What is targeting?

To interest and attract a potential buyer to purchase goods is one of the main desires of any entrepreneur. This can be done with the help of an effective offer and well-targeted targeted advertising. How it works, whether this method has flaws, we will consider in the article.

The concept

Targeted advertising is a marketing mechanism by which people can be selected from the entire audience of Internet users according to specified characteristics and criteria. They can be subdivided by gender, age, region, interests, etc.

Accordingly, targeting means setting up the target audience to the necessary criteria.

Thus, by directing the advertising campaign to a circle of certain individuals, you can get the best effect from the implemented events. Targeting allows you to optimally use your cash budget. In addition, this system helps to maximize the benefits.

Targeting - this means creating and sending out advertisements in a message to a selected audience. It is necessary to briefly and as informatively describe the offer of goods, services and other things.

Most actively, this technique is used in banner and contextual advertising, social networks, as well as search engines (Google, Yandex and others). In the settings of each of these services, you can set your own criteria, according to which the audience will be selected based on its interests and social indicators.

For what?

Why do I need to set up targeted ads? We explain in more detail.

Criteria for choosing this method:

1. First of all, such advertising has low costs. And all this because the ad is shown to a narrow number of people based on a given parameter. Suppose an online store is located in the Moscow region and releases goods exclusively from stock (pickup). It will be optimal to reach an audience living in this region, rather than launch an advertising campaign across the country.
   
2. Targeting is a concept that implies the possibility of increasing conversion. Most likely, a person who belongs to the target category of people will follow the link and even make a purchase.
3. Increasing conversion leads to an increase in ads on search engines.
4. Such advertising removes unnecessary work from employees of the advertised enterprise.

Does targeting always function correctly?

What does targeted advertising mean, we figured it out. Does it always work correctly? We are well aware that no one will refuse to advertise their goods and services, directing offers exclusively to interested parties.

But targeted advertising has its limitations. It is very difficult to use in B2B. And all because the technique is built on attracting people, not companies. Targeting is mainly based on work in social networks. People are inherent to share information about goods and services, and this is the basis for the proposal.

Of course, you can set up a B2B system in targeting. For example, you own a catering organization. You can show your ads to people whose profile shows the position “director”, “owner” or “head of human resources”. Such people are interested in ordering complex lunches for employees or holding corporate parties. It is also possible to sort the categories of people by interests, focusing on the communities in which they are members.

Targeting Matching

The job of an online marketer is often to overlay information from the brief or product profile on the data of profiles of people from social networks.This method is quite difficult to implement. And often because most of the necessary data is not available to us. Therefore, targeting is not an easy job.

Large collection of information is required. We can’t find out what level of income a network user has. Therefore, you can refer to the hint in the form of geolocation. Accordingly, people who have recently traveled abroad are more likely to have above average income. Thus, when launching an advertisement with expensive goods, we will be guided by using similar evaluation criteria.

Targeting categories

When the question arises of how to make targeted advertising, we pay attention to the challenges that we face. Consider the main types:

1. Geographic targeting. The audience to be shown the ad is selected by place of residence. It makes no sense to reach people across the country if the delivery of goods is carried out exclusively in Krasnodar. Why spend money on generalized advertising if the percentage of people who are likely to make a purchase will be several times smaller. Information about the location of a potential buyer can be used almost everywhere.
   
2. Interest and hobby targeting. Quite a difficult category. Obviously, advertising about cosmetics should be placed on women's forums, about fishing tackle - in fishing enthusiast communities, and about auto parts - on sites where cars are sold. And there is not much difference on which of the pages the information will be posted.
3. Temporary targeting. This includes a seasonal product or service. It makes no sense to advertise fur products and winter tires in summer. The same goes for companies involved in the preparation and delivery of food. They should clearly distinguish time intervals. In the morning it’s important to advertise invigorating coffee, in the afternoon business lunch, in the evening it is worth focusing on rolls, salads and desserts. To prevent mistakes in time, companies need to conduct sales analysis and build their schedule. And the top dishes should be used in advertising.
4. Behavioral technique. This method is used by most online stores. Perhaps you paid attention to this fact. Looking through the goods of the online store, you send some of them to the basket, but you do not complete the purchase. Then leave this site. After some time, a reminder comes to your email that you forgot to place an order. And sometimes they inform you that the quantity of goods is limited and you should hurry. This is how it works.
5. And perhaps the easiest method. This is an ad on your birthday. Almost every one of us has this date on the page on the social network. Companies are actively using this information and offer discounts on their birthday. Or the audience is divided into age segments. And they start advertising, focusing on this criterion.

Advantages and disadvantages

The contentious issue of targeted advertising is the budget. It’s very difficult to understand how best to pay - per click or one thousand views. The answer to this question can only accurately predict testing. Therefore, experienced marketers can easily determine which settings to set.

Targeting Benefits:

1. Advertising can be targeted at the narrowest possible audience. Accordingly, there is a high probability that your link will at least go to and get acquainted with the products.
2. Advertising is aimed at competitors (through groups and communities).
3. Engaging people with enticing images and branding.
4. Simple testing of any settings.
5. Quick search for the best option.

Targeting disadvantages:

1. People on social networks are extremely reluctant to click on sponsored links.
2. The audience is quite large, so there is a great risk of wasting a huge part of the budget for nothing.
3. A constant change in the general form of the announcement, otherwise after a while it is simply ignored.
4. Tight control by moderators of social networks.

How to set up targeted ads

This type of marketing promotion is distributed by keywords, gender, age, subjects, interests and other categories.

Google is the largest search engine and platform for targeted advertising. In its database there is a huge number of major sites, thanks to which a huge reach of the target audience is achieved.

To target, you need to define your user category. Using Google AdWords, create a remarketing list and specify the groups of visitors that should be included in the target list. Moreover, each audience should be assigned a separate sheet. This will help you calculate the budget for a specific ad, not all of them. And you already decide on which advertising campaign to allocate more funds, and which - less.

Targeting or contextual advertising?

Contextual advertising is focused on the theme of the site, respectively, interests intersect and complement each other. Targeted advertising is the easiest to configure and requires a serious creative approach to design. The goal of such a campaign is to interest a potential customer.

In the contextual direction, the ad works for an already interested audience. Accordingly, clicks on such ads are more. But targeting has the opportunity to attract new customers who, before moving to the site, did not even think about purchasing this product or service.

Consider the financial aspect. In terms of costs, targeting is cheaper than contextual advertising. But when choosing one or another method, testing is still necessary. Since responses are sometimes unpredictable. The human factor plays a role.

Targeted inflation

This concept is a system aimed at solving two problems simultaneously. Firstly, it is necessary to bring stability to economic indicators, and secondly, to prevent uncontrolled price increases.

The objectives of targeted inflation:

1. Analysis of the reasons that contribute to price increases.
2. Determining the acceptable level.
3. Development of measures to establish the required level of targeted inflation.
4. Taking the necessary measures.
5. Implementation of activities developed in advance.
6. Assessment and analysis of the results of the reporting period.

Using this sequence of actions, the market controls prices independently, and the state makes adjustments in accordance with established standards.