Ads have been used for centuries now. The difference between now and then is that there is now the unique ability to be able to digitally track and more precisely direct a message based on the behaviour of the key people that are desired consumers. Simplified, this is called targeting, and it’s an amazing way to be able to directly put a message in front of the people that matter to a brand.
How To Get Targeting Data
The source for this targeting is based on research and data. How can a brand know who is one of their top demographics just through guessing? It’s impossible. There are many ways to get this data. One of the best resources for this data is Google Analytics. Another is basic instinct. Many marketers neglect this, but personal experience with different types of people will beat the suggested ‘interests’ of any automated targeting service.
It could be that a brand aims to target a new demographic, or capitalise on their existing customer base. Either way, Google Analytics provides valuable insights.
The most useful parts of Google Analytics for targeting purposes are the Acquisition and Audience sections.
The information from these two sections can then be used on social media to find the target consumers. It is useful to ask the following questions:
- Which pages are potential customers looking for the most?
- Which site is the most traffic coming from?
- Who primarily are the target audience, men or women?
- Which country do potential customers come from?
- Which city do they come from?
- How many are using mobile as opposed to desktop?
- Could the ads be optimised to better target mobile?
- The secret to targeting is to get it as specific as possible. With the risk otherwise being that an advert will just float around on the web, wasting money on people who wouldn’t have visited the website anyway.
Scheduled Targeting
Another thing to remember with targeting is that it is variable depending on what is being sold. If advertising car insurance, for example, it may be better to target people within daytime hours while they’re procrastinating from their job or looking for something to distract their minds with. Not at night, while they’re looking to be entertained after a busy day of work.
This can be achieved fairly easily by arranging for targeting to start and end at a certain time. Of course, this gets more complicated when targeting people in more than one-time zone, like Crowd do...
Summary
To summarise, targeting is a tool that can take your adverts from a single bull to the bullseye. The techniques labelled here are some handy tips you can use over social media and on Google Adwords. Not a lot has changed in marketing, targeting itself is a fundamental principle of reaching the right audience. The only real thing that has changed is the battleground, from newspaper prints to online ads.
Here at Crowd we have a team dedicated to finding the right targeting for your business. With our plethora of global clients, we have had to adapt and evolve our targeting practices to be seamlessly usable with any potential lead. If you want help with your targeting or simply want a chat to find out more about digital, then get in touch.
