behavioral targeting: coordinate online and offline...

many of you know from reading my blog that i was just on a family vacation down in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (PV, and by the way, i'm not attempting to rub this in but we had a great time.)

during the fun and sun i was lucky to be able to meet up with an old friend from high school - Andy. he and his family are doing really well down there, so well in fact, that he has decided to start a brand new business in Nuevo Vallarta, (which is a hot new development area 15 minutes north of PV.) - a water taxi/fishing charter/tour business...

over a starbucks we talked about all the opportunity that exists for this exciting new venture and that the key to success will be his ability to put tourist bums in seats on his boat on a consistent basis. the discussion progressed to tourist behaviors and how he should look to analyze and correctly target them...

now in the "offline" world, behavioral targeting means knowing things like foot traffic, preferred activities and shopping patterns once these folks step off of cruise ships. for example, Andy went to interview some customers of a rival water taxi service that morning. we talked about the fact that cruise ship tourists are just as likely to check out the destination port prior to arriving as guys like me who fly down for 2 weeks is important...so there exists the need to coordinate his marketing efforts online as well. we also talked by the way about the fact that his being Canadian may also play a key part for some tourists on the trust front. cultural differences also affect behavior, and as a good friend of mine Lori Colborne of LSL Marketing always says, "we like to do business with people we know, like and trust."

behavioral targeting "online" means for example that Andy will want to ensure his company makes as many lists like this as he can - tripadvisor.com. general targeting online also means consistently updating his soon to be developed web presence and cool content of his boat, tours and all that fun to inspire those customers who haven't left home yet.

by the way, i could get much more technical here on the subject of "behavioral targeting" regarding "amazon" type technology that provides examples of other products that you are encouraged to purchase which are based on the behavioral patterns of others who purchased the same book as you. this technology continues to be key due to the massive online media convergence that's happening but for now let's keep things at a higher level.

so when thinking of your business, consider a coordinated effort including strong positioning of not only his street corner presence and army of sales people but supporting that with better understanding the online habits of your preferred customer too.

knowing not only the habits of tourists on the ground but also those habits online will help Andy's new company better position itself to be the water excursion company of choice. in his case, this is a major advantage because for the most part the habits of his competiton include primarily beach vendors and street corner shacks to drive business...pretty two dimensional thinking - giving Andy a key early step up, at least for now.