Marketing News Issue Preview: June 15th
The June 15th issue of Marketing News is on its way to readers this week, offering up articles on mobile SEO, emotional marketing and the AMA's upcoming nonprofit conference.
In the cover story, Staff Writer Piet Levy takes a look at the skills and attributes necessary to become a "Renaissance Marketer." And in the second feature story, I delve into hypertargeting: a targeting method by which marketers deliver customized, relevant messages to consumers based on not just demographics but behavioral and attitudinal data, hobbies, expressed interests, etc.
Through hypertargeting, marketers are striving to adhere to the age-old industry axiom: Deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. And marketers aren’t the only ones getting in on the hypertargeting game; a handful of news providers are trying their hand at it, too. Some news providers are experimenting with the tactic of serving up only those stories that consumers are interested in—publishing what readers want to read to attract more eyeballs and, ultimately, more advertisers.
In March, New York-based Time Inc. announced an experimental customized magazine that takes the RSS news feed model of news delivery into the print world. Dubbed mine, the personalized print magazine allows readers to select five titles from among Time, Sports Illustrated, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Money, In Style, Golf, and Travel + Leisure. Stories from each title are then pre-selected by editors, and there are 56 total resulting combinations. The first 31,000 readers that signed up received five issues over 10 weeks, and another 200,000 readers received a customized digital version online.
The customized magazine model in this case isn’t intended to attract more advertisers. Instead, it’s a bold ad experiment in and of itself. Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus came up with idea and serves as the magazine’s sole advertiser, according to several reports. And ads—all featuring the Lexus 2010 RX SUV—within the magazine and accompanying an online reader survey are, of course, customized to reflect readers’ data.
In April, another vaunted news organization dipped its toe into the hypertargeting space—but quickly found that reporters weren’t exactly ready for them to dive in. Editors at the Chicago Tribune found themselves in hot water with many of their reporters when they sent an e-mail to subscribers soliciting their opinions on descriptions of yet-to-be-published stories. As part of an ongoing research collaboration between the paper’s editorial and marketing departments, which previously asked subscribers and former subscribers about general news topics and older Tribune stories, the editors were seeking readers’ preferences regarding stories currently in the works.
E-mailed surveys were sent to approximately 9,000 readers at two different times, and each survey generated about 500 responses, according to the Tribune. “We’re not taking a marketing survey and adding up the numbers and saying, ‘OK, this goes on Page One,’” Tribune Editor Gerould Kern told the paper. “Research is an important tool in understanding consumer needs. … You can get compass directions on people’s interests and the trends. That becomes part of your broader understanding about your audience.”
News providers’ experimentation with hypertargeting is noteworthy to marketers because, while it’s important for both news organizations and marketers to serve up information that’s relevant to consumers’ needs, both groups’ educational and awareness functions musn’t be neglected, says Dave Morgan, CEO and director of New York-based Simulmedia. “I think the real opportunity in marketing is to tell consumers about things they might be interested in but don’t know about.”
Check out the June 15th issue of Marketing News to hear more on this topic from Morgan and other industry experts.
