Digital marketing offers ‘direct approach’

Businesses can target different consumer groups more directly online than through other channels, one expert has claimed.

While claiming that traditional marketing methods adopt more of a scatter-gun approach, business start-up expert Steve Strauss told USA Today that the internet allows firms to be more specific.

He claimed that offline marketers “spend a lot to target a lot of people (in the newspaper, on the radio, etc.) with the intent of hopefully hitting a few.

“But online…it is much easier to spend your marketing dollars more specifically and intelligently by buying only those keywords and geographic regions that have the highest likelihood of success.”

eBay is the latest firm to adopt a new targeted advertising method on its website, using consumers’ browsing habits to determine the adverts they are exposed to on the site.

Users can also select advertising preferences, although the scheme has been criticised for not giving consumers the option of opting out of the scheme.