Demographic targeting puts consumers into groups based on the type of information you can find on a census- generally by things like age and gender. However, when it comes to your interests and values, are you the exact same as every other person your age?
No, you have more to your personality that those simple pieces of information. Affective marketing will have the nuances of your personality reflected in its messaging, provided to you at the right point in your customer journey. This is where audience targeting comes in.
How is Audience Targeting Different Than Demo Targeting?
Audience targeting uses consumer information to go beyond simple demographics to see how a consumer acts. By looking at a person’s past behavior, interests, habits, location and demographics, you can get a realistic picture of what your audience members really care about. In knowing what they value and what they do, you will be able to craft a marketing message that speaks to what is important to them.
What Type of Consumer Can You Target
When working with a marketing partner that has access to an audience base, like we have of our audience for MassLive.com, you can have a large variety of audience behavior and interest targets. This information will help build messaging that will make sense for them as an individual, not as part of a generic grouping.
So, let’s take a look at an example. Say you are a local clothing store looking to use display advertising to promote your new store location. With demographic targeting you would be able to craft your marketing message to a 45-year-old stay-at-home mother.
But with audience targeting you can craft your marketing message to a 45-year-old stay at home mother who always looks for coupons before she shops, likes to shop online for shoes on the weekend and likes to go hiking. With that audience information you will be able to create a marketing campaign with a honed message that is more likely to connect with that consumer’s interests and needs. When you can target an entire group of consumers just like that, then your marketing dollars are going to go a lot farther.
Audience targeting is marketing due diligence; do this work before you establish your marketing strategy and you build cost efficiencies and message efficacy into your campaign. Need help figuring out who your best target audience is and how to reach them? Reach out today.