If you have followed Google's annual Marketing Next event, in which Google showcased the latest innovations in Google AdWords, Analytics and Double Click, you might have noticed the heavy emphasis placed on audience-based targeting.
This shouldn't come as a surprise, as improving the quality of audience segments that advertisers can utilize in AdWords for both search and display has been one of Google's top priorities over the past couple of years. In the end, Google's huge amount of data, including user behavior, can play a key role in helping marketers increasing the efficiency of their paid digital efforts.
I'd like to share three tried and true audience-based AdWords tactics that are sure to drive targeted traffic and have the potential to increase ROI for your AdWords campaigns.
Customer Match
AdWords Customer Match lets you show ads to your customers based on data about those customers that you share with Google. Effective for different types of campaigns, from increasing awareness to driving conversions, Customer Match is currently available on Search, Shopping, YouTube, and Gmail.
Here's how it works. Advertisers upload a data file of email addresses from their customers or prospects, then create Search, Shopping, Gmail, or YouTube campaigns to target those users while they're signed in to their Google account. In addition, for YouTube and Gmail, AdWords will automatically create "similar audiences" (users with characteristics similar to the uploaded list), which can also be utilized as targeting. Advertisers can also exclude current customers to only reach new customers.
Custom Affinity Audiences
Custom Affinity Audiences are a more tailored version of AdWords "Affinity Audiences", broad TV-style audiences designed to reach potential customers at scale. These audiences are quite broad, hence the need for "Custom Affinity Audiences", where advertisers can create much more targeted audiences that are more tailored to their ideal customers and prospects. Advertisers create audiences by using free form interests entered as keywords and/or using URLs as a proxy for interest bundles. For example, an advertiser may want to utilize a custom affinity audience that targets users who visit competitor websites and are interested in the type of product the advertiser is selling. Custom Affinity Audiences are available in the Google Display Network and YouTube.
In-Market Audiences
In-Market Audiences offer advertisers the opportunity to connect with consumers who are actively researching or most likely to make a purchase. More suitable for top and mid funnel type of traffic, the In-Market audience data comes from a "broad variety of intent-based signals, such as consumer research, views and clicks on related ads, product or service listings, and frequency of visits."
What I like about In-Market audiences is that the data is updated in real-time, so it is always fresh and relevant. In addition, the lookout window (the life of the user within a category) is customized to different verticals with varied conversion cycles. During the recent Marketing Next Event, Google announced that In-Market Audiences, which have been available in the Google Display Network and YouTube for quite a long time, are now available for Search campaigns as well.
To learn more about how we can help your online business to increase sales and reach more customers by taking advantage of the increasingly powerful and sophisticated AdWords audience-based targeting capabilities, call or email us and one of our Interactive Advertising experts will be available to assist.
