It is very important to understand the context around individuals by utilising additional data sets such as geo-demographic segmentation data (age, postcode, salary, etc). This is because the digital profile of a person only provides half the picture. We have to fit the other half to create a meaningful whole.

Let’s go further into this concept and see what may happen if we do not understand the context around a person completely. Let’s see if digital insights tell us exactly what is going on.

Marketing data over the last decade has been very well recorded and saved. Data is important but then we have to take into consideration the changing behavior and patterns of consumers. There is a whole new set of data available which can give us new digital insights.

These insights can take many forms, for example: ‘since person X did behaved in a certain manner of because he showed an interest in a particular website, he is a potential consumer of product Y. This can then lead us to our next step:

‘The consumer visited our website visited our website many times. He browsed through various pages and also liked our Facebook page. We should send him an e-mail offering him a discount and also make him a part of our emailing campaign.

Seems the right thing to do does it not? This is how online data is normally used online data and compared to traditional advertising seems quite modern and the way ahead. But as competition for advertising increases (and competition for your media buying rupee goes up) the need to be more focused and targeted about spends also goes up.

What we are saying is that you cannot create a meaningful and action oriented interaction with a consumer just based on his behaviour. It has to be augmented with contextual information around that person. It has to be based on who they are in reality. Otherwise we cannot predict predict intent and focus on people who are more likely to be the actual consumers for our product product as opposed to people to whom our messages are actually relevant.

Just because people have visited a particular website and are following them across social media channels doesn’t mean they will ever buy the product.

Digital Insight doesn’t indicate intent – there are multiple factors that create the context around an individual or an interaction.

Consider people who live nowhere near a branch of a particular store? Are they more or less relevant than someone who lives in the same town as a soon-to- open outlet?

Brands have a responsibility to try all that they can to ensure ads for specific services and products are only shown to people who are actually eligible for them. Not only is it a waste of marketing spend but it is also a very negative experience for someone who clicks on an ad but is turned down.

With contextual data marketers can have a better understanding of the likely person behind an online profile and enhance the digital data they have about them. This increases the efficiency of media buying as well as the effectiveness of marketing.

Digital data alone is not enough – to get the full picture you need to take a good look at your product offering, the audience you are aiming for and the potential reasons why someone may be interacting with your brand. Don’t spend money on people who are never going to buy your products.

It’s a bad experience for them (receiving irrelevant information) and it’s a waste of your money.