Search engine marketing is about the now. You want to know where to buy a stove, check Google. You want to find a Chinese restaurant in Topeka, Kan. ask Yahoo! You want to find the answer to a question that has you stumped, Ask Jeeves, of course. This instant gratification mentality is both the blessing and curse of the current state of search analytics.

Behavioral targeting (BT), a practice of "finding" potential customers (or segmenting users into large clusters of likeminded consumers) based on their online activities can seem very complex when you first hear of it. For many advertisers, another technological concept can seem daunting - acting as the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back. Fortunately, this challenge can be simplified by separating BT logically into two views: macro or micro, making it easier to comprehend and much less insurmountable.

Everybody has heard of behavioral targeting by now, and most tend to think it's a good thing. But frequently, that's as far as it goes. Relatively few can say what the different types of behavioral targeting are, or even know that there are different types; and it sometimes seems that barely a handful understands exactly how they differ, or what this means for the various players involved. This confusion is a pity, and it will need to be resolved before behavioral targeting (BT) can reach its full potential. Thus, here is a quick stab at bringing much-needed clarity to the …

Many online marketers are sitting on a similar mother lode of wealth. These advertisers fail to mine the data they've already collected, and thus forfeit millions of dollars of value. In contrast, smart online marketers increasingly recognize the value of what they already know and design targeting campaigns around this existing data. Based on their historical observations, most online advertisers know the answers to a handful of basic questions. Smart advertisers incorporate these insights into their campaign planning.

Mobile marketing provides a direct channel to interact with customers in new ways, new places, and at new times. Both marketing and sales can benefit from this innovative medium by providing interested consumers with valuable context-driven information. The issues of privacy, security, and ease-of-use must all be considered when launching a marketing campaign that literally reaches into the pockets of your audience.

For all the talk about the behavior of consumers, there hasn't been much said about the behavior of marketers. It's time to start the conversation. All these years we've been pushing information at our customers. Now we must make a radical shift - in both mindset and practice - and begin pulling customers toward us, with experiences that engage rather than repel and that connect them with the brand at their initiative, not ours.

Imagine you've come up with a new garage door opener in which you've melded eye appeal and advanced technology so expertly that it will change the sleepy garage door scene forever. Your gizmo will be a knee jerk must have for all upwardly-mobile garage owners as soon as they hear of it. Provided only that you can reach them, McMansionites everywhere will soon be leaving their garage doors wide open for passers-by to admire the gleaming machinery - your machinery - glittering inside, and you will lay beside the pool as the dollars roll in.

Targeting is hard for some online advertisers to digest. Online advertising used to be so simple: build a media plan comprised of relevant sites and placements, track results, and optimize campaigns. But targeting changes everything. Instead of planning around just sites and placements, media planners must now digest a daunting menu of other variables: past user behavior, geographic location, connection speed, day of week, time of day, domain name, PRIZM cluster, gender, and scores of other variables.

According to the 2004 USC Internet Report, the time people spend online in the United States has grown 33 percent over the past four years. Marketers might assume this growth has come at the expense of time spent with traditional media, but that is not necessarily the case. Studies have found that media consumption has risen across the board. This seems a bit counter-intuitive, at first, given that the number of hours worked annually by Americans is rising, thus leaving less discretionary time.

It wasn't too long ago that online marketing was in the doghouse. How things have changed in just a few years. Online advertising spending has risen dramatically in recent years. Just as important, the increase is being driven by the country's largest and most respected brands.