The modern world does not do without progressive advertising. It is everywhere: in shops and cafes, in heat projects and on the radio, at work and at home, etc. And with the advent of the Internet, the possibilities of advertising have become almost limitless. Promotion of any product or service on the Web has become more efficient, cheaper and faster. But how to distinguish from the entire mass of users the audience to whom this product will be really interesting? Targeting is all about this. What is it and how does it work? What are the types of this advertising mechanism?
Targeting - what is it?
Internet space is a very promising platform for any type of business. Even if he is not involved in online sales. But in order for advertising to be more effective, it must be targeted. To do this, various techniques and methods are used, which gives customers the opportunity to attract exactly those customers who are willing to buy goods. This is what targeting does.
Literally, this English word denotes a goal. Therefore, targeting is setting functional guidelines. If we talk about business and advertising, then this is a special mechanism that allows you to select targeted visitors to various sites that meet the specified criteria.
Targeting advertising minimizes the time and cost of the advertiser, without reducing the target audience. At the same time, there are a huge number of methods and types of this mechanism that allow you to use one or another market segment. The advertiser independently chooses a specific form of targeting or a combination of several elements. This makes it possible to reduce and diversify costs.
Targeting mechanism
As with every effective method, the choice of the target audience has its own characteristics and mode of action. Conditionally, the targeting process can be divided into several stages:
- Information collection period. Here, the search queries of Internet users are mainly investigated. Their habits and tastes are tracked, which pages they use more often, which online stores they visit and what they are interested in, what they generally do on the Web, etc.
- Analysis of the data. The longest and most painstaking stage. It compares all available information and draws relevant conclusions about preferences, methods of communication, calculations, tastes and purchases. Based on the results of this check, specific groups of users are identified for whom specific advertising will be important and interesting, i.e. the targeting itself will be implemented. What is this if not the selection of buyers?
- Creation of individual publicity. After determining the audience segment, on the basis of the data obtained, an advertising message is developed that is suitable for this particular segment. This takes into account all the features and preferences of users.
- Placement of an advertising message. Information is posted exclusively on those resources where users of a particular group most often go. These are various sites, blogs, magazine pages, sections of shops and television broadcasts.
The main types of targeting
There are several ways to determine the future target audience in the Internet space, as in ordinary life. Therefore, these types of targeting are distinguished:
- Direct selection of specific sites, pages and blogs that match the product being sold.
- Subject or interest targeting. Informational messages are posted on sites with relevant content.
- Temporary targeting. Here you select a certain period that corresponds to the best moment of communication with potential customers.
- Social and demographic targeting. Here, the main selection criteria are gender, income, age, position, etc.
- Behavioral, geo-behavioral, or telepathic targeting. Cookies track the interests and preferences, movements, and activities of specific people.
- Psychological targeting. In creating advertising, the personal characteristics of users are used.
- Geographic targeting - what is it? This is a mechanism where advertising is shown to users who live in a particular, chosen by the advertiser, area, city or country.
Time targeting
When choosing a target audience for a future advertising campaign, you should also carefully select the time of the release of the commercial. After all, if your product is aimed at the middle age group, then it will simply be pointless to show information about it in the first half of a weekday. At this point, people are usually at work. In addition, you need to consider the schedule of the store itself.
Time targeting is the allocation of a suitable time of day for the implementation of an advertising company. There are many relevant studies on this subject. For example, ordering food online is usually during the lunch period. If we talk about various entertainment events, such as movies, clubs or restaurants, then the peak of views falls on the time from 14 to 20 hours.
More serious purchases, such as various household appliances, occur in an odd period: 11, 13, 15, 17, etc. In addition, tourist vouchers and hot tours are usually viewed from 14 to 18 hours, auto parts - 10-12 hours, and sporting goods are purchased at 16, 21 and 22 hours.
Knowing these statistical patterns, you can more effectively organize your own business.
Telepathic targeting
This is one of the newest and most promising areas of methods for determining the target audience. Behavioral targeting is taken as a basis, which allows to increase the accuracy of advertising hits.
The essence of this method is to study the preferences of Internet users. For example, if a person often visits online clothing stores, the program makes an appropriate conclusion about his needs at the moment. Here, a certain behavioral matrix is widely used. It was derived from a thorough analysis of the travel of specific users on the Web.
The method of behavioral, or telepathic, targeting is now used by many well-known companies. For example, Xerox even created its own kind of targeted search, which collects information without the knowledge of users. This method is also widely used by Yahoo, Bonprix, and even Microsoft.
Earnings "VKontakte"
Advertising on social networks has long been quite a profitable and effective business. This is due to the huge number of visitors who are online for several hours daily. In addition, all modern networks are sufficiently adapted to search for the target audience, organize trade and feedback, as well as a settlement system.
For example, VKontakte targeting boasts up to 20 criteria for targeting ads. Therefore, potential advertisers have a great opportunity to choose exactly the user who is likely to buy the products presented.
The VKontakte segmentation is as follows:
- Birthdays.
- Geography.
- Education.
- Demography.
- Interests
- Devices
- Applications
- Travels.
Vkontakte Advertising Settings
The management and control system in this network is quite simple and straightforward. Advertisements are interactive. In addition, the owner of the video at any time can independently disable one or another publicity.
The effectiveness of an advertising company can be monitored online. For a more detailed report, audience analysis is used to optimize the work done.
In addition, here you can apply external services to track the activity of certain communities and groups. These are programs like JagaJam, MasterMind, Personal Monitor, or SocialWatch. It is also possible to watch the news feed with Youscan and Brandspotter. All of them provide information on who, when and in what quantity saw a certain advertisement.
The main advantages of the targeted focus of online advertising
Any company or firm is, first of all, an economic entity. That is why, before implementing any project or mechanism, all the pros and cons of this solution are calculated. Speaking of targeting, we can highlight the following advantages for the advertiser:
- This method allows you to select only the audience that will be really interested in buying a particular service or product. Therefore, you do not need to spray and spend extra time and effort.
- The ability to diversify costs by choosing the types of targeting. Here you can order a more budget option or pay for several versions at once.
- The ability to control targeting. What is it? This is a process of not only choosing a specific type of targeting, but also viewing statistics for each advertisement.