Amanda Drinker
More than half of B2B marketers will increase their content marketing budgets in 2015, with brand awareness (84 percent) and lead generation (83 percent) being their primary goals*. Will you score those ad dollars? The race is on.
You may think you know your Audience, maybe you even developed personas based upon specific ideal target markets. But, today we are focusing on the real data. Micro-targeting is predicted to be a top trend for B2B Marketers in 2015 – and guess what you can’t do without actual Audience data? Micro-target.
“Micro-targeting uses data to help companies better understand – and market to – groups of specifically targeted Audiences. This allows businesses to modify content and messaging more accurately to customers’ actual preferences and needs.” – What B2B Marketing Will Look Like in 2015
Today’s question is, “Do you know the demographic profile of your Audience…occupation, job level, industry?” The answer for many digital Publishers would probably be, “No, but I’m sure they look like X…” But we all know what happens when you assume, right? Aside from the over-played ass jokes, making assumptions about your Audience rather than using real data and analytics leaves money on the table – a lot of money. Let’s stop making an ass out of ourselves and start making more money with Audience demographics.
Demographics: statistical profile of a site’s audience often used in media kits for the purpose of selling ads.
Demographics begin with a broad scope of basic population stats including: gender, age, household income, and education. Moving a level deeper, demographic data can also tap into professional profiles. In the B2B Marketing arena these rich professional level attributes are extremely valuable for data-driven high-quality lead generation.
Forbes found that Advertisers who adopt data-driven marketing are nearly 3x more likely to see increased revenues as a direct result; 74% of leaders in this area felt that data-driven strategies also lent them a competitive edge in customer engagement and loyalty.
As a digital Publisher, your ability to capture and report deep levels of demographic insights on your Audience will directly translate to greater opportunities to attract top B2B Advertisers.
Not only is this level of data applicable to your Advertisers, it should also be very meaningful to you as the Publisher. Utilizing this data can have a huge impact on your Audience and your wallet.
Professional Level Demographics
There are many free and paid tools today that provide the basic level of demographic data needed to analyze your Audience. In B2B Marketing professional level demographic data is essential for micro-targeting, for example: occupation, job level, industry, and company size. Professional demographics are on high demand for B2B Advertisers and hard to come by; therefore, correlate to higher payouts for Publishers when available. Publishers that can present professional level data to Advertisers, for example via Media Kit, will have a significant competitive advantage and the highest earning potential.
Now the big question, “which tool will provide the best source of accurate and up-to-date demographic data?” Finding the right tools for your monetization strategy is important. Narrow your search by setting the following criteria: specific demographic data points, levels of reporting and access, and most importantly your budget. To get you started, I have listed a wide range of tools to begin your search:
Demographic Data Tools:
FREE
Google Analytics has always been an essential tool used to understand onsite behavior. Now, with the release of “Demographics and Interests,” Google has a stronger set of Audience insights. Currently, the demographic stats include: age, gender and interests – combined with the existing geographic, browser and device data.
Quantcast: This service provides basic demographic information such as: age, gender, and household income breakdowns, along with Audience interests, see example report.
Publisher Networks that run content syndication and lead generation campaigns are highly focused on collecting rich data attributes for Clients. If you are looking to join a new Network do your due diligence; dashboard reporting, analytics, and Audience demographics are major features you should look for. RevResponse, a B2B Publisher Network, is just one example of a network that provides all Partners with free Audience Intelligence Reports, detailed professional level data insights including: occupation, job level, company size, industry and country statistics, real-time.
Survey Monkey is a great tool to use if you want to solicit information directly from your Audience. Survey Monkey allows for custom survey creation along with access to their expert-certified profiling templates; example of the demographic questions to the left. Both free and paid services are available.
PAID:
ComScore is the gold standard in web demographic data; a ComScore subscription will allow you to accumulate very detailed data in a number of categories. Unfortunately, this data is very expensive to acquire; an annual membership can cost +$ 25,000.
Making it Count
This year digital Publishers have a critical role in delivering targeted Audiences and to fulfill the world’s content marketing needs. This responsibility involves great opportunity, high earning potential, and endless competition. Therefore, now more than ever the focus is on data, personalization and micro-targeting. As a digital Publisher your competitive advantage relies on presenting the Audience profiles Advertisers are looking for. Take the time to develop a data-driven profile of your Audience today – to truly understand your own business and how to monetize it.
Stat: “More than half of B2B marketers plan to increase their content marketing budget in 2015, with brand awareness (84 percent) and lead generation (83 percent) their primary goals.” via Adweek
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