Success in PPC advertising depends on delivering the right message at the right time to the right people. The members of your target audience are subjected to thousands of ads every day from different brands trying to get their attention. To break through the noise, defining the audience has to be at the core of your PPC strategy and all of your tactics must support your audience framework.
Segments of Your Audience
Segmenting your audience is an important part of delivering messages that are relevant. How is this done? Your audience can be divided into segments based on the relationship they have with your brand. Some have shown interest in your brand but never made a purchase while some make an occasional purchase. Others make frequent purchases and another segment of people made purchases in the past but haven’t interacted recently. Looking at the characteristics of people in each group provides information on how people engage with your brand.
Since each segment of your audience framework has unique interests and goals, they’ll need targeted messaging that’s specific to them. Delivering ads across segments that are too similar may not have much impact. Messages that are clearly targeted to people with specific characteristics have a better chance of standing out from the noise and inspiring action.
Connecting with Your Target Audience
An audience framework helps you gain clarity on the best way to reach different groups of people. The message for someone who has never heard of your brand wouldn’t be the same as the message for a loyal customer who makes frequent purchases. Conduct market research and engage with different segments of your audience to clarify what they’re looking for. Targeting your ads more effectively can help you increase your click-through rates and conversions.
There are many different options for reaching your audience using PPC and search engine marketing. Keyword based search ads are still a good option, but don’t overlook other platforms such as YouTube, Microsoft Search Ad Network, Display, App Campaigns and Local Campaigns. Different channels provide different opportunities to reach part of your target audience.
Test and Analyze
The ads you create should be informative and entertaining while targeting people with similar traits. Ads need to provide relevant information and can also be used to provide offers and discounts. Test and analyze performance among multiple audience segments and make changes where needed.
If you’re not getting the results you want, one thing to do is to review your audience framework to see if the segments are divided in the best way and if they’re aligned with your business objectives. Consider where people are in the sales funnel. The characteristics of each segment of your audience should be unique enough to require customized messaging.
If you find this whole process confusing, you’re not alone. Paid media is continually changing and many business owners have a hard time keeping up. The experts at Softline Solutions can help you grow your online presence and business by improving your ability to target the right people on the right platforms. Get in touch with Softline Solutions to get started today.
