Every instance of the Tribify Engine features at least one targeting model.
In business terms, a targeting model represents a customer persona: a picture of the kind of person you seek to build a relationship or do business with. In technical terms, a targeting model is a way to specify a search through your Tribify database.
A base Tribify Engine instance features a single targeting model. If you sell a single class of product to a single customer persona, one targeting model might be all you ever need! Here are some scenarios when it helps to have more than one:
- You have more than one kind of customer. Example: a talent agency seeks new employer clients on one hand and multiple categories of employee on the other.
- You want to monetize access to your network. In this case, each of your customers as a different set of requirements and might be represented by a different targeting model within your Tribify Engine instance.
For the sake of simplicity, in this post we will focus on the simplest case: a base Tribify Engine instance with a single targeting model.
A targeting model is a collection of tags and weights. The Tribify Engine searches each profile in the database for tags defined in the targeting model, and applies the assigned weight to calculate a ProfileScore. Among other things, tags might represent:
- Physical location
- Keywords in profile headline or description
- Current or previous employment, including…
- Job title
- Industry
- Company size & type
- Current or previous education, including…
- School type
- Degree
- Specialty
- Endorsed skills
The ProfileScore calculation also takes into account connections between profiles. This is similar to the way a link from the Wall Street Journal might improve the search result placement of a personal blog post. Available connection types include:
- Colleagues (worked for the same company at the same time).
- Classmates (went to the same school at the same time).
- LinkedIn connections.
A targeting model can include certain attributes, exclude others, and prefer one connection type over another. The resulting ProfileScore ranks your entire database according to your targeting model, and governs:
- Which profiles are searched for interesting connections.
- Which profiles are scraped to improve the accuracy of their ProfileScores.
- Which profiles receive connection requests to extend your network.
- Which profiles are targeted for messaging and event invitations.
You aren’t expected to do any of this by yourself! Every Tribify engagement begins with an in-depth discussion to flesh out your targeting model, and a couple of weeks of iteration as we dial in your targeting model to a point where the resulting Prospect List “looks right”.
After that, as you work your Prospect List, your targeting model receives detailed feedback about each prospect. Did they proceed to a close? Did they reject your offer? Did they register for an event, or attend one? Did they achieve special milestones in your sales pipeline?
This adaptive feedback is also incorporated into your targeting model. The result is a continuous evolution of your Prospect List, such that you connect with more people like those who engaged with you, and fewer like the ones who didn’t!