GUIDE

The Beginner’s Guide

to Audience Profiling
Getting started with marketing that works

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 Table of Contents

Introduction 4 What do we know about today’s consumers?

5 What does this tell us?

What is Audience Profiling? 6 Defining audience profiling

7 Why does it matter?

Marketing that Works 9 The four stages that matter

10 Questions your data should answer

Stage 1 | Segmentation 13 Knowing your audience

15 Creating audience personas
16 Mapping the consumer journey

Stage 2 | Messaging 22 Turning data into insight

23 Creating ideas that stick

Stage 3 | Engagement 25 Why trends matter

26 Behavioral science
27 Getting personal

Stage 4 | Measurement 30 Metrics that matter

31 Measuring campaign effectiveness
32 Tracking people not devices

Conclusion 35 Questions to consider

36 About GlobalWebIndex

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Introduction

Consumer data is every marketer's new best friend. The

reason for this is simple: consumers will no longer accept
blanket messaging.

They expect more from brands; they want a personalized experience at

every touchpoint that speaks to them and them alone.

The demand for brands to tailor their marketing in this way has spurred the
need for in-depth data that goes far beyond basic demographics, profiling
consumers based on their perceptions, interests, attitudes and behaviors.

This data that quantifies consumer perceptions and behaviors on a massive

scale has essentially eliminated the need for guesswork.

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 What do we know about
today’s consumers?
STATS ROUNDUP

Half of online adults are now blocking ads on

their mobiles or desktops – almost double the
number reported at the beginning of 2015.

91% own a smartphone and 53% Online shopping is now a

consider their mobile to be their mainstream activity, with online
most important device. consumers opting for a multi-
device approach to purchasing.

The average internet user now has 30% of online consumers are
up to 8 social media accounts. using VPNS.

Internet users now spend over 2 3 in 4 online adults are purchasing

hours a day on social media. products online every month.

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What does this tell us?

These facts tell us more than we may think. As they

become more fragmented, and ever-more challenging to
reach, digital consumers are also taking more control.

With the power to choose what
advertising and marketing they’re exposed
to, and when they’re exposed to it, they’re
demanding more of what they want from
brands, and less of what they don’t.
But this isn’t to say there’s less potential
for marketers to reach them - In fact,
it’s quite the opposite. With more
consumers now taking a multi-channel,
multi-platform approach and spending
increasing amounts of time online, the
number of ways to connect with them is
greater than ever.
What these facts outline is the need
for a more audience-centric approach
to marketing - one that puts authentic
branding at the forefront and respects
an individual consumer’s right to tailored
content that they genuinely value.
Our recent study on The State of
Mobile Ad-Blocking reveals one
fifth of smartphone owners don't
mind seeing ads on their mobiles
once they're respectful.
As the primary driver behind the
ad-blocking trend comes down
to frustration, these findings are
urging companies to veer away from
interruptive and intrusive messaging
towards personalized communications.
Audience profiling is helping marketers
to put this into practice with insights
that quantify consumer behaviors and
perceptions on a massive scale.
This eBook outlines everything you need
to know to get started.

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What is Audience Profiling?
Audience profiling is the only way to gather the insights
needed to define, segment, and profile today's consumers.
Going far beyond basic demographics, it
means getting as close to your audience
as possible, so you can reach them the
right way.
Research by BlueVenn
reveals that four out of
five marketers (80%) cite
understanding consumer
data as one of their most
important considerations
today, highlighting data
analysis as a "vital" skill
for their organization.
Audience profiling is about creating
value from this data to understand
everything there is to know about your
target consumers and the market that
surrounds them. Leading marketers
are using this to put consumers at
the heart of their messaging, guiding
everything from campaign planning to
brand positioning.
This process starts with focusing
on your target audience and getting
the validation you need that you’re
looking at the right people. Once you
have this, it’s about understanding
and defining these consumers to get
your messaging right, focusing on the
insights that can drive meaningful
creativity.
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Why Does it Matter?

Understanding these reasons is more

"Customers buy for their important today as marketing that
works is personalized, adaptive and
reasons, not yours."
responsive to consumer needs.
1984, ORVEL RAY WILSON
Profiling your consumers with revealing
insights around their behaviors,
perceptions, attitudes and interests
helps you to paint a detailed portrait
of your audience, so you know what to
say, and how to say it.

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We as consumers, in an accelerated way,
have become less open to interruptive ads
and promotional messages. Recent research
from The Advertising Research Foundation
shows that after a few dozen messages
from one company, from one brand,
sales start to decline. Instead of creating
interruptive promotional messages that
nobody wants to see and may even cause a
decrease in sales, marketing professionals
are starting to see that if they create the
content people want, you can start to attract
the audience that ultimately drives value.

MICHAEL BRENNER,
CEO AT MARKETING
INSIDER GROUP

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Marketing that Works
Today’s marketers have a lot to consider, and many are struggling to keep pace.

This may come down to the fact that

many digital marketers don’t receive Research from Adobe in 2013
any formal training, with 82% learning revealed that only 48% of
on the job. digital marketers feel highly
proficient in digital marketing.
But while in the digital space marketing
has become a complex profession with a myriad of tools and techniques to juggle -
in its simplest form, marketing that works revolves around four key stages.

The four stages 1. SEGMENTATION

Splitting your audience into targeted
that matter groups that align with your goals.

2. MESSAGING
Using consumer insights to shape
a message that will have impact.

3. ENGAGEMENT
Identifying where and when to place
your creative.

4. MEASUREMENT
Analyzing the metrics that matter
to drive a greater ROI.

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Questions your Data Should Answer

To put marketing that works into practice, you need data

that will answer the right questions.

HERE ARE A FEW Am I targeting the right audience?

EXAMPLES TO GET
What defines this audience?
STARTED:
What matters to them?

What motivates them?

What interests them?

Who and what do they follow?

Where and when can we reach them?

What are their perceptions of our brand?

What do we need them to perceive/understand?

How are they interacting with us?

What does their purchase journey look like?

What are the touchpoints that matter?

What trends can we identify with these consumers?

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Success lies in understanding
deep down what motivates the
consumer and what levers to
press. And we have way more
of those levers at our command
now than ever before.

SUE UNERMAN,
CHIEF TRANSFORMATION
OFFICER AT MEDIACOM UK

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STAGE 1

Segmentation

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 Knowing Your Audience
Audience segmentation ensures your marketing is
as targeted as possible to the right group of people.
According to research by The Direct Marketing Association,
segmented and targeted emails generate 58% of all
revenue, so getting this right is key.

Segmentation was once the
starting point for brands, a process
that involved splitting consumers
into designated groups based on
demographic data such as age,
gender and location. Today, in
response to the radically changing
landscape and growing consumer
trends, this process looks a lot
different.
With the help of global data and
platforms that track consumer
behaviors and perceptions on a
massive scale, marketers are now
building detailed and accurate
audience profiles to get the
answers they need. These not
only consider specifics like age,
gender and location, but lifestyles,
attitudes, self-perceptions and
interests. This means creating
data-driven personas that
are true to life, and easy to
understand.

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Types of Segmentation

DEMOGRAPHIC GEOGRAPHIC NEEDS-BASED

BEHAVIORAL PERCEPTIONS-BASED PSYCHOGRAPHIC

INTERESTS-BASED ATTITUDINAL

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 Segmenting Your Approach
With more types of segmentation in existence, knowing
which approach will work for you is a challenge many
businesses face. But the general lack of understanding
across segments is a key problem, leading to poor
customer acquisition and retention rates.

Research by The Economist Brand X, for example, might

reveals only 6% of companies
understand customer needs
extremely well, while 45% of
companies admit they have
limited to no understanding on
how their customers interact with
them digitally.
This reveals the need for a more
targeted approach, and the more
you know, the more effective it
will be.
By combining elements from
each type of segmentation
with valuable survey data and
analytics, you can hit that sweet
spot to uncover the insights that
really matter.
have a basic understanding of its
target audiences, made up of key
demographics and needs-based
information, giving some direction
on where to focus. Complementing
this with survey data around
consumer perceptions, behaviors,
interests and attitudes will take
this approach from targeted to
personalized.
By taking the many types of
segmentation into consideration,
personalization is made easy and
targeting more on-point equipped
with knowledge around the right
channels, devices and language
to use.

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 Creating Data-Driven Personas
Buyer personas have always played an integral role in the
segmentation process. These real-life representations of
your target consumers give you a snapshot of who these
people are, so you can tailor your marketing and brand
strategy accordingly. Creating personas with audience
profiling takes this to another level.

With data that gives you more
than just a snapshot, you can
create a detailed pen portrait
of your consumer - mapping
everything from a day in their
lives to what the interests and
attitudes that make them unique.
Using GlobalWebIndex, you
can run instant queries against
data representing 2.6 billion
consumers worldwide, pulling key
stats that portray who your target
audience is and what defines
them. These personas can be
further contextualized with the
help of real-life quotes gathered
by carrying out interviews with
your target consumers, or by
inviting other client-facing teams
within your organization to help
fill in the gaps.
Once populated with the insights
that best translate who these
consumers are, your personas
will form the basis of your
segmentation - essential tools
for your business to guide its
marketing and brand positioning
in the right direction.

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The first thing I do when I get given key
attributes of a consumer is plug these into
GlobalWebIndex and create a pen portrait;
a one page document that translates the
character of the consumer. This really helps
me when I’m briefing our creative teams.
I can explain who the consumer is, what
makes them tick, what their priorities are
in life, their behaviors, and other key areas
such as their interests which are hugely
important.

TIM PRIMROSE,
PLANNER AT SOUTHPAW

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 Mapping the Consumer Journey
The path to purchase may still revolve around some key
stages, but the consumer journey itself has changed
dramatically. Consumers today are using multiple devices
to learn, compare, share, consume and make purchasing
decisions. Creating personas with audience profiling takes
this to another level.

Increasingly, the journey spans a number of touchpoints - from websites

to review sites and social media - with every single experience impacting
a consumer’s decision. But just as the journey becomes more fragmented,
consumers continue to demand consistency. This is a key challenge
for brands under increasing pressure to ensure a seamless customer
experience - across channels, devices and platforms.

To coincide with this consumer fragmentation, more targeted micro-audiences

have emerged, urging a shift away from broad demographics-based targeting
and sparring the need for more in-depth insights.

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Mapping this consumer journey with
audience profiling gives you the answers
you need when it comes to identifying
the touchpoints, the interests and the
trends that can take a marketing strategy
from targeted to personalized.
This means delving into the details of
your micro-audiences - not just looking
at moms, but moms between the ages
STATS ROUNDUP
3 in 4 online adults are purchasing
products online each month.
Online Shoppers are now opting for
a multi-device approach to their
purchasing habits.
of 20-35, for example, who are heavy
online shoppers. Profiling this audience
using a range of data points including
social media usage, media consumption
and commerce, you can track every step
of their journey to identify everything,
from what matters least to what
matters most.
Mobiles are set to overtake PCs/
laptops as the top commerce device.
Social media represents an important
force at each stage of the purchase
journey
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Using GlobalWebIndex, we set up the profile
first and then we go into more detail looking
at that consumer’s activities and interests to
analyze what he/she does most to what he/
she does least. This information is so useful
for creating a user experience, for example.
One we created recently was for our UX
team internally to help us understand what
people are doing and how they’re using our
platform, so this is an attempt to visually
represent all of that.

SHARMIN RASHID,
JUNIOR STRATEGIST
AT ANALOG FOLK

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STAGE 2

Messaging

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 Turning Data into Insight
Creating messages that resonate starts with understanding
the perceptions and behaviors you want to shift. Using
audience profiling to quantify the perceptions that are
blocking or powering repeat purchasing gives you the tools
to know what to say.
Brands have access to a wealth of data, but giving this data the leverage it
needs to drive meaningful creativity lies in the creation of insights. After all,
a fact, a finding or a data point without context is worthless.

The path to creating actionable insights that will have impact lies in knowing
your audience and your objectives and prioritizing your data accordingly. With
this knowledge, you can focus on the data that will give you the answers you
need, bringing the numbers to life.

HOW TO TURN 1. Analyze current perceptions of your brand.

DATA INTO INSIGHT: How are my target consumers responding to my messaging?

2. Validate the perceptions you’re trying to shift.

Does the data back up my assumptions?

3. Quantify these perceptions.

What are the actual figures I need to focus on?

4. Map this into a business opportunity.

How can this data help me to create an impactful message?

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 Creating Ideas That Stick
Al Ries once famously said: “Marketing is not a battle
of products, it’s a battle of perceptions.” Understanding
these perceptions and using insights to tap into them is
the key to creating the ideas that stick. Many brands are
leading the way when it comes to creating perceptions-led
campaigns that hit home.

Lidl is one brand that proves the Uncovering the insights that count
power that lies in understanding means getting to the root of how
perceptions. Take their ‘Lidl Surprises’ your consumers feel about your
campaign for example, released in brand, your competitors and
July 2016. Having uncovered the even themselves. This will inform
insight that most Brits still perceived everything from tone of voice, format
the quality of their produce as low, and style to the message itself.
the team knew which
perceptions they needed to
shift. With this in mind, their With GlobalWebIndex, you can
messaging could take on
profile your consumers in detail
its most audience-centric
form, with in-depth data based on their perceptions and
giving them a glimpse into attitudes to create impactful
the interests, attitudes and
insights, proven to drive
desires they could tap into.
marketing that works.

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STAGE 3

Engagement

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 Why Trends Matter
With this level of audience understanding shaping the
messaging that's sure to resonate, the next step is
knowing where to place it. Engaging today's consumers
means knowing where they are, and what they're doing.

With audience profiling data that
analyzes consumer behaviors
across platforms, devices,
channels and social platforms, you
can figure out where, when and
how to reach them.
These trends not only tell you a lot
about your consumers, but guide
your marketing activity and brand
strategy in the right direction
by helping you to predict future
behavior.

Utilizing the insights specific to Start by browsing the latest

your audience means elevating
your voice in the right way, for
maximum impact. But consumer
trends are continuously changing,
so keeping an eye on those that
bear the most relevance is key -
from social media to device usage
and commerce.
reports that outline the most
important trends to watch. From
here, you can apply your audiences
to get into more detail and identify
those most applicable. Tapping
into these trends will give you the
opportunity to boost engagement
in more ways than one, by putting
the science behind your ideas.

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 Behavioral Science
Behavioral analytics is a science of learning. It looks at
what consumers do online, how they act and react to
content, brands and campaigns, and how they behave
on different platforms and devices.

These insights enable marketers survey data work together to give

to make the right offers to the
right consumers at the right time.
The use of behavioral analytics by
leading brands like Amazon have
set the industry standard. The
brand uses data to personalize the
online shopping experience to its
consumers - and it works:
35% of Amazon.com's
revenue is generated by its
recommendation engine.
But analytics isn’t the only way
to understand the science behind
consumer behavior. Analytics and
brands a more accurate reading
of what consumers are doing, and
what they can leverage.
Using analytics to track how your
consumers are interacting with
your product/brand enables you
to give recommendations, upsell
and personalize your offerings.
Bringing survey data into the
equation allows you to identify
every touchpoint worth knowing
- from which brands, content and
influencers they follow online to
which tactics they respond to
most and why. This will ensure
your approach has maximum
impact.

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 Getting Personal
With deep insights into your consumers’ behaviors -
combined with those that quantify their perceptions,
attitudes and interests - you can put personalization
into practice, giving your target audience the content
they want - when and where they want it.

Personalizing your communications customer intent will enable digital

this way - from your marketing
communications to social media
and advertising campaigns -
means speaking directly to the
consumers you want to reach.
Research from Accenture reveals
75% of consumers are more likely to
buy from a retailer that recognizes
them by name, recommends options
based on past purchases, or knows
their purchase history.
Not only this, Gartner has predicted
that by 2020, smart personalization
engines used to recognize
businesses to increase their profits
by up to 15%.
But for this kind of personalized
marketing to work, access to
accurate and fast insight is key.
Analytics solutions like GWIQTM
that combine passive and active
forms of measurement will give you
the answers you need - tracking
consumer behaviors using both
panel research and web analytics.
This, along with data that translates
your target consumer’s key
motivations, interests, attitudes and
perceptions helps you create tailored
communications that resonate.

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I think if you were a publisher today
coaching marketers, you would say: ‘Well,
we’ve been getting consumer attention for
years with our content, and the only way
that you’re going to do that is if you are
genuinely useful, helpful or entertaining to
them. For advertising and marketing in the
content space to be successful, they have
to do the same thing.

JOE MCCAMBLEY,
SVP ENTERPRISE CONTENT
MARKETING AT POP

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STAGE 4

Measurement

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 Metrics that Matter
According to research by Forrester, 50% of B2B marketing
executives find it difficult to attribute marketing activity
directly to revenue results as another means of justifying
budgets. But continually measuring and quantifying
the impact of your efforts is essential when it comes to
marketing that works.

Getting to the root of marketing Depending on your specific goals

that works means focusing on
the metrics that matter. This
means narrowing down your Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) to
reflect your marketing and business
objectives as closely as possible.
that sit under the wider categories
of awareness, consideration and
conversion, your actions and KPIs
should change accordingly.

CASE IN 1. If building brand awareness is your primary objective, for example,

POINT: your tactics might include an insights-driven campaign that
spreads across TV and online media.

2. Your KPIs for measuring its success could include a brand lift and a
shift in perceptions and behaviors in response to your campaign.

3. Measuring these KPIs might involve using brand tracking and

carrying out an ad effectiveness study to quantify the impact of
your campaign on your target audience.

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 Measuring
Campaign Effectiveness
With insights that allow you to tweak, optimize, and
repurpose your campaigns to better reflect your
consumers, you can ensure a return on investment and
prove your marketing is worth the spend.

But getting the answers you need is a key challenge - especially when it
comes to social media, as measuring this kind of ROI continually proves to
be a key challenge for today’s marketers. This inability to track what matters
comes down to the quality of marketing measurement tools in existence
today.

While a combination of third party website and social media analytics can
offer you the insights you need on a basic level, the many flaws of web
analytics is well documented - and this comes back to an over-reliance on
passive data and ‘probabilistic’ solutions.

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Tracking People not Devices
The problem with most web
analytics - like those used by
marketers to track campaign
performance and consumer
interactions - is that these
generally track devices (or cookies)
as opposed to people.
With consumers becoming
ever more fragmented, taking a
multi-channel and multi-platform
approach along the online
purchase journey, it is becoming
close to impossible to accurately
measure and understand
online behaviors using passive
techniques alone.
In response to this problem,
marketers and advertisers are
turning to analytics solutions like
GWIQTM which couples extensive
panel data with real-time analytics
to offer a more holistic portrayal of
audience behaviors - across time,
location, devices and platforms.
Ensuring your marketing activity is
tracked in the most accurate way
takes this kind of robust tracking
combining passive and active
measurement techniques.
This closes the loop on audience
profiling, giving marketers the
tools to measure their activity
with reliable data that reflects real
people.
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By our estimates, over 500
million users are absent or
misallocated from passively
collected data because they are
using Virtual Private Networks
(VPNs), with hundreds of
millions more being overlooked
because they are only using
shared devices or accessing the
internet from mobile only.

TOM SMITH,
CEO & FOUNDER
AT GLOBALWEBINDEX

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Conclusion

Audience profiling is about defining, segmenting and

profiling your target consumers to guide every element of
your marketing and brand strategy.

Leading brands, agencies and publishers are proving the value that lies in data that
quantifies consumer behaviors and perceptions in granular detail. With the tools
that eliminate the need for guesswork, a marketing strategy can meet consumer
demand for audience-centric content that’s targeted, personalized and responsive.

For those getting started, this guide outlines the importance of audience profiling
across all four core marketing disciplines and how it can be used across every
stage of the funnel to truly understand your audience. For brands, this means
driving smarter content, better quality leads, improved customer experience
and a greater ROI.

As consumers move further away from blanket messaging towards brands who
prove they’re listening, investing in data that tells you more about your audience is
not only worth it, it’s essential.

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Questions to Consider
Who is my target audience?
What do I need to know about them?
What are the current perceptions of my brand?
What perceptions do I need to shift?
How can I quantify these perceptions?
Are my insights accurate and up-to-date?
How can I turn my insights into impactful creativity?
How can these insights add value across the entire business?
How will I measure my success?
How will I measure my return on investment?

Your Next Steps

Most marketers are already using
audience profiling tools to better
understand their consumers and get
more personalized. We hope that this
guide has given you some practical
ways to get started with marketing
that works and would be happy to help
you with your next steps.
For instant access to global data
that can help you create a pen
portrait of your audience and
generate fast insights, check out the
GlobalWebIndex platform.

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About GlobalWebIndex
As home of the world’s largest survey on the online consumer, the GlobalWebIndex
platform makes it easy to create powerful insights that move.

Our data represents 2.6 billion internet users across 40 countries,

quantifying attitudes, behaviors, perceptions and interests across
20,000 data points.

SEGMENT
Build detailed audience and customer profiles with easy
access to global data

MESSAGE
Know what to say by quantifying the perceptions that are
blocking or powering repeat purchasing

ENGAGE
Learn where to reach your consumers by analyzing
behaviors across channels, platforms and devices.

MEASURE
Validate your targeting and measure campaign effectiveness
with robust analytics that take tracking to the next level.

TRUSTED BY THE WORLD’S LEADING MARKETERS

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