All about behavioral targeting (or the birth of one-to-some marketing)…

Wow! What happened yesterday? Suddenly, it seems like every site I read is talking about behavioral targeting. In case you missed them:

• Om Malik discusses Google’s plans for behavioral ads
• Matthew Roche gives a general overview of optimizing behavioral targeting; and,
• Avinash Kaushik provides two excellent pre-requisites before implementing behavioral targeting

While one-to-one marketing has been oversold for years, behavioral targeting certainly makes a strong case for one-to-some. The "some" in this case is every segment you choose to develop creative for. The thing to bear in mind about behavioral targeting is this:

• You’ll see better results offering something generic to your visitors when you know nothing about their behavior than you will by offering something specific

Figure out the number of segments you plan to target, develop solid creative for each segment, and ensure a generic "price/value" type message for everyone else. You’ll be glad you did.