Targeted advertising, also known as targeted ads or customized advertising, refers to digital ads that are served to specific individuals based on data like demographics, interests, behaviors, and more. Platforms like Google, Facebook, and Amazon all allow marketers to define their target audiences and then show ads accordingly.
For example, if you sell baseball equipment, you could target men ages 18-35 who have recently searched for terms related to baseball or softball. The ability to precisely align your ads with your perfect customers makes targeted advertising extremely effective.
The data that allows for targeted ad campaigns comes from several sources:
- First-party data - Information you collect directly like email addresses or customer profiles.
- Second-party data - Data you acquire from a partner through things like co-marketing efforts or list sharing.
- Third-party data - Data collected and sold by external providers like Acxiom, Experian, and others.
- Platform data - Data platforms like Facebook, Google, and Amazon gather themselves through tracking tools like pixels, cookies, and device IDs.
Sophisticated algorithms crunch all this data to build detailed user profiles and lookalike audiences. Artificial intelligence helps further optimize targeting over time.
There are several key advantages to targeted advertising:
- Increased relevance - Because ads are aligned with users' interests and characteristics, they are more relevant and useful.
- Higher conversion rates - When you reach the right people, you're more likely to drive conversions. Targeted ads convert 50%+ better than non-targeted ones.
- Better ROI - The boost in conversions also improves your return on ad spend. Targeted ads allow you to get more bang for your buck.
- Brand safety - Targeting helps avoid showing ads to uninterested users or placing them in unsafe environments.
- Flexibility - You can adjust targeting to meet different campaign objectives from awareness to consideration to conversions.
Here are some tips for running effective targeted ad campaigns:
- Clearly define your target audience upfront - age, gender, interests, behaviors, etc. Leverage audience insights tools to find the right users.
- Use both basic (age, location) and advanced targeting (custom audiences). Layer them for greater precision.
- Test different targeting approaches with A/B testing. Iterate based on performance data.
- Align messaging with audience interests. Make ads relevant.
- Use remarketing to keep engaging people who have already shown interest.
- Optimize for conversions or awareness depending on campaign goals. Adjust targeting accordingly.
- Monitor campaign analytics to identify high-converting audience segments.
Major platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and more all offer sophisticated targeting capabilities. Here are some of the top tools:
Facebook Ads Manager - Target users by demographics, interests, behaviors, custom audiences, and lookalike audiences.
Google Ads - Options include remarketing, similar audiences, custom affinity audiences, in-market buyers, and more.
Audience Insights - Facebook's detailed audience research tool provides insights for better targeting.
PRIAM - Powerful AI-driven tool for creating hyper-targeted custom audiences.
Acxiom - Huge third-party data provider to help build target audience profiles.
The possibilities are nearly endless when it comes to drilling down on the exact users you want to reach. Start small, measure results, and optimize your targeting over time for better performance.
Targeted advertising is only growing more sophisticated with the continued advancements in data collection, machine learning, and attribution modeling. Now is the time to test it out and see the benefits for your business.
