semcasting news

'Big data' marketing unwieldy for some U.S. companies

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:00:27 +0000

According to eMarketer, U.S. companies are becoming increasingly aware of the "Big Data," concept where all of the relevant internal and external data available to businesses is applied to the decision making process for marketing. The biggest concern about Big Data is the uncertainty around how a business will effectively manage and make use of such a large store of information.

Forty-five percent of respondents in a Connotate survey said that the top challenge faced with Big Data was that they "must devote significant manpower to collecting and analyzing data. Too much information to effectively leverage for business" came in second at 44 percent of respondents, and other concerns ranged from the lack of value afforded by common data sources to too many data sources to track.

These concerns are laying the groundwork for a push toward a more comprehensive data analytics solution, yet many businesses are unaware of their options.

One way that some marketers and advertisers are dealing with the overload of consumer data is through the use of predictive modeling. A solution like Semcasting's IP Audience Zones can use reliable, statistically valid algorithms to divide U.S. consumers into Zones of potential online audience members who have demonstrated a pattern of behaving the same way. IP Audience Zones has packaged an overwhelming amount of consumer demographics and transaction data to identify audiences who will be favorable for advertisers in the long run. IP Zones ad targeting draws on over 750 location-based psychographic and demographic data points in order to narrow down the best potential audience pools who are the likeliest candidates to respond to a campaign. This puts invaluable information in the hands of marketers, who can target the bulk of their ad spend toward the right audience members at the right time without getting lost in a sea of irrelevant browsing history and then having to select audience segments that are typically based on a single purchase or small number of inferred data points.

Context matters, but predictive analytics might matter more

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:00:26 +0000

According to eMarketer, contextual based online advertising has been a staple in the industry for years and when it comes to click-through rates it is the approach that has predictable return. Marketers making an effort to align their campaigns with the content on the host site do see a boost in CTR of as much as .05 percent for online advertising over run of network.

Targeting the correct audience makes a difference in online advertising, but there may be an even more effective method for accomplishing these results than a simple contextual approach. Contextual advertising makes a blanket assumption that all online users who are visiting a site are automatically qualified prospects for whatever is being advertised. This is typically not the case - a visit to a site is not always a clear indicator that the user is qualified with the necessary affluence level to buy the website's products, or is the right life stage to transact, for example.

Semcasting's marketMATRIX offers a more effective route for advertisers seeking to ensure that their ads are targeted at the optimal audience with the right messaging. MarketMATRIX harnesses predictive analytics to divide the entire U.S. into more than 5 million unique sub-zipcode "Zones" that statistically define any customer base into hundreds of demographic and psychographic profiles that describe each Zone. Zones are summarized as audiences with the highest concentration of people who align with the median age, affluence level, and political orientation of known customers. Knowing the profile of the customer allows the marketer to target people who look just like them. Based on these look-alike models (which afford up to 77 times greater accuracy than standard geo-zip-code targeting), marketers and advertisers can avoid wasted ad spend and impressions to ensure that their ads are making it to the audience that's most likely to transact.

Personalization helps sustain the effectiveness of regular promotions

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:00:28 +0000

Consumers might find it favorable for retailers to hold constant promotions, but is this the best way for companies to realize big profits? Allowing consumers to get used to special deals and discounts awarded at regular intervals can effectively train your best customers to always look past standard pricing - something Jack Aaronson, ClickZ author, likens to Pavlovian conditioning.

"Pavlovian marketing stems from the idea you train users to only shop with you when they know they'll receive a discount," ClickZ author Jack Aaronson writes. "When we constantly give out coupons, not only do we provide a stimulus for buying, we also actively train customers to buy from us when they get coupons. Some may argue this is the point of coupons, but there's a secondary effect. If the coupons occur on a continuous reward schedule, we train people to shop only when they get a coupon. This can be disastrous for sales margins, as well as for brands."

For some retailers, however, these promotions are their best chance for grabbing the attention of consumers in an already volatile and competitive marketplace. Weaning customers off the habit of discount shopping could be easier said than done when they don't know how else to attract and retain a loyal customer base. In this regard, Aaronson recommends personalizing ad campaigns to build a lasting dialogue that survives promotion cycles.

Fortunately, Semcasting's unique predictive modeling capabilities draw off of hundreds of publicly available data points to help advertisers recognize and segment consumers based on "look-alike models." These demographic and psychographic profiles accurately paint a picture of consumers based on their location, life stage, political leanings, affluence and more. Companies may be able to avoid the cycle of deals and the ensuing detrimental effects, provided they get to know their target audience better and personalize their advertising in a way that consumers will find valuable. Consumer knowledge can be used to great advantage when attempting to attract consumers back to the store by building a lasting dialog with potential consumers.

Numbers are nil without relevant analytics

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:00:24 +0000

A point of contention among advertisers for some time is that behavioral data targeting isn't as efficient as it should be in reaching the online customer, but not many agencies and advertisers have managed to come up with at a better solution. Today, targeting by cookies, analyzing web site visits and CTRs is the closest many marketers and advertisers can get to understanding what makes consumers tick, but as ClickZ's Jim Sterne puts it, "people do the strangest things when you don't know what they're doing."

According to Sterne, many advertisers would be hard-pressed to understand who the target customer is and whether one, six, four or five out of every 10 online visitors was a viable prospect who was ready to buy.

IP targeting provides a solution, however. Rather than attempting to triangulate data gleaned from cookies and pixels, Semcasting's MARKETmatrix will show advertisers the demographic and psychographic profiles of the users who visit a web address based on geospecific, publicly available data. This information is gleaned from over 750 statistical data variables that work together to create reliable, realistic "look-alike models" of various consumers and placing them into Semcasting IP Zones that are 77 times more precise than zip code level targeting. Putting the right information in the hands of advertisers and helping them garner the most value out of their advertising dollars is suddenly a much more efficient and comprehensive process.

Email spending on the rise for 2012

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:00:29 +0000

While pundits and economic forecasters predict uncertainty in the coming year, advertisers and marketers can rest assured that they'll still have decent budgets with which to work. According to a recent survey by StrongMail, 92 percent of marketers plan to maintain or expand their budgets in 2012. Email advertising is one ad category where marketers will increase their spending for 2012, reports Direct Marketing Magazine.

Of the 939 executives surveyed, 60 percent indicated they were planning to increase spending on email campaigns over the following year. That's in comparison to 54 percent who said they would increase spending on social media and 37 percent who plan to increase their spending on mobile and search.

Respondents also indicated that they were considering reducing spending on direct mail, tradeshows and other events in 2012 to make room for spending increases in other areas.

Kara Trivunovic, the global director of strategy at StrongMail, says it isn't at all surprising that some forms of advertising will draw additional investment. "In order for companies to get out of their economic troubles, they need to invest in marketing efforts to drive revenue," she told Direct Marketing Magazine.

Email campaigns are a favorite strategy for marketers because they are cost-effective to implement and success is easier to measure than many other types of campaigns. Even though social media is gaining popularity, marketers struggle to gauge the effectiveness social platforms.

The success of email campaigns is easily judged by the number of emails sent versus the investment return. In order to make the most of an email campaign, marketers need to know that the right consumers receive the emails they send out. That means they need a way to pinpoint the most highly qualified audience for every individual campaign.

On-Demand Targeting by Semcasting can help. On-Demand Targeting works by using advanced predictive modeling techniques to identify prospects who are most likely to respond to a given offer. By calculating hundreds of demographic and psychographic data points, On-Demand creates a look-alike model of a company's current customers and then uses Semcasting's proprietary database to match these with other consumers who fit the same mold. By using this method, marketers will be able to make the most of their email campaigns and see the highest return on their email advertising investments.

Don't dismiss email just yet

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:00:48 +0000

While many contend that email as a promotional vehicle is dead, the facts don't support the idea. While it's true that more consumers are relying on mobile devices and social media sites to communicate, studies show that most people still check their email on a regular basis, ClickZ News reports.

"At my firm, we are constantly measuring email behavior," David Daniels, CEO of The Relevancy Group, told the news source. "A study that we did last November of 1,001 consumers ages 13 and up found that 93 percent of online consumers check their email account at least once a day, if not more frequently."

Email is a great method for nonprofits, small businesses and vertically focused organizations who need to maximize their marketing outreach for a minimal capital investment. Email, a relatively inexpensive marketing tool, is a great medium for these organizations to continue to communicate with customers and prospective clients.

The challenge most businesses face when organizing an email marketing campaign is who are the best candidates to receive their online mailers. Companies need a way to effectively target the consumers who are most likely to invest in their products and services.

On-Demand Targeting by Semcasting is the perfect tool for organizations looking to reach out to the largest qualified audience in their email marketing campaigns. Using this process, organizations can identify and target consumers simply by uploading their current customer base. Semcasting uses predictive analytics based on patented genetic algorithms to create look-alike models of the current customers. This allows businesses to target their email outreach to those who are most likely to have a need for or have a history of buying similar products or services.

Email campaigns help interested consumers become customers

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:00:49 +0000

Every company tries to engage online prospects by driving them to their company website and then encouraging them to register or setup an online user profile. However, users who might initially click on the link may balk at the thought of spending time setting up a user profile or sharing their contact information. Of those who do put in the effort, almost half will be unlikely to return if the company doesn't reach out within an hour of their signup, according to ClickZ News.

The best way to ensure that those who do sign up, be it for a free trial or account, come back is by reaching out to them through email within 15 minutes of their initial registration.

"I received a couple of notification emails as part of that trial, but never got any "how-to" or "have you tried" emails that might have helped me take another step," says Brian Massey of ClickZ News. "This is crucial in driving the next conversion: trier to user."

Email campaigns are among the best ways to engage a company's prospects and turn them into actual customers.

In order to ensure that your emails don't simply end up in the trash box, it's important that marketers pay close attention to a few key elements, Massey explained. First, it should instantly be clear who the email is from. The company name as well as what it is they do should always be included - never assume an online user is familiar. It's also important that the email documents be grammatically correct and free of errors. And consumers who have already expressed interest, for example, by clicking on a link within an email and signing up at the page, should experience regular outreach through the same medium. Of course, doing so requires that the content of each email is compelling and unique. Finally - and perhaps most importantly - you need to ensure that the initial emails themselves are being sent to the right people.

Semcasting's On-Demand Targeting can help businesses optimize their email campaigns to ensure they're reaching out to the best-qualified individuals. By uploading a list of current clients, Semcasting uses patented predictive analytics to create highly specialized models of other likely candidates for a particular product or service. With their proprietary offline database, Semcasting can provide the essential data, such as demographic profiling and contact information, to help a business selectively target the most ideal prospects for its next email campaign.

Thanksgiving creates the perfect opportunity for nonprofits to cash in on good will

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:00:40 +0000

Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away, and it's traditionally a time for folks to sit back and reflect on the good fortune they have had throughout the year. Those who are able often give back a little of what they've earned to their communities and favorite charities - making them the perfect candidates to be contacted by nonprofit organizations who are looking to raise a significant percentage of their charitable donations over the holidays.

The individuals who are the best candidates to give a little something back to their community or to a cause that they hold dear are those who have prior associations with a particular organization and those with a past history of charitable giving. Nonprofits need a way to target these individuals effectively - without spending a whole lot of money in the process.

That's where MARKETmatrix comes in. MARKETmatrix by Semcasting uses patented genetic modeling technology to create predictive models that match your current customers to Semcasting’s proprietary data store to find prospects with similar demographic profiles. MARKETmatrix allows marketers to target over 5.2 million zones that are based on clusters of individuals with similar demographic characteristics. Organizations can use the Zone targeting of MARKETmatrix to execute highly targeted campaigns through direct mail, online display ads and Facebook ads. Gearing online campaigns toward the most qualified prospects based on the prospects being in the market and having the ability to afford the offer gives marketers a better opportunity to reach more qualified prospects, generate more sales, and receive the highest returns on their ad spend.

2012 Primary Season

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:00:38 +0000

With the 2012 U.S. primary season about to get under way, campaign organizers are already gearing up their messaging and fundraising efforts. Several key states such as Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina are jockeying for position on who goes first, but primary elections are clearly going to happen earlier than usual. This means that political consultants, strategists and campaign fundraisers need to move even more quickly.

An important part of the campaign is targeting the candidate’s platform message to sympathetic voters who are most likely to help turn the tide of your campaign. For many, this means not only appealing to the base but also communicating the right message to the Independent voters who will most likely be sitting on the sidelines until it comes time to vote. Providing a clear, concise message that clearly resonates with the voter will bolster poll numbers and fundraising as well as bring more constituents into your camp.

Campaigns require resources, and resources in politics are defined as both working capital and volunteers. It is important to use all the tools and all the marketing channels available to strategically reach the largest possible audience using the most cost-effective means to improve your resource base. That's why multi-channel campaigns make the most sense.

The nature of campaigns has changed since 2008 when the Obama campaign opened up the digital advertising world to politics. Direct mail and telemarketing became de-emphasized in favor of email marketing, Facebook and Twitter. While direct mail and telephone call centers still play a role, cost benefit analysis often tells the campaign to adjust its media strategy. The challenge, however, is determining which volunteers, donors and voters you need to reach through which mediums.

Semcasting's MARKETmatrix is a free tool that can help campaign organizers do just that. It's easy to use: simply upload the information from the voter file for those who are known supporters, or those who you suspect may be sitting on the fence. MARKETmatrix uses Semcasting's proprietary offline database, which contains information on over 227 million individuals with more than 500 publicly available data points - including 12 years of voter registration and voter contributions data. MARKETmatrix creates digital profiles that help campaigns find the voters who best match the profiles of supporters. This enables the campaign to identify which constituents would best be served by a personal phone call or a brochure, and which may be better served with a simple email message, allowing organizations to maximize both their funds and their outreach in time for the primaries.

Forget Google Analytics - MARKETmatrix does more for less

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:00:40 +0000

Google has recently released its new ad service, Google Analytics Premium, to international acclaim. However, while company employees and marketing experts are busy plugging the pros of the service, which include enhanced visibility for users in both search and display advertising, technical support and training on how to make Google ads more effective, a less frequently published aspect of the program is its price tag: a whopping $150,000. Many businesses will find the price of the service prohibitive and, according to top marketing experts, the price may actually represent a much lower figure than Google thinks the service may actually be worth.

"If Google is coming in with one price for every customer, this is yet another indicator that they haven’t really figured out the enterprise space," Aseem Chandra, vice president of product marketing for Adobe’s digital marketing unit, said in an interview with Wired Magazine. "If Google is selling this for $150,000 a pop, they can’t really create a meaningful revenue stream for what is a $30 billion business. I think Google is pushing this as a loss leader to grab the ad spend."

This would indicate that the search giant's $150,000 price tag, while already prohibitive for many campaigns and businesses, will only go up in the months and years to come. MARKETmatrix, on the other hand, is a free service that can help any-sized campaign or business operation, no matter how large or small.

MARKETmatrix, by Semcasting, Inc., is a multi-channel campaign planning and targeting platform that has been designed to help marketing agencies, ad networks, database marketers and web analysts find the best prospects for their business. In addition to informing a marketer who the current customers are and where they are located, MARKETmatrix creates a digital look-alike model from those current customers and generates an audience of prospects who are qualified by over 120 different demographic vestors.

The program is amazingly simple to use. Simply upload your current client list and, within seconds, MARKETmatrix will match the data from your list with results from Semcasting's proprietary offline database. The database includes over 227 million individuals scored according to more than 500 publicly available data variables. You'll be able to reach and categorize nearly 100 percent of your qualified targets without compromising consumer privacy. You'll receive a profile report that captures exactly who your customers are across multiple demographic categories, and you'll also see how many prospects exist online and offline that look just like your customers. Plus, because MARKETmatrix is not dependent on cookies or tracking pixels, it helps marketing campaigns reach nearly 100 percent of both online and offline audiences - something Google Analytics, which relies solely on online search criteria, can't do.

Marketers are cashing in on increased Hispanic ad spend

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:00:50 +0000

Advertisers are increasingly recognizing the Hispanic market as one of the most lucrative demographics to target with multicultural campaigns. Data compiled by the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) found that a 14.2 percent budget allocation is being targeted toward Hispanics (the same percentage of Hispanic adults in the U.S.), AdvertisingAge reports.

This doesn't come as a shock, considering that Hispanic buying power topped $1 trillion in 2010 and is expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2015, according to the University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth. This growth rate trumps that of all other ethnic groups in the country.

"The Hispanic market alone, at $1 trillion, is larger than the entire economies of all but 14 countries in the world - smaller than the GDP of Canada but larger than the GDP of Indonesia," said Jeff Humphries, director of the Selig Center.

Despite these astounding figures many companies are not as quick to catch on to the trend as one would expect. The AHAA study found that an underwhelming 5 percent of the top 500 advertisers in America spent an appropriately sized 14.2 percent or more of their 2010 advertising budget on targeting Hispanics. In fact, the majority - 57 percent of these advertisers - spent less than 1 percent reaching out to this lucrative ethnic group.

"Brands with a Hispanic market focus with determination and discipline are going to see more rapid growth," Santiago Solutions Group president and chief strategist Carlos Santiago told AdvertisingAge. "Companies cannot just pop in and out of the Hispanic market and see benefits."

In order to realize the most return from their multicultural campaigns, agencies must have the most up-to-date and relevant demographic information available for targeting. For this reason, Semcasting’s Hispanic Index Indicator, allows advertisers identify Hispanics at the household and neighborhood level. The Hispanic Index Indicator can help marketers effectively target the 16 million-plus Hispanic households in the U.S. with multi-channel campaigns that are most likely to reach (and make an impression on) Hispanic consumers, whether it be through email, direct mail, online advertising or social media marketing. Advertisers can tap the enormous opportunity afforded by Hispanic buying power by channeling their spend in the most cost-effective manner.

The importance of hybrid media and multi-channel outreach

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:00:30 +0000

Marketing experts generally agree that online marketing is among the best methods for reaching consumers because most consumers spend a considerable amount of time surfing the internet. Social media sites, in particular, have garnered a lot of attention because of the way they attempt to reach online consumers based on the topics, products and services they've expressed interest in. Social consumers also share their preferences and activities with friends, which serve as additional word-of-mouth advertisements.

A third avenue for online marketers is content marketing. Content marketing involves providing useful, compelling and informative content to online users that will encourage action. It relies heavily on a well-placed search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to drive online user traffic and help companies solidify their brands and establish themselves as thought leaders within their respective industries. According to a recent survey performed by HiveFire, Inc., content marketing is expected to dominate many other forms of online ads throughout 2011 and into 2012.

Even with these new outlets at their disposal, marketers are still relying on traditional advertising methods, such as display ads or direct mail for targeting their best potential consumers. According to Steve Rubel, Executive Vice President of Global Strategy and Insights for Edelman, it's a blend of these strategies that are going to yield the most success for marketers in the months ahead.

"There's an emerging class of media brands that are smart, scrappy and unmatched in their digital DNA. Call them hybrids," Rubel said in AdvertisingAge Magazine. "They're digitally native and entrepreneurial. They use social and search to their fullest, yet many of them have a traditional ad-sales network that resembles their legacy-laced brethren."

Rubel believes that a combined approach of social media, content and traditional advertising will carry companies further than focusing their efforts on a single strategy. By implementing multi-channel touch points, businesses can maximize their outreach and remain relevant within their industries.

"In a world with too much content and not enough time, hybrids are the future of media," Rubel states in AdvertisingAge. "That doesn't mean the media stalwarts or social networks will fade, mind you, but this is the breakout group to watch."

In order to execute such a multi-pronged campaign, marketers need the right tools. In particular, they need a way to focus their audience targeting methods to ensure that they're reaching the right people with every message they send, whether it's an online banner ad, a social ad, an email or a piece of direct mail. By doing this, companies can minimize their ad spend while at the same time maximizing the return on their investment.

Semcasting's online targeting solutions help businesses identify the best prospects by targeting digital look-alikes across multiple channels. Using advanced analytics, companies can leverage Semcasting's automated predictive modeling using over 750 demographic variables. The process is easy - simply provide a list of your current customer base, and Semcasting will do the rest. They'll analyze the attributes of your current customers to create the digital look-alike models, then they'll use the information to search their proprietary offline and online IP Zones database for the very best prospects that match your current customers. Businesses can increase their outreach to qualified audiences and maximize the returns on their efforts across multiple channels using targeting that is based on customers who have voted with their wallets for their products or services.

Ad race for 2012 Elections heats up in time for the holidays

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:00:30 +0000

This year, political candidates will have to compete with the usual seasonal flood of holiday advertisements from retailers trying to make the most of the festive season. Not including the races for hundreds of congressional and local candidates, campaign spending for the presidential race this cycle is expected to blow away the 2008 campaign cycle's record-breaking $1 billion in advertisements.

"Ads in the presidential race will be the single largest sector," Ken Goldstein, president of Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group, told Advertising Age Magazine. Goldstein predicts that political advertising will generate between $2.5 billion and $3.2 billion this political cycle. Online spending for all categories is expected to hit $5 billion this year, according to AdvertisingAge.

With many states electing to hold their primaries earlier than usual this year, there's been a lot of scrambling to get the advertising messages out to the public in time. Online ads are a great way to move a campaign forward quickly because they typically don't require the same amount of preparation that television ads require in order to get placement..They also serve as a cost-effective way to build one's brand and to solicit campaign donations. However, online ads should make up just one part of a well-planned, multi-channel campaign in order to attain the maximum outreach.

"The window has really opened up," Jack Poor, vice president of marketing at the Television Bureau of Advertising, told the news source. "The implication for advertising is that campaigns will have to be active many more weeks, which is going to make it more expensive."

With all of these impending campaigns cueing up, marketers need a way to ensure that they have the tools to deliver the right results to aspiring candidates and their campaigns. They need a way to target the voters who are most likely to support their candidacy while also targeting those sitting on the fence. Campaign organizers need to reach those who have demonstrated a particular affiliation but who may have, for whatever reason, been unable to make it to the polls in recent years. Independent voters, fence-sitters and disenfranchised party members are the voters who have the power to put the candidate over the top in a close election.

Semcasting provides the perfect solution for political marketers who are looking to engage in highly targeted multi-channel campaigns. Semcasting’s multi-channel targeting approach helps campaigners identify the most qualified prospects for a particular candidate or campaign across multiple mediums. With 12 years of voting and fund raising history and more than 750 different demographic variables, Semcasting can target voters based on party affiliation, donor value, ethnicity, affluence, life stage, and interests. You can also provide a list of your current supporters, and Semcasting will create a predictive model that identifies the specific types of voters that should be contacted. Digital "look-alike" models for your direct mail, email, online and Facebook campaigns help identify all the potential supporters for any candidate or issue that is driving the campaign. Using that information, political marketers can craft an optimized multi-channel campaign in order to reach the largest number of supporters with the right message.

Targeting our new middle class

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:00:37 +0000

There's little doubt that America's socio-economic profile is changing. The rich are getting richer and many of the middle class have been pushed out of their own ranks - leaving a "new", smaller middle class in their place. And, according to industry experts, this smaller, more diverse, segment of the population is less willing to part with their hard-earned dollars.

Over the past decade, overall consumers cut 4.2 percent of their spending (judged in 2010 dollars). Those cuts weren't the same for all levels of affluence in society. The upper 20 percent of earners reduced their spending by only 6 percent, whereas the bulk of middle-class families cut as much as 10 to 13 percent of their usual spending budgets, according to a recent article by AdvertisingAge Magazine.

It may be convenient to blame the recession, however, studies clearly show that there is more at play. Paychecks from what was the traditional middle-class haven't been going up at same rate they used to - in fact, middle-class families, on average, have not increased their income since 1997, according to AdvertisingAge.

In addition to making less money and spending less, surveys show the composition of this new middle class is also quite different. Hispanics, for instance, now encompass 16.3 percent of the population and are expected to have a purchasing power of $1.5 trillion by 2015, according to The Shelby Report. The number of biracial Americans has doubled since the 2000 United States Census, and, by percentages, Asian Americans are the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S. today. When these factors are taken alongside changes in income it paints a picture of a very different type of middle class - and advertisers need to adjust their plans accordingly.

"In the early 1970s, the median family lived on one paycheck," explains Harvard Law professor and 2012 senate candidate Elizabeth Warren in AdvertisingAge. "Today the family in the middle brings home two paychecks. The shift from one income to two has had seismic implications for families across America."

It has seismic implications for marketers and advertisers, too. "We're seeing a lot more paycheck-to-paycheck buying and so in those instances, you're talking to consumers with limited dollars," Rick Shea, a food-marketing consultant and former Kraft Foods marketer, told AdvertisingAge.

Marketing and advertising associates need to shift their promotional approach to a method that focuses on targeting very specific consumers. This approach, when performed successfully, helps marketers spend less on their advertising while still achieving the maximum results for a given campaign.

Semcasting can help marketers do just that. Using their patented predictive modeling and analytics, Semcasting can help businesses build professional demographic profile and look-alike model reports of their current customers, across multiple mediums. This enables marketers to actively target only the most highly qualified candidates who are likely to express interest in a particular product or service. The result is that companies spend less to receive more - mimicking the behavior of our new middle class.

Introducing MARKETmatrix - it’s not Google Analytics

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:00:27 +0000

Later this month, Semcasting will announce its newest multi-channel marketing platform, MARKETmatrix. This free platform has been designed to help marketers manage their outbound advertising programs while also providing a simple way for advertisers, agencies, ad networks and web analytics providers to communicate with each other about their current customer bases. Marketers will now be able to identify new prospects based on the profile of current customers in seconds. These new predictive models are called "look-a-likes," because they identify prospects that look just like the customers you already have .

Recently, the emphasis has been placed on inbound marketing tools, such as Google Analytics, which measure and report data such as how many times a website has been visited, or how many "friends" or "likes" a company can obtain. While useful information that can be gained from these inbound marketing platforms they don't reveal any real data about who the people who are who click on your site. Without knowing who your current customers are, there's no way for you to strategically identify other prospects who look like them, and no way for you to broaden your outreach.

MARKETmatrix examines your current web traffic and not only provides some of the traffic metrics and other information that an inbound marketing platform provides, but it also gives you a detailed demographic report on those who visit your site. MARKETmatrix produces a demographic profile using more than 500 different demographic variables such as affluence, affiliation, life stage and ethnic background, all from Semcasting's proprietary offline database.

Other inbound marketing platforms tell you how many people are visiting your site or viewing your advertisements. MARKETmatrix will tell you exactly who is visiting your site and clicking on your ads, and where you can find others just like them. It can help you locate solid prospects across multiple channels, and will help provide you with the answers to your outbound marketing questions. And because it's a free platform, there's little, if anything, for you to lose. Try MARKETmatrix for your next marketing campaign and start identifying who your customers and their look-a-likes are, and ultimately, how to best reach out to them today.

Semcasting to appear at DMA2011

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:00:50 +0000

Semcasting will be attending the DMA2011 Conference and Exhibition this October 2nd through the 4th, demonstrating their Multi-Channel Marketing platform, MARKETmatrix. You can get your own preview by visiting booth 2211. Emphasis will also be placed on their Facebook microTargeting and On-Demand Targeting services, as well as their newest data solution, IP Audience Zones.

MARKETMatrix is a new analytical profiling service developed to help agencies, ad networks, analytics providers, corporate marketers and database marketers to better identify customers through predictive modeling methods. Using "digital look-a-like" models, Semcasting helps companies understand their current customers and site visitors. MARKETmatrix helps companies improve their lead generation practices online. And best of all, the service is entirely free.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) offers over 20 conferences a year geared toward helping businesses make their direct marking solutions more efficient. The DMA Conference and Exhibition is unequivocally the biggest event of the year, and attendees can expect to encounter the latest in direct marking technology and advancement.

This year, the event will be held at the Boston Convention and Exposition Center. Those who are interested in attending can register online at the DMA website. If you would like to set up a meeting with Semcasting, please email them at sales@semcasting.com.

Multi-channel campaigns: Multiple touch points create lift

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:48:24 +0000

The concept of multi-channel marketing has taken off over the past several years. Whereas marketing campaigns once pursued a single route to reach individual consumers, studies performed by the Direct Marketing Association have revealed that reaching out to the same prospect several times, through a variety of mediums, can garner dramatically improved results for a business' bottom line.

One study in 2010 suggested that a multi-channel approach to marketing and advertising can increase the results of a simple direct mail campaign from 1.38 percent to 1.85 percent. The best way to complement a direct mail campaign, it seems, is by using an online approach. Therefore, businesses would be wise to allocate at least 20 to 25 percent of their advertising budgets to online impressions, as they can increase results by up to 34 percent for the same or just a slightly higher cost.

Imagine that you're a marketing executive getting ready to send out a large volume of direct mail advertisements for a new product. Before sending the mailers, you can use online media to reach out to potential consumers and pique their interest in your campaign. A Facebook advertisement or message telling customers to "look for a postcard containing a special offer" is an effective way to ensure that when the postcard does arrive, it gets more than a cursory glance. By reinforcing the offer after the mailer, either through email or an online banner, you present yet another opportunity for a prospect to take interest.

Semcasting has embraced the new multi-channel approach and has used the theory to enhance clients' results. As a forward-thinking thought leader of the industry, Semcasting helps organizations drastically increase their responses through the use of sophisticated multi-channel campaigns that utilize direct mail, online targeting, social media and email outlets to send similar offers to consumers who are likely to require the products and services a business has to offer. Not only can they facilitate a campaign, but by using their carefully cultivated micro-targeting technologies, they can help businesses pinpoint their ideal audience so that the offers carry maximum effectiveness.

Businesses and non-profit organizations alike can benefit by using the Semcasting multi-channel marketing approach to target the consumers or donors who are likely to invest in their enterprises.

Pursuing the largest qualified audience improves response rates and lowers costs-per-lead

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:48:24 +0000

The way that advertising works is simple, at least in theory: response rates are determined by the content of the ad, the attractiveness of the offer and the ability of the ad to reach the right audience. While many spend time cherry-picking limited leads gleaned from the use of cookies, a better approach would be to go after the largest qualified audience using microtargeting techniques that don't involve tracking consumer habits through the controversial use of cookies.

Because some consumers take pains to clear their cookies and because they expire on their own every 30 to 60 days, advertisers who rely on them are really only reaching out to about 40 percent of their target audience. Microtargeting helps them reach the other 60 percent while respecting and protecting consumer privacy.

Semcasting helps businesses boost response rates by up to 18 to 25 percent using sophisticated microtargeting techniques that access the largest qualified audience - consumers who are actually interested and can afford to purchase the advertised products.

By combining the right offer with the right audience, Semcasting helps companies get a better return on their investment and results in a lower cost-per-lead because more people are buying the product.

Effective digital targeting of affluent consumers

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:48:24 +0000

For years, marketers and advertisers have been bending over backwards trying to come up with ways to target their ads toward the most affluent American consumers, or those who make $100,000 or more each year. While wealthy Americans are obviously ideal candidates for advertising campaigns, they have also been the hardest to reach from a marketing perspective because, at least statistically, they're the lightest media users in the country.

However, new hope for advertisers may be on the horizon. A new study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reveals that while affluent Americans are indeed less likely to turn on the television or radio, they are far more likely to plug in to digital media than most other Americans. According to the study, most Americans spend about 34 hours each week in front of the tube, and a total of 16 hours listening to the radio, making them prime targets for outbound advertising. High-income earners, however, spend on average of about half as much time on both activities. The good news is that 98 percent of high-income earners spend an average of 26 hours surfing the net each week. That's in comparison to 79 percent of the general population, who use the internet only about 21 hours each week.

Affluent individuals are more likely to spend time on a computer, smartphone or tablet device than they are sitting in front of the television or radio. In fact, smartphones are currently the most popular digital tool of choice, with orders surpassing those for PCs for the first time in history. The IAB study shows that they are not only the perfect candidates for online advertisement, but they are more likely to click on the advertisements - as long as they are relevant.

An advertisement in itself just isn't enough to capture the attention of affluent Americans, however. In order to be effective, the ads must be targeted so that they address other demographic attributes of high-income earners.

Semcasting IP Audience Zones addresses this problem by helping advertising agencies pinpoint their audience. Through the use of genetic algorithms and thousands of predictive models that account for other factors like age, political affiliation and life stage, Semcasting has separated the United States into 580,000 "zones" and accounted for over 750 different demographic variables. Using all of this comprehensive information, advertisers can send carefully crafted messages to their intended audiences in order to produce the greatest return on a business' advertising investment.

Targeting the 60 percent of industry that is being ignored by ad networks and advertisers

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:48:24 +0000

The way things stand now, advertisers and their networks plan campaigns and expend a large amount of resources to engage online consumers, but not always to the greatest end. In most cases, the consumers selected to receive such advertisements are tracked through the placement of cookies.

Cookies tend to point to a likely prospect, but relying solely on the information derived from a cookie is a mistake for several reasons. First, most consumers don't like to have their habits and activities tracked. They consider their internet browsing a private activity, and many aim to keep it that way by enabling their browsers to block cookies, or by regularly clearing their computer of cookies using internet safety software. Cookies also regularly expire after 30 to 60 days. These restrictions against cookies mean that an estimated 60 percent of all the potential consumers aren't identifiable by cookies and therefore aren't being reached by advertisers.

Even in the best case scenario with 100 percent coverage, an internet advertiser will garner a 1.5 to 2 percent click-through rate for online advertisements. When more than half of online consumers restrict cookies, that number is drastically cut down to .6 to .8 percent - leading to a lot of missed sale opportunities.

A better idea that reaches a much wider audience is to use information that isn't limited in scope to the ephemera of consumers' last click-through or online habits. There is plenty of public offline data readily available to advertisers that doesn't call for online tracking. For example, if you know that a particular person is a college student, you can target him with products and services that students in college are likely to require, such as school supplies, electronics and deals for the best local pizza parlor.

Semcasting IP Audience Zones takes a different approach to advertising. Instead of trolling the web for would-be buyers, this unique and comprehensive advertising strategy is geared toward opening up the entire inventory pool based on multiple data points and real information available without the use of cookies. This enables you to reach 100 percent of possible consumers and do a better job determining which are the best match for your products and services. You can increase your advertising effectiveness and bolster sales while respecting the internet privacy of your consumers.

How would users control their online privacy if they had the choice?

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:00:28 +0000

In a recent survey conducted by Aimia, a loyalty management company, it was reported that there was a notable difference between online privacy attitudes between adults under 30 and adults over the age of 30.

Respondents were asked to vote whether they'd prefer to "know what data is being collected," "opt-in to location tracking," "opt-in to online tracking," "be able to create a portable privacy profile" or "be rewarded for sharing personal data." In every category except the last, older respondents answered that they would favor choice and access to information and were generally more concerned about privacy. The younger generation favored only the personal reward method. In both age groups, certain methods of controlling privacy online were favored. The most popular option was "know what data is being collected," indicating that online users are more concerned with transparency than anything else. "Opt-in to location tracking" was in second place, followed by "opt-in to online tracking," "be able to create a portable privacy profile" and "be rewarded for sharing personal data," respectively.

Respondents to this survey weren't presented with the option of IP ad targeting, a solution that completely circumvents the need to collect online data in the first place. This method uses publicly available IP demographics to help advertisers narrow down their audience and focus their ad spend on the Zones where online users who are most qualified to respond to their campaigns reside. Rather than collecting cookies and consumer transaction data, an IP targeting solution like Semcasting's IP Audience Zones relies on over 750 demographic and psychographic data points to create statistically valid "look-alike models" of U.S. residents based on advanced predictive modeling techniques. This unique, privacy-friendly solution not only appeals to the growing consumer demand for greater transparency and respect of online privacy, but it is also more lucrative for marketers and advertisers, as it provides far greater reach than traditional OBA advertising and provides greater accuracy in targeting the correct audience.

How successful tech companies are targeting women

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:00:26 +0000

A discussion panel hosted by AdAge at the Consumer Electronics Show raised a point about the bifurcated marketing approach used by tech companies: while the vast majority are focusing their resources on targeting either men or women without differentiation, those who target women specifically are recognizing the need to appeal to their unique set of values.

"Women aren't wowed by the gee-whiz of technology," said Ann Mack of JWT, the news source reports. "Women are looking for technology that's simple and can help them manage their lives."

AdAge points out that GfK MRI's recent Survey of the American Consumer found that women direct about 50 percent of all purchasing decisions for computers and TVs. Messaging and demographic segmentation of women prospects in targeting for consumer electronics in particular represents a possible opportunity to marketers.

In order to target this market effectively, marketers and advertisers need reliable demographic and psychographic data that will help them reach the most qualified women audience for the offer being made. Semcasting's IP Audience Zones provides a unique solution in the form of IP targeting at the sub zip-code level, an approach that's 77 times more precise than standard zip-code targeting. By knowing which geo-targeted clusters of U.S. consumers are most likely to contain women with the appropriate combination of affluence level, lifestyle and interests to purchase their products, technology companies can make the most of their ad spend when creating campaigns that embrace their values.

2012 primaries: Message matters, but accurate targeting does too

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:00:25 +0000

A recent article in Advertising Age attributed Rick Santorum's success in the Iowa primaries to his ability to zero in on the most likely audience to respond to his platform. By recognizing that he could win over a percentage of Iowa Republicans (and not all of them), Santorum was able to focus his campaign appeal where it mattered most instead of spreading himself too thin.

"Candidates and marketing campaigns get into trouble when they try to be everything to everyone. The reason Rick Santorum did so well in Iowa is that he understood that about half of the conservatives would be up for grabs," the source points out. "Santorum knew who he was going after and focused relentlessly to close the deal."

The success of any political campaign depends on the accuracy with which candidates are able to identify with their target audiences. The same is true of commercial advertising campaigns - matching the message with the right audience makes all the difference. To identify the right online audience in commercial advertising there are methods for defining an audience. Online behavioral tracking is one method used, but because of how often cookies are deleted (whether by the user or on their own), cookie-based tracking leaves roughly 60 percent of the available population unreachable to your message. Some commercial and many other political campaigns use publicly available data at the zip-code level to address this problem, but the variance within the audience within even a single zip-code leads to a lot of wasted resources for marketers and for politicians who are trying to focus their campaigns on the audience that is most likely to respond favorably.

Semcasting's IP Audience Zones provides a far better solution by offering near 100 percent reach and 77 times greater accuracy than standard zip-code targeting. Using reliable psychographic and demographic data, IP Audience Zones can identify the highest concentration of aligned prospects or likely constituents who have the affluence level, political affiliation and life stage to make them the best audience to respond to a campaign.

Opt in, opt out, and the gray area in between

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:00:25 +0000

Following the FTC recommendations for new legislation for online privacy and the growing publicity that behavioral tracking has received, marketers and industry groups have begun increasing the visibility of their opt-out features to demonstrate compliance with the spirit of the proposals. However well intended, this approach may give users a sense of false security, leading them to assume that opting out once will protect their user data throughout the duration of their online experience.

"[Giving users the option to opt out of cookie-based tracking] may not actually be an effective strategy in the long run because at the end of the day, some vendors will play fair and do what they're supposed to do and others won't," said Semcasting CEO Ray Kingman. "Current site management methods don’t always place a systemic block on all cookies - it is often page by page, and sometimes site by site. And it's not unusual to find situations where you can block the cookie when prompted on the page you’re on, only to have another cookie for a related subject or product placed in its stead when you leave. Managing cookie placement could also turn out to be damaging to the user experience as cookies manage passwords and often help with performance."

A more constructive approach to managing privacy may be to look at how information about you and your activity is being managed. When a user has a "first party" relationship with the user, such as your bank or your Netflix account, the vendor who places a cookie should be able to use that information to improve the user experience. Not having to remember a login name or getting a recommendation for your next movie choice is a good thing. The privacy violation occurs when your bank or bookstore sells your interests or personal information to "third parties" without your knowledge. Managing this third party relationship and the transfer of information is the real privacy concern.

A solution like Semcasting's IP Audience Zones can effectively redefine the scope of the data advertisers have at their disposal, eliminating the need to close the privacy loopholes related to OBA.

Rather than relying on behavioral information bought from a data exchange to inform campaigns, advertisers could be using IP Audience Zones to tap into the much broader wealth of publicly available information afforded by the solution. IP Zones breaks hundreds of data points down into geo-specific groups of U.S. residents at the sub zip-code level - 77 times more granular than a zip code in fact. The IP Zones approach also provides approximately 60 percent more reach than cookies as well as significantly more relevant consumer data. Information to advertisers such as average age, household income, political affiliations and vehicle make for anywhere between 10 to 300 people who live in the same microtargeting IP Zone, eliminating the issue of individual data being passed to third parties promoting a more marketing intelligent solution that benefit all parties.

Establishing "permissible use" for online data

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:00:25 +0000

One of the common complaints about current online ad targeting practices is the tracking an individual’s browsing activity or behavior. When you visit a site more often than not your visit to that site is recorded or tagged with a cookie that can then be read by the vendor placing that cookie. In the last couple of years, in order to create more qualified reach for campaigns, there has been a shift to what is referred to in the industry as audience targeting. Audience targeting leverages your activities of being tracked to form "anonymous" intent segments of supposedly like-minded individuals. These segments are broadly licensed and resold to other companies who might have an interest in targeting people like you. The vendor often earns a royalty if your data is used - and most of the time this goes on without your permission and without you being aware.

The challenge with behavioral targeting is that it does serve to improve the user experience by storing your login information to make it easier to interact with your bank or online bookstore. Cookies also placed with vendors like your video rental store or favorite clothing store will use the cookie to make recommendations that can be very useful. When you as a user explicitly go to an online store, you establish what is referred to as a first party relationship.

"If you have a first-party relationship with Ann Taylor, meaning that you bought something online at their store, they should have the right to advertise to you without restriction," said Semcasting CEO Ray Kingman. "However, they should not be able to sell that to a third party who then turns around and sells you Coach bags because you looked at Ann Taylor."

The concept of establishing a minimal permissible use criteria on the use of behavioral targeted data would go a long way to eliminating much of the concerns about privacy. If you knew that your bank wasn’t able to legally sell or broker the fact you bank online and have a gold card with a high limit, it would take much of the edge off people’s privacy concerns. Should your bank be able to offer you a premium financial product? Absolutely. They should, however, not be allowed to broker your information to third parties for resale.

Semcasting's IP Audience Zones was created in order to address the issues of reach and to promote a privacy friendly method for doing targeting without third party cookies. IP Audience Zones forgoes the need to rely on cookies and site visits to specific vendors. Instead of relying on one or two intent data points from a cookie advertisers can tap into a comprehensive profile of an audience that is based on 750+ publically available data points which have been grouped into over 5 million location-based "look-alike Zones." Using predictive analytics, IP Zones creates Zones of similar affluence, interests and affiliation which are both demographically and geo-graphically aligned.

Using IP Audience Zones, a company like Coach wouldn't need to tap into Ann Taylor's customer base in order to find qualified leads for its campaigns. It could focus its ad spend on groups of U.S. residents who reside in the zones with the statistically appropriate affluence level and life stage to purchase Coach products.

Celebrate Data Privacy Day by switching to a privacy-friendly targeting solution

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:00:51 +0000

The fourth annual Data Privacy Day is set for January 28. Data Privacy Day is an international holiday meant to create awareness of user privacy online and provide educational resources to individuals who are online. The event was unanimously approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in a vote of 402 to 0 on January 26, 2009. Today, Data Privacy Day is recognized in the U.S., Canada and 27 European countries, as a way of promoting widespread discussion of how personal information is shared, used and collected by various agencies and organizations while also providing a forum to those who wish to share the latest methods for protecting privacy online.

Individuals, businesses, universities and governments observe this holiday and participate in privacy-related events. As one example, Microsoft is due to host an event entitled "The Collection of Online Consumer Data: The Good, The Bad and the Unknown." Google has also taken steps to empower its users on this holiday, launching tools like the Google Dashboard and Ads Preferences Manager. The discussions that take place on this day can often directly stimulate the production of new privacy protection technology.

While this is a largely user-oriented event, it encourages the participation of interested consumers and organizations, including many marketers and advertisers who are highly likely to participate and closely follow the proceedings. Some may even wish to mark the occasion by investigating ways to improve business processes so that they more closely align with the issues that drive the privacy issue.

Semcasting has been making this transition easier for advertisers everywhere with its IP Audience Zones solution. Unlike traditional online behavioral tracking methods, IP Audience Zones draws from hundreds of publicly available data points to create highly effective "look-alike models" of U.S. residents at the sub zip-code level. This eliminates the need to place cookies on browsers or use data from 3rd party resellers because IP Zones provides advertisers with near 100 percent reach, all without tracking user visits and while respecting user privacy. IP Audience Zones segments the U.S. internet into over 5.2 million home and business zones at the sub zip-code level, an approach that is up to 77 times more precise than zip code targeting. Each IP Zone provides audience profiles built on advanced psychographic and demographic variables that can help marketers identify where the most qualified audience for their campaigns is likely to be found.

IP targeting can help marketers get it right the first time

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:00:21 +0000

A recent ClickZ article referenced a mattress retailer that was able to improve its online advertising conversion rates after adjusting its campaign mid-cycle. The retailer had initially assumed that its primary audience was composed of those aged 50 or older, because this demographic typically reports more trouble sleeping. As a result, the initial campaign focused its approach on websites with user traffic in the 50+ age bracket. After running a click-through analysis, however, the retailer learned that though the bulk of impressions were being spent on an older audience, most of their conversions were coming from those between the ages of 18 and 45. The retailer adjusted its campaign to target younger audiences and witnessed a significant uptick in conversions as a result.

According to ClickZ, running secondary tests can help marketers and advertisers conduct campaigns on a trial-and-error basis in order to optimize campaign results. "Although it seems obvious, having the initial data means being able to smartly allocate marketing capital, and having access to ongoing data means not having to rely on old insights in a changing marketplace," the source reports.

Marketers are looking to get it right the first time and avoid accruing wasted impressions during the optimization phase. IP targeting helps marketers target their campaigns to the audience that is most statistically qualified to respond favorably. This has never been done at the IP level before.

Semcasting's approach to IP targeting is based on verified publicly available data that doesn’t require marketers to second guess their strategies mid-cycle. IP Audience Zones puts over 750 data variables in the hands of marketers, allowing them to target their campaigns to users based on accurate data and predictive modeling, taken from criteria such as life stage, affluence, political affiliation, ethnicity and more. Semcasting’s IP Audience Zones provides one of the most comprehensive demographic and psychographic views of consumer behavior-based companies, like the mattress retailer, so they are able to target the most qualified prospect from the outset of the campaign, eliminating some of the initial trial and error.

Are you crowdsourcing the right audience?

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:00:20 +0000

Crowdsourcing entails placing an open call to the widest possible audience to help brainstorm new product offerings, contribute personal knowledge or participate in a community-based campaign. Companies tend to learn early on that the most successful crowdsourcing campaigns will focus their outreach to a target pool of respondents based on set criteria. One recent example of this was inspired by Middle Sister Wines' crowdsourcing campaign, which targeted women with an interest in low to moderately priced wine.

According to ClickZ, Middle Sister Wines used online conversations to help develop new product offerings and maintained social engagement through its innovative use of fictional personas. Users would post messages to Facebook and inspire customers to participate in forums and various contests. This campaign focused on "women who enjoy drinking affordable wine." They determined that this demographic made up 60 to 80 percent of the market. This was in contrast to "men who purchase fine vintages," who currently received the bulk of the attention in wine marketing. Due in part to this targeted approach, Middle Sister Wines was able to garner 74,000 Facebook fans and continue a trend that has Middle Sister Wines doubling sales each year since 2006.

Targeted crowdsourcing is likely to receive more attention if the success rates continue. Marketers need to ensure that they're able to get sufficient exposure to the right audience on social networking sites and are displaying ads during the times that qualified users are most likely to see them.

Semcasting's facebook microTargeting fulfills both of these needs through the use of comprehensive demographic and psychographic profiles. Using over 750 data variables and predictive modeling, facebook microTargeting is able to identify the Facebook users who are most qualified to respond favorably to crowdsourcing calls to action when they are ready to respond.

Privacy and accessibility don't have to be mutually exclusive

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:00:58 +0000

As the online world enters an age of increased social sharing and a proliferation of information, people have raised concerns that it will become more difficult to maintain privacy. The Facebook interface encourages greater disclosure when it comes to user activity and sharing in order to drive more commercial opportunities for advertisers and themselves. Online publishers argue that the availability of free, up-to-the-minute information on the web usually comes at the cost of user information that drives advertising campaigns.

"We know that freedom isn't free," writes ClickZ author Andrew Edwards. "And that the freedom to access incredible amounts of goods, services, and just plain silly stuff pretty much at no dollar cost must have a price. That price, in large part, is the information collected about how we use data. Somebody once said information wants to be free. It doesn't want to be free. It wants to be offered in exchange like any other good on the market."

What publishers, advertisers and end users may not realize is that there is an alternative to data collection that can support the goals of all parties in an equally effective manner - all while respecting consumer privacy.

Semcasting's IP Audience Zones provides a solution to this business model challenge by circumventing the need to rely on online behavioral tracking. Rather than lean on cookie-based data (which has been reported to only provide reach or coverage of between 30 and 40 percent of each potential online audience at any given time) and instead of struggling to identify enough unique users to fulfill ROI objectives, IP Audience Zones opens up the entire audience potential with enhanced targeting options.

IP Audience Zones leverages publicly available data with an advanced geo-location microtargeting approach that maps the entire U.S. into over 5.2 million home and business zones. Each IP Zone of between 10 and 150 people is supported with detailed and summarized demographic and psychographic data for the over 227 million online consumers in the U.S. Consumers are grouped or clustered, using predictive model into IP Zone clusters of similar audiences based on social economic standing, affluence, interests and life stage. Unlike cookie based audiences IP Audience Zones provides nearly 100 percent audience coverage of any available audience that can be defined by over 750 verified household attributes. IP Audience Zones provides up to 77 times greater accuracy than standard zip-code level targeting, for users at home, in business, at an educational institution, a government facility or on wireless all while still maintaining an uncompromising support for user privacy.

Privacy as a commodity

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:00:58 +0000

According to the Wall Street Journal, companies like Microsoft and McAfee are authoring new solutions to address the online privacy issue by offering consumers the option of trading their private information for a profit to marketers and advertisers.

"I wouldn't give my car to a stranger [for free]...so why do I do that with my personal data?" remarked Giles Sequeira, a customer of a start-up that is selling users' data on their behalf.

This unique approach to privacy could present complications (or rewards) to advertisers if it begins to take hold in mainstream consumer culture. On one hand, incentivizing users to participate in the information exchange is one way to attack the privacy issue and provide a more forthcoming and transparent foundation for data management. On the other hand, a data for profit exchange introduces a new level of complexity and overhead when it comes to tracking, reporting and compensation. In addition, the notion of selling your private interests for a profit suggests that advertisers will need to have a way to validate the information in order to separate the real prospects from mercenaries looking to make a profit.

Advertisers have another option which bypasses all this overhead. Semcasting's IP Audience Zones can effectively circumvent the dependence on online behavioral tracking and provide advertisers with reliable user information that's based on publicly available data while maintaining the highest level of privacy. IP Audience Zones can create reliable user profiles based on more than 750 geo-targeted data variables that divide users into sub-zip code groupings based on race, ethnicity, political values, affluence, life stage and more. IP targeting is not only a solution to user privacy concerns, but a way for advertisers to expand their reach online. IP Audience Zones can target near 100 percent of the available national audience versus the 40 percent that's accessible through standard cookie-based tracking, a number that may only dwindle as more users begin to take steps to protect (or profit from) their online footprint.

Consumers may trust direct mail more than email

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:00:28 +0000

A study released this month by the marketing services firm Epsilon indicates that a full 50 percent of consumers prefer receiving offers via direct mail rather than email, according to Direct Marketing News.

"It's just 'surprising' because everything you hear in the media is basically counter to what the consumers are actually telling us, which is that direct mail is still the preferred channel," Warren Storey, VP of product marketing and insight at ICOM (a division of Epsilon), told the news source.

Upon further inspection, however, the results might not be all that surprising. The survey questioned 2,226 U.S. consumers. Of those involved, 60 percent reported that they felt a certain sense of enjoyment upon checking their physical mailboxes and finding letters inside. This lead to what marketers refer to as an "emotional connection" with the mail. Twenty-five percent of respondents said that they actually trusted direct mail more than email.

Smart businesses are rethinking email-only campaigns. While email is still a valid way to reach out to many people, relying on this medium alone could exclude a large percentage of American consumers who either don’t have email or who are well conditioned by the 75 emails they get a day to ignore promotional materials that arrive in the inbox. Instead, marketers should mix their email campaigns with direct mail in order to achieve higher campaign results.

On-Demand Targeting by Semcasting is one of the most effective ways to implement a highly-qualified direct mail or email campaign. Using their patented offline database, Semcasting is able to sort through millions of individuals and households and target them based on over 750 demographic and psychographic variables. Using these data points, Semcasting's On-Demand Targeting can create predictive models and help pinpoint the most qualified audience to receive a given offer, and determine which channel - direct mail or email will be most effective.

Tapping into the $1 trillion Hispanic market this holiday season

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:00:40 +0000

On the eve of the holiday rush, retailers are racking their brains to come up with a great promotional scheme. One of the biggest issues this year is determining who, exactly, companies should fix their focus upon.

The Hispanic market, which reached $1 trillion in buying power in 2010, is expected to grow to $1.5 trillion in 2015, according to Direct Marketing News. With all of those dollars in play, marketers are searching for the best way to reach out and connect with these individuals through their advertising.

Targeting the Hispanic market is simple: locate them and reach out to them at home. By sending out direct mail advertisements and inserts to communities that have a high number of Hispanic consumers, marketers can make the most of their ad campaigns.

The Hispanic Indicator Index by Semcasting can help marketers reach out to the more than 16 million American Hispanic households at home where they are most likely to open and consider your offer. By targeting the Hispanic audience at the right time and in the right place, marketers can see a better return on their holiday advertising investments.

Cash-squeezed nonprofits look to direct mail

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:00:36 +0000

In order to make the most of their fundraising efforts, many nonprofits are attempting to sharpen their messages and audience-segmentation tactics when it comes to direct mail campaigns.

Direct mail campaigns are a proven way for nonprofit organizations to reach out to a donor audience because, unlike many other types of fundraising, they're able to target to specific qualified individuals and are able to make very specific dollar requests. When the targeting method for this type of campaign is optimized, it's has a very good chance of producing results.

Semcasting's On-Demand Targeting uses patented predictive modeling tools to help charitable organizations identify the most qualified prospects for a particular fundraising venture. Using On-Demand Targeting, nonprofits can use factors such as affluence, affiliation, location and other demographic attributes that might pinpoint individuals as likely donors.

Semcasting can use an organization's current donor list to develop a predictive model of who their supporters are. Using this model, Semcasting can help identify "look-alikes" who are similar to their current donors and therefore are more likely to support their cause.

Semcasting's On-Demand Targeting helps nonprofits and other organizations maximize their outreach and generate greater returns for their direct mail and email efforts.

A fond remembrance of Steve Jobs: visionary, technological innovator and marketing guru

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:00:53 +0000

This week, the world lost one of the most creative and innovative visionaries it's ever seen.

Steve Jobs started Apple with no more than an idea and a sense of American entrepreneurship. Though the soon-to-be computer tycoon had only completed a single semester at Reed College, the seeds of his vision blossomed into a mighty company that has been at the forefront of technology ever since. He was the living proof of the American dream in the modern world.

Jobs was also chief executive of the innovative Pixar Animation Studios and later served on the board of directors for The Walt Disney Company, which purchased the then-small animation house in 2006. Disney's Pixar went on to create such hopeful and inspiring feature films as Meet the Robinsons, Wall-E and Up.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve," Apple said in a statement.

In addition to his achievements in technology, Steve Jobs was an innovative marketer who changed the way the world does business. He believed firmly in the viability of his company's products and knew that, if given the chance, customers would believe in them too.

It was his remarkable success at branding the Apple name that, at least in part, inspired millions of companies around the globe to launch their own branding initiative. Everybody knows Apple, and the iconic symbol that stamps each of its products and services is recognized almost everywhere.

"Steve Jobs's ultimate significance was as a marketer," David Barton, a professor of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Without that marketing genius our world would be different."

He died at the age of 56 after an eight-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Throughout that time, he never lost his creative vision or dedication.

Steve Jobs left an impression that will never fade away. Within moments of his passing, people all over the world were mourning, sharing their memories and ruminating on the myriad ways he had affected their lives. Most of them had never even met Jobs, but his life's work had touched them all.

Reaching out to the Hispanic electorate effectively this campaign season

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:00:40 +0000

With politics as polarized they are now, most campaigners are reaching out to multiple constituencies trying to gain all the leverage they can. One of the largest constituencies that gaining the most attention this electoral cycle is the Hispanic population, which has experienced a giant surge in growth over the past decade. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the number of Hispanic individuals legally residing in the United States has grown by 43 percent in just 10 short years. That's in comparison to a 16.3 percent average growth of the rest of the U.S. population.

Those numbers alone make Hispanics prime targets for campaign advertising.

The Hispanic population alone makes up between 9 and 10 percent of the total electorate, a percentage that could make or break a campaign that's running a tight race, according to Advertising Age. In some key states, however, Hispanics make up between 12 to 16 percent, and sometimes as much as 35 percent, of the voting public.

What's the best way to reach these influential individuals? Most campaign platforms tend to target immigration reform when attempting to talk to the Hispanic public, but there may be a better way - and it's much simpler than many suppose. Advertise in Spanish, says Mark Mellman, a pollster and president-CEO of the Mellman Group. After all, immigration isn't the only issue that affects voting Hispanics.

"They're interested in the economy, jobs, education, government waste and higher taxes. Language is also important," Mellman explains to Advertising Age. "A large percentage of the swing voters - one-third or more - is Spanish dominant. A relatively small group only watches English-language media, and even they think it's important to advertise on Spanish-language media. They say that's a sign of respect for their community."

Semcasting's Hispanic Index Indicator can help. Using their patented database, Semcasting can help campaigners reach out to millions of Hispanic households across the United States to ensure that their message is received by whomever it was intended for. By using database marketing solutions such as the Hispanic Indicator Index, political campaigns will know that their constituencies are well-informed on the issues and platforms that they believe are important for the future of the nation.

How campaign organizers can target more efficiently and garner increased support

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:00:50 +0000

The Presidential election is two years away, and for campaign fundraisers and event organizers, that's practically no time at all. Messages need to be crafted, funds need to be raised and key constituencies need to be reached out to. Candidates must travel around the country and effectively orchestrate their outreach in a manner that generates the optimal amount of support. All of this requires intensive data gathering and lots of time spent analyzing both base supporters and those who are sitting on the fence.

To gain enough support to ensure a victory on election night, politicians need to make sure that they're getting their message out there to all the right people - namely, those people who are likely to be motivated and actively supportive based on your position on key issues.

Communicating your position on key issues can be very expensive, whether you use television, direct mail or phone calls. In spite of the rhetoric, reaching out to everyone isn't cost-effective or even feasible. Many voters have already decided who they're voting for and will toe the party line in this polarized electorate. However, even with a polarized electorate, studies show that 40 percent or more of that electorate is still independent and will listen to a message that resonates with the issues that they care about. Identifying those who may not have made a decision yet means that you know how to match the right message with the right people.

Semcasting Political Party Data and Contribution History Data have helped campaign managers and their workers make the most of their fundraising and messaging investment by systematically looking at voting and contributions history and applying predictive modeling to segmenting audiences into issue-based constituencies. The Semcasting approach to campaign targeting can help organizations maximize ad spending by connecting them with the most qualified prospects using high-quality voting behavior, demographics and consumer data.

Part of Semcasting's approach involves targeting people in their digital neighborhoods. Using genetic algorithms to pinpoint IP clusters at the sub-zip code level, they've created thousands of predictive models and divided the country into almost 600,000 different "zones" made up of between a dozen to 500+ individuals. Using this data, they can help politicians qualify their audience by political affiliation, lifestyle, affluence and many other demographic factors that would mark them as good targets to receive a political message. Using this information as a baseline, the models are extended to prioritize these voter zones into issue-based constituencies, whether a voter's hot-button issue is healthcare, tax policy or labor rights.

Make sure your campaign uses all the tools that are available, such as IP Audience Zones, so there'll be no regrets once the votes are tallied.

Embracing change: the rise in Hispanic population offers a unique opportunity for advertisers

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:48:23 +0000

In 2010, the United States Hispanic population demonstrated their purchasing power at over $1 trillion, and that number is expected to continue its growth substantially in the coming years. Based on a recent study by Advertising Age, the Hispanic population in the U.S. has grown by an astounding 43 percent in the last decade - and that's compared to a 16.3 percent growth in the remainder of the U.S. population.

With such a large emerging market identified, marketers would be foolish not to take advantage of it. However, the issue does present some challenges. For one, the Hispanic population is highly diversified, as it represents a large number of countries and cultures. That's why companies need a way to attribute more than just ethnic background when planning their marketing strategies and ad campaigns. They also need a way to identify key demographic factors such as affluence, life stage and interests.

Semcasting Hispanic Indicator Index can help marketers identify and reach out to the increasing number of Hispanic households and businesses. Using the Hispanic index in combination with Semcasting's other targeting demographics, campaigns can be tailored to effectively target the $1 trillion+ and growing market based on factors beyond ethnic background, thereby allowing the marketer to achieve maximum returns.

The rising Hispanic population indicates a key emerging market

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:48:23 +0000

The Census Bureau - in its 2010 headcount - is reporting that the U.S. Hispanic population grew to 43 percent, rising to 50.5 million in 2010 from 35.3 million in 2000. Latinos now constitute 16 percent of the nation's total population of 308.7 million. Latinos also now account for about one in four people under the age of 18, suggesting that Hispanic buying power will be on the rise in the coming decade.

Data suggests that the top U.S. Hispanic city is currently Los Angeles, California, however it is the southern states that are experiencing the biggest surges in Hispanic populations. The 2010 Census revealed that between 2000 and 2010, the states of South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas saw the largest rise in Hispanic population, in that order.

Semcasting's Hispanic Indicator Index can help marketers reach this growing population segment. Knowing that Hispanic buying power is expected to top over $1 trillion this year, Semcasting has created a way for marketers and advertisers to locate this growing population through multiple channels, including direct mail, email, online advertising and social media marketing.