\n Stay Forward <\/h2>\n
\n Get exclusive insights into digital
media's top-trending topics delivered
directly to your inbox. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
As a long-time digital marketer, I\u2019ve seen many trends in the ways brands buy digital media. Early on, brands leveraged digital as an extension of their offline buys, aiming to increase reach and frequency, with audience inputs limited to generalities like age, gender and household income.<\/p>\n
With the rise of programmatic, many brands used technology to get as many digital impressions or clicks as possible in a cost-efficient manner. Volume was the key, as long as the \u201ceyeballs\u201d were cheap. Unfortunately, this was a race to the bottom, resulting in few truly qualified leads. Today we see many brands striving to use digital media to target the RIGHT customers for their business. It\u2019s no longer about reach and frequency or extreme cost efficiencies. Brands are starting to recognise the power of digital media\u2019s myriad targeting capabilities and seek to use it to the peak of its abilities. Here are my top tips for finding great new customers with digital media targeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n Understand channel preference Insights like these explain why customer segmentation and\/or persona development work is so essential for laying the groundwork of any successful campaign. Without a solid understanding of where your target audience spends their time and where they are receptive to interacting with brands and receiving brand messages, you are likely to waste time, effort and money.<\/p>\n Choose the right message at the right time At what point in the customer journey should a brand indicate its awareness of audience preferences? As digital audiences evolve, many users are becoming increasingly receptive to personalised marketing that speaks directly to their situation, needs, lifestyle and preferences. More and more, consumers are willing to give up a bit of personal privacy in exchange for receiving marketing that actually matters to them.<\/p>\n If the goal of a marketing program is to entice a more favourable customer mix, understanding what makes them tick and then messaging to that can help convert a more ideal customer. Clearly, if this is a new customer, brands won\u2019t be able to personalise on a 1:1 basis, but even tailoring the message to known characteristics, behaviours or their location can help. This is especially important when dealing with younger target audiences.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Different people rely on different types of communication channels and platforms. For example, if your research indicates that your best audiences are significantly more likely to watch online video than the general population, it would make sense to create a digital media buying strategy that features online video ads, placements on video viewing platforms, etc.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>In order to attract the right customer mix, the importance of the timing, as well as the content of your messaging, should not be underestimated. Are you deploying the right message to the right audience at the right time? Though promotional messaging may convert well in theory, where (what channels) and when during the customer journey they are deployed are key to their success.<\/p>\n