If you are implementing any marketing at your business, have you ever had a problem deciding how you were going to track it?  After all, you don’t just want to blindly throw money where you cannot track an ROI, do you?  A lot of times this is what marketers are doing…casting a huge net to see if they can catch anything.  Tracking and targeting is a lot more cost-effective and gets your message to the correct audience.

Tracking and targeting is all connected to the IP address of your computer or mobile device.  Digital marketing doesn’t magically know your name, but by knowing your IP address, it’s pretty much the same thing.  Digital marketers thrive on knowing which query, at which time, on which device, to which zip code, on which day of the week, which ad, and which offer someone clicked on.  Each time you get on your computer/device is another opportunity for marketers to deliver their message to you. 

Below are a few examples of tracking and targeting.  Every time you are online can be a trackable event for some marketers.

• General Email Tracking. I’m sure you’ve all heard of it. If you get an email from a company and you open it, the sender can track that ‘open’ click.  This is pretty basic - there are more specific ways to track and target via digital marketing.
• Special Offer or a Downloadable Document. Perhaps in that same email they included a special offer or a downloadable document. Marketers can also tell that you had enough interest in their material to investigate the offer by clicking and being taken to the landing page, or by downloading the document.  If this isn’t enough to get you to buy the product, you will probably find another ‘next step’ email 3-5 days later reminding you of this product and how much you need it.
• Search Engines – Just ‘Google It’. Aside from taking you to the most appropriate websites that fit Google’s algorithms when you search Google for a product (dog house for two), they also make a note that someone from this IP address is interested in these dog houses and ads will pop up whenever you are on any website.  They don’t want you to forget what you were looking for!  
• Facebook. Ok, it seems that all but three people in the U.S. have a Facebook page. Facebook covers a huge market as with most social media.  When you’re scrolling through all of your friends’ posts, there are ‘sponsored’ posts snuck in there as well.  Or perhaps you’ve outright liked a business page.  All of the ‘liking’ and following you do on Facebook creates your interest profile.  That’s why, if you follow several pages about Labrador Retrievers, you are suddenly seeing more ‘sponsored’ posts about leashes and dog dishes.  Wouldn’t it be great to see which Facebook users already have a need and interest in your product?

Again, these are just a few examples of an ever-growing marketing revolution.  My main message is that your business too can be a part of this targeted digital marketing.