Personalized, Targeted Marketing. Yea or Nea?

[Harold Mansfield]

A lot has been said about how much information about your internet use is stored and used.

I am from the train of thought that the internet in it's present state is and was always meant to be a medium for marketing and advertising just like radio and T.V. But as we get closer to the day where everything is synonymous with the internet, marketing will finally reach the plateau that it has been reaching for. Full access.

Personally, I am not put off by companies using my habits to market products to me that they think I like. To me the worst thing that can happen is that I buy something.

I like it when iTunes, Genius suggests songs based on what I am already listening to.
I like it when Amazon sends me sales and specials of products that I have been window shopping.

I'd rather control what is marketed to me, rather than just have it be a free for all.

I know many people are put off by marketers having so much information about your buying habits and interests, but I think its the smartest and greatest thing in the history of marketing.
After all, we don't have to shop online.

And we do the same thing. Don't we up sell our clients when we have a product or service that we think they are interested it?

So what do you guys think?

Is it an invasion of privacy to use your shopping and surf habits to market to you or is it a convenient way to stay up on new products and technology?

[KristineS]

It doesn't bother me. Most of the time I ignore the suggestions, but sometimes it is something I want or could be interested in and in those cases I find the information helpful. I also like the convenience of buying online. If part of my payment for that is having a company try to get me to buy more, I'm o.k. with it.

The one caveat to that is that companies need to stop sending me things and selling to me if I ask them to do so. Nothing bugs me more than getting further e-mails from a company I've told to stop e-mailing me. When that happens I get mad.

[billbenson]

I think its more prudent to go with the flow. Fighting it seems futile. I bought a book on Bruce Lee on Amazon a few months ago. I just got a catalog in the mail for martial arts equipment. Amazon is the only place I could really have gotten on a mailing list, so they are obviously selling targeted lists. Your surfing habits etc are going to get out there from many different sources and I'm sure many are in collusion with G.

[greenoak]

i kind of like it too....and its happening...i get shown what i recently looked at on zappos on all kinds of sites..and my excite page is always talking about belly fat!!!! how did they know that...lol

..its pretty wierd...like when caller id started.... but that part isnt the dark side to me....if there was fraud and they were stealing my credit card that would be the fear...
and we have to know not to put dark secrets on here...and that everything we do online might be available to someone....
im going with the flow i guess...

[Harold Mansfield]

And it's going to get better (worse if you don't like it). The days where entertainment, internet and product marketing and shopping converge are right around the corner. TV's are already internet, and communication devices. I've been waiting excitedly for Google TV to launch so that I can tie it all together on one device:
Quick Tour - Google TV (http://www.google.com/tv/)

[Patrysha]

I think the on ways of adding personalization to marketing will make it easier for businesses to find their market and easier for consumers to discover the things that are most likely to interest them....leading to less waste in the advertising game, less of what doesn't work and more of what does.

[greenoak]

the 'you liked this so you might like this" feature...its on amazon, zappos, and roku/netflix....is really nice....and helpful..
.
..i do that with some of our customers...the old fashioned way!!! i remember what they like...

[Blessed]

the 'you liked this so you might like this" feature...its on amazon, zappos, and roku/netflix....is really nice....and helpful..
.
..i do that with some of our customers...the old fashioned way!!! i remember what they like...

And that dear Ann is one reason you've been successful! I love it when I walk into one of the quirky shops I frequent around here and the people remember me and know what I'm like and what I mentioned to them that I'm trying to find!

The personalized marketing doesn't bother me either - in fact... today I pre-ordered a book I've been waiting on because of personalized advertising. :D

I like personalized junk mail too - not just the name/address portions but all the other stuff you can do - change colors, images, etc... based on what profiles you have on the individuals in your list. As the recipient you don't know how much has gone into making that piece personalized, and unless you compare notes with a friend/neighbor you probably wouldn't realize how much it had been personalized but being on the creation end is neat.

[Harold Mansfield]

And that dear Ann is one reason you've been successful! I love it when I walk into one of the quirky shops I frequent around here and the people remember me and know what I'm like and what I mentioned to them that I'm trying to find!


Great point! We have all responded to that our whole lives. It's a big determiner in why we frequent certain businesses...why we go to one bar or restaurant over another, get our car fixed at certain places, use the same dry cleaner. It is the personalization that keeps us coming back.