Getting To Know You

The cost of a service or product today is minuscule compared to the budget allocated to get you to buy it. That is why manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers spend billions of dollars each year to target their consumer base with information directed to the people who will want or need their product. Years ago, this would take the form of expensive focus groups and test marketing that would give them a target range of consumers to sell to. However, with the advent of the computer and the worldwide web, targeted marketing is now a high-tech industry that can tailor ads to individual users.

The marketing industry now spends billions on software that can identify and pinpoint prospective customers. By following the links that users click on to, they can find what interests, jobs, hobbies and recreational activities of any person who uses a computer. Amazon has turned this into an art form. They can not only recommend a book to you, they can extrapolate the information given to them to include genres you might like, as well as other goods and services people like you have used and enjoyed. Although this may have a "Big Brother" aura about it, the fact of the matter is by purchasing something online we are handing over all sorts of information about ourselves that we may not even realise.

The computer has changed the marketing industry and become its best friend. Information that once would take months to gather, collate and analyse can now be done almost instantaneously. Political parties can now gauge reaction to a position in a debate as the debate is happening. This type of real-time reaction is the vanguard of how targeted marketing will be done in the future. There will come a time when the reaction to a TV ad will result in a customised offer to the viewer before the end of the show.

All this has come about because most consumers are creatures of habit. We tend to watch the same kind of shows, eat the same type of foods and like the same type of recreation as others in our demographic. By finding out our income and education level and so on, marketers can find out what and where we will consume. You apply for a home mortgage online and the next day your Yahoo page will be filled with advertising for all sorts of lenders.

Targeted marketing has changed the way we shop, of that we are sure. The industry has saved countless hours of browsing by pointing us to exactly what they think we will want. This is often the case since we are creatures of habit. However, the next time you fill out a survey to win a gift card, you might want to think twice about the information that you are giving away.

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