Should you target just one audience? Should you invest all your media budget into multiple audiences? Are all audiences equal? No absolutely not, because some won’t have the impact and reach that others will.
It’s easy in today’s world of data driven marketing to become blinded by the sheer amount of data now available to you. So much so, that you become fixated with who you want to target and that inevitably leads to you missing out on those all-important valuable customers. Always remember that your ads are only as good as the people that see them.
Always watching…
Audience targeting has been an important part of advertising for many years, but more recently it has crept into paid search with Google and Bing now using large amounts of search data to categorise people based on their behaviour signals and put them in specific audience segments.
This means that not only can you target your search ads to people who have been on your website but also to people based on their recent browsing history and other web activities.
For example, if a user is reading phone review websites and watching the latest tech reviews on YouTube, Google may deem them to be interested in purchasing a phone and put them in the relevant in-market audience.
So what if you’ve already started your marketing?
How do you make the decision then? Audience insight tools such as google analytics can give you an insight into who your target audience is based on google data.
Paid search is now not only just about keyword research. It is becoming more complex than ever. Audience bidding has brought another layer to how you plan your paid search strategy. You are no longer only thinking about the search a potential customer may use but also what level of intent they may be at. The use of in-market and affinity audiences allow us to not only observe, but also act upon our bidding strategies in order to target the right people at the right time.
Not just about demographics
Within your audience research you can become micro focused on the specific person you are trying to target based on their age and gender. By doing this you could miss out on important micro moments such as “I want to buy” and the “I want to do”, meaning you could exclude key customers who may be looking for your product or service.
Not all audiences are equal.
Knowing your target audience is important but knowing how much each audience is worth is of greater importance when it comes to planning your marketing strategy. Becoming too focused on who your target demographic is can leave you being overly precise with your targeting and leave potential customers out of your marketing. The decision of who you target should not be taken lightly. Continuous tweaking, optimisation and research should be carried out in order to ensure your campaigns perform to their potential.