Targeted Advertising: A Simple Guide to Reaching Your Customers

What is Targeted Advertising?

Where Can You Publish Targeted Ads?

There are many options available to brands who want to publish targeted ads. For customers who have opted-in to receive newsletters and offers, email is an effective way to serve advertisements since they are already interested in your brand.

Marketers can target a specific audience by paying for advertisements on social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.

Google can publish your ads on its search engine results pages or on the Google Display Network. The Display Network reaches 90% of Internet users worldwide. Google Ads is a platform that includes both Google AdWords and Google AdSense. Costs for using the platform are based on an auction system. Marketers type in the highest amount they would pay for one click on an ad, and Google uses that number along with the quality of the ad and what other advertisers are willing to pay to determine both the price and position of the ad. Worth noting? Brands are only charged when someone clicks on a link that leads to their website.

How do you use ad targeting to benefit your business? Here are 10 tips that will help improve the impact of your ads.

1. Give Consumers Content They Care About

Instead of just repeating what customers already know, take advantage of targeted ads to give them new information and other offers that might be appealing, based on their past buying and browsing habits. Make sure your advertising targets your customers’ interests by giving them content that is relevant to what they would want to see.

The takeaway: Consumers want new, fresh content.

2. Keep it Interesting

They call marketing “creative” because it should be interesting, show-stopping, and not dull. Targeted ads are more likely to be noticed if they are significantly different from other ads.

The takeaway: Make your ads eye-catching.

3. Set a Cap on Frequency

While it’s important to target your ads specifically to your customers, too much targeting may have negative consequences. If you were a consumer, how would you feel if you saw the same ad on multiple websites?

The takeaway: Don’t bombard your customers with ads.

4. Find the Right Place

It makes more sense to have simple ads on Google search results, but it’s worth taking the time to make more detailed ads for Instagram or Facebook marketing campaigns. These ads are more likely to grab users’ attention when they scroll past, and get them to click through to a new page or watch a video.

The most important thing in ad targeting, like real estate, is location.

5. Pinpoint Your Audience

To create a targeted advertisement, you need to identify your target audience. If your ads don’t meet customers’ preferences, you won’t get the click-through rates you want. It is important to do your research and find tools that let you create custom ads based on personalized customer data. Additionally, it is helpful to find tools that allow you to see common traits among your audience.

The main point is that no matter how good an advertisement is, it won’t be effective if it’s not aimed at the right audience.

6. Don’t Get Too Specific

While it is important to make your ads specific to your target market, it is also important to make them broad enough to reach a larger portion of your target market. An ad that is too specific is less likely to be seen by people because it is not relevant to them.

An effective marketing strategy falls somewhere between targeted advertising and ads that are too specific.

7. Think Outside the Box

When building targeted ad campaigns, it is important to think about what your audience wants. If you own a real estate company and are looking to help customers either sell their current homes or buy new ones, this is the right place for you. Your target market is people who are looking for a realtor in their area or checking out home prices in their neighborhood.

In addition to your primary target market, it is also beneficial to consider parallel markets. This could include searches for moving boxes, truck and van rentals, or storage lockers, which could indicate that customers are preparing to move. You can reach more people by including parallel markets without losing your focus.

The key point to remember is that successful targeted marketing requires a balance of both personalization and generalization.

8. Test, Test, Test

Even the best advertising efforts can fail. Consequently, it would be beneficial to run regular A/B tests to compare the performance of different ads in specific situations, as well as to identify ads that are not effective. After finding the leading candidates, you can continue to improve them through A/B testing to get the most out of your investment.

The takeaway: Nothing works perfectly the first time. Test your ads to improve their performance.

9. Cast a Wide Net

There is a high probability that a single advertising platform will be most effective for a new advertising campaign. The caveat? You won’t know which one is best until you try them all. You don’t need to spend all of your advertising budget on new marketing techniques, but it is worth trying out different ad platforms to see which ones work best.

The key point to take away from this is that if you want to be successful in finding and appealing to customers, you need to be broad in your approach and be willing to change your strategies to match what the customer is doing.

10. Measure your Impact

If the ads are being seen and clicked on, then everything is going according to plan, correct? Maybe, maybe not. To make sure your ads are successful, it’s important to have specific goals and measure them often to see if they’re meeting your expectations. For example, you could measure the total value of conversions against the cost of a targeted marketing campaign to see if it was successful.

The main point is to keep track of your ad spending to make sure it is effective.

6 Types of Advertising Media Channels

The media planner’s first step is to identify the overall objective for the media campaign. Once they have done this, they can devise a strategy to support this objective. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of advertisement which should be considered to get the most out of media placements and make the campaign more effective. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of these five prominent media channels:

1. Video Advertising: Television & YouTube

The first legal television advertisement was broadcast on July 1st, 1941 during a Brooklyn Dodgers versus Philadelphia Phillies game. At the time, there were about 4,000 televisions in the state of New York. The decades after the invention of television saw a rise in popularity of both television advertising and mass marketing. Television is one of the most popular media channels for marketers today, especially with the advent of connected TV advertising, which uses viewer data for more effective segmentation.

In addition to being shown on cable TV, video ads are also shown on YouTube and other online platforms. Advertising agencies can now promote their commercials on various websites to reach audiences that are active online.

Pros of Video: Online & Television Advertising

Television combines audio with visual. This ad creates a multi-sensory experience that demonstrates to viewers how your product has value. The commercial is the touchpoint when it is played on someone’s television in their home. TV is a more personal medium than other forms of communication. It’s also a great way to establish a connection with a viewer. The ad was a hit, but not without some controversy The Hyundai Super Bowl ad from 2017 was a hit, but not without some controversy. This commercial allowed soldiers to virtually watch the game with their families. This commercial did not talk about the cars that the company sells, but it did show the company’s brand message.

Television is a great way to make people aware of your brand – almost every American has at least one, and 83 percent have two or more. On average, American households have their televisions on for 8.1 hours each day. In 2019, advertisers spent about $76 billion dollars.

Brands can benefit from viewers watching their commercials long after they have aired by combining television ads with YouTube’s reach. However, brands need to have a strong message. A commercial will not go viral if it does not connect with viewers.

Advertising on YouTube can be beneficial in addition to hosting commercials on a specific YouTube channel. Since a lot of users are signed in when they watch videos, information about who they are can be combined with what videos they watch. This way, videos that are relevant to the viewer’s interests can be more easily seen by the target audience.

Cons of Video: Online & Television Advertising

Television advertising can be costly for organizations. It costs a lot of money not only to buy the slot, but also to create the commercial’s content. Media planners predict which shows will have higher than usual viewership in the next few months. An inaccurate estimate can compromise marketing ROI. TV ads usually get a lot of exposure, so a bad ad can do a lot of damage to a company’s reputation. When more people are able to see an advertisement, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that the ad is well-made and catches people’s attention.

A disadvantage of television advertising is that viewers do not always actively listen to television commercials, and often try to skip or avoid them when given the opportunity. Moreover, you may end up wasting your advertising budget if you fail to consider that not everyone tuning in will be part of your target audience. You should always think about which groups of people are most likely to watch a particular TV show before you buy a commercial spot on it. Even though a show aired during primetime may have more viewers, a show aired during daytime or late-night could be more targeted and end up costing you less money. Though it may be more expensive, we suggest choosing a live television slot for your advertising campaign. Your users cannot fast-forward through commercials while watching a football game if they want to see the game as it unfolds.

2. Audio Channels: Radio & Podcast Advertising

Radio technology was first developed in the 19th century, but it wasn’t until 1912 that commercial companies realized they could use broadcasts to advertise their products. Record companies began supplying free music to broadcasters in exchange for mentions of the company’s name. Almost every radio station in the US would play commercially sponsored programmes by the late 1920s. Even though internet radio is becoming increasingly popular, traditional radio is still very popular with both listeners and advertisers. It seems likely that radio will continue to be popular even as the world goes digital.

Pros of Radio & Podcast Advertising

Almost everybody can listen to the radio since it is in so many places. Demographics show that 93 percent of American adults listen to the radio every week. Almost all Gen Xers (97 percent) and Millennial (95 percent) believe that technology has made life easier. Radio is a cheaper option than television, especially when considering the cost of production. Advertisers can message consumers frequently through radio without allocating all their budget on more expensive ads.

Radio can be used in a way that will help to improve the image that a television ad leaves with a viewer. Approximately 90% of listeners will continue to listen during a commercial break. Radio advertising can be more conversational than other forms of advertising because in some cases the hosts talk directly to the product.

Podcast advertising is a newer form of audio medium. If a product has been mentioned on a podcast, 54% of users are more likely to consider that product. A quarter of Americans currently listen to podcasts and that number is projected to increase in the future. Podcasts can use ads that are more conversation like what is used on the radio. Hosts typically have strong relationships with their audiences and promote products in their own words.

Cons of Radio & Podcast Advertising

A challenge of radio advertising is that people are often doing something else while listening, so they’re not really paying attention. Radio is only audio, so it doesn’t have a lot of ways to hold people’s attention. This means that it is harder to keep a person’s attention when you are only using audio, and it is also harder to show what you are talking about without visuals. This is why ads should be easy to understand and include important info several times. Adding television to this form of advertising may make it more effective. Additionally, media planners should consider booking the first or last ad slots after a commercial break, as users may change the station during the break.

Although ads may be featured at the start of a video, users may fast forward through them. It is beneficial to get podcast ads placed in the middle of the podcast if possible.

Radio ads are fleeting and most consumers won’t replay them. For podcasts, this same disadvantage is also the case. Since these listeners are likely to be busy with other things, they may not remember the ad or have a pen to write down the specifics for later. in order for it to be successful This means that media planners should show the same ad multiple times for it to be effective.

3. Newspapers

Print mediums, such as newspapers, are one of the oldest channels for advertisers. In fact, newspaper advertisements predate brands. As literacy rates increased in the 16th century, advertisers began publishing print advertisements in weekly gazettes in Italy, Germany, and Holland. The newspaper is still an effective channel that gets approximately $15.9 billion in advertising spend within the U.S.

Pros of Newspaper Advertising

Newspapers are a very effective way of reaching out to millions of people on a daily basis. They are also one of the most trusted mediums, with 82 percent of customers trusting them when making a purchase decision. Advertising in newspapers can be very precise due to geographic delivery and sections of papers catering to particular audiences. Newspapers can be a great way to reach older demographics that may not be as receptive to digital advertisements. Newspaper audiences tend to be educated and/or have higher incomes.

Newspapers can make your marketing efforts more profitable when they are combined with other advertising channels, similar to how radio advertising does. Even though the number of people reading newspapers is decreasing, 7 out of 10 of those readers say that they feel less anxious about a story when it comes from a news brand rather than from social media.

Cons of Newspaper Advertising

Newspaper viewership continues to decline. In 2018, an estimated 30.8 million Sunday papers were delivered, compared to 59.4 million in 2000. This is because young people rarely read newspapers. Only 5 percent of adults aged 18 to 29 read their print newspaper often.

The downside to using newspapers for advertising is that they typically have measures in place to reduce the number of obtrusive ads, which can make it more difficult to establish a brand. It is difficult to measure how effective newspaper advertisements are, especially when compared to digital media. Newspapers have a shorter lifespan than magazines and are often thrown away at the end of the day.

Many newspapers are also moving to digital. Many of the advertisements on the internet are banner ads, which are not always effective in catching and holding someone’s attention.

4. Print & Digital Publications (Magazines)

The first magazines were published in the late 1600s to entertain the upper class. They often talked about philosophy, culture, and lifestyle. Not until the 1800s did the middle class start wanting magazines, so publishers started using ads to help pay for the high cost of printing and to grow their audience. Magazines by the 20th century were known to have vast audiences and the ability to buy ads that were full of color. Approximately $15.6 billion was spent on magazine advertising in 2019.

5. Out-Of-Home Advertising

In the 1800’s, out-of-home advertising started becoming popular. Advertisements for Barnum & Bailey took over the country in the form of billboards and murals. Billboards were adapted to be seen along highways and interstates when the automobile was invented to advertise Coca-Cola, Palmolive, and other brand’s latest products. In recent years, billboards have evolved and become digital. Digital advertising has taken over Time Square. Billboarding is becoming more interactive, with the use of sensors and cameras. Billboards are an older form of advertising, but they are still evolving and remain a major form of media advertising for realtors.

6. Social Media

Social media is a new channel for media planners to use. Since 2006, advertisements have been placed on social media platforms like Facebook. These ads have evolved from the original digital banner ads. Within ten years, ads on social media platforms became commonplace. Social media platforms make the majority of their money by getting people to use their service, then using the available data on the users to target ads.

Pros of Social Media Advertising

Social ads can be very effective in converting new followers and increasing brand loyalty. Media planners can target viewers using demographics such as job title, interests, marital status, and recent locations. Social advertising is also very cost-effective. A Facebook impression is on average less than a penny while a click costs an average of 28 cents.

While social campaigns are active, it is very easy to measure and optimize them. Media planners can pause a campaign that is not working, or reallocate funds as needed. A/B testing is a simple way to test the effectiveness of promotional messages while a campaign is running.

Cons of Social Media Advertising

There are many different social media platforms, each with their own specific requirements and best practices that marketers will need to be familiar with. Despite ads that say messaging is ok on the platform, many users will be annoyed or unnerved by messaging that is too frequent, or too specific.

Since social media is readily available to anyone with an internet connection, it has a lot of users competing for attention. Brands must strive to stand out with compelling content. Your social media profile should be kept up-to-date to create trust among potential customers.

It is important to stay up-to-date with so many platforms. New technologies are always being created, and some channels may work better than others depending on the audience. Your team’s task is to determine the location of your users and how to best reach them.