these media is that they can readily be altered to adjust to changing times. Print campaigns can’t do that, and they’re not as targeted.

And the only thing worse than losing customers when times get tough is losing them for good because someone else took advantage of an opportunity while you sat on your bum.

Welcome to our venue for getting personal.  This is where we’ll share our know-how and stay in touch with our professional community. It’s also a platform for others to speak out on trends, best practices and their own insights. It’s a space to open up about our experience and our experiences, and process our processes…and I’ll start off with our thinking about this very blog.

So how do we –or you– know if it’s right to launch a blog? Or the right time? When it seems like everyone’s already blogging, why should anyone start something new?

In our case, we’ve been recommending blogs and social media for clients for sometime now, as part of a robust integrated marketing strategy including other initiatives like email campaigns, search marketing, PR, speaking at conferences, etc. We set our own marketing priorities just as we would advise our clients. First we redesigned our website so that it effectively presents our experience, services and brand personality, and rigged it so it brings in leads and subscribers to our newsletter. Second, we swore to doing our monthly newsletter, Loewy’s Latest, with no excuses, once a month. Now is the blog, and next up is our Facebook Page, Twitter…all the social media we provide the strategy, design and technology for to our clients.

Basically, before starting to roll out social media for our own company, we spent time generating a sort of critical mass through other outlets: optimizing our website to build more traffic, creating a larger pool of contacts through our email newsletter. Now that we’ve achieved that critical mass, it’s time for us to take it further – expand our network and allow the conversations to become less one-way.

A blog is an appropriate choice for us because it’s a good fit with our brand: conversational, friendly, smart, and collaborative.  It’s also a good fit with our goals. We have a lot of experience to communicate but we’re also are always looking for ways to improve and stay on top of emerging trends. Our blog will let us do both.

So how’s your website doing? Does your online identity fit your branding strategy? Does your website’s overall experience match the quality of your products and services?  Are you getting leads, selling products, building awareness or even getting traffic?  If the answer is yes, then maybe you’re ready to do a blog – because you have an audience, a tone of voice and a network. You’re ready to be a thought leader in your industry or at least have an opinion. Of course you can have a blog without a corporate website, and you can even make money at it.   But if you’re like us, and most of our clients and peers, your website is critical for doing business online, disseminating information, and creating the first point of contact for all potential customers.

Let’s say you’ve got it all together and you’re ready get started.  Keep your blog focused, stay in tune with what you know and be relevant to your game.  Yes, there are many blogs in your industry, but any niche or network can use fresh thinking, so don’t be apprehensive. Like any tool, if it is available and right for you, then use it.  Make sure it doesn’t duplicate what your site is already doing for you and your audience – consider it an avenue for a different kind of messaging and communication.

For us, we understand that our audience is an intimate group of professionals looking to share best practices for doing business online. In upcoming posts we’ll be engaging our network and sharing our points of view on what we do best: providing the strategy, design and technology to companies that value the power of the internet. We’re kicking off the dialogue with several topics each month, coming from senior Loewy staffers with different areas of expertise.

Here’s to getting social. We’ve opened the floor, now we invite you to join the conversation…and if commenting is not your thing, just stop by and say Helloewy.