The Opportunity Cost of Targeting to Death: Part I of IV - Steve Bookbinder- Digital Media Training

Are you an overtargeter Do you find that you shop endlessly for just the right target amp8211audience profile and content and the both together only to find that no one can hit your targeted impression goals on quality content Publishers and networks call this targeting to death A horrible way to go Often the publisher misses the goal for the first 3 weeks of the campaign month and then a network comes in for a scaled AND targeted BIG week 4 Was this really necessary More importantly is it in the advertiser39s best interestOne of the best things about digital advertising is the ability to target Apart from contextually targeting users on relevant content we can reach any demographic through behavioral targeting and past shoppers with retargeting Let39s not leave out geo daypart as well as targeting by OS device browser and even Geodem There are 62 pieces of information that can be known about each user There are many PC operating systems that we can target and 150 mobile ones There are more than 30 tablets even if you only heard of 1 or 2 of them Given that how valuable is targeting too tightly in advance of testing What are we really trying to accomplish amp8211 reach a particular target Or achieve a particular and valuable marketing effect on either branding or performance That said overtargeting may put too much focus on the front end of the process and encourage guessing End result buyers wanting nowaste in reaching a very specific person even if there are only 7 of those people and it39d be simpler to call them to let them know you are targeting them for a marketing campaignBefore locking in on a target we should consider the opportunitycost of too narrowly selecting a target amp8230the right audience on exactly the right contentamp8230before testing a new campaign on a new site Below are 4 things to consider before putting a specific demo target in the crosshairs this week we will focus on 11 Grouping strategy2 Referring traffic3 Taxonomy4 Cost of ScalingGrouping Strategy amp8211 This has an impact on both paid search and display the clearest way to understand grouping strategy is to start by envisioning a Paid Search campaign On SERPs search engine results pages there is a war going on as marketers fight not so much for the top of the page but for overall brand supremacyAll brands know that each paid position has a predictable CTR click through rate Their bid cost in general will be higher for top positions but can be lowered through factors like QS quality score So improving QS is a never ending practice Apart from position and costperclick for that position the marketer has to decide which matching strategy to apply to each Keyword Broad Match Phrase Match or Exact Match By the way as in all advertising the more targeted the more expensive but the smaller the inventory Marketers test each key word with each matching strategy at each position to learn which combination converts most efficiently as well as which one scales best Why not simply always bid for positions 13 Because the possible inventory usually exceeds the marketer39s budget the game is about maximizing the impact of their budget It39s about optimizing and scaling It39s possible given the cost to that marketer for being in those top positions they will not have enough budget to cover all of the desired hours of the day as well as additional keywords if they use up all of their funds against the most coveted and expensive key words which their peers are also competing for But the trickiest part of the planning is the grouping of KeywordampgtMatching StrategyampgtCreativeampgtLanding PageampgtConversion any desired action or engagement Each part of the grouping strategy has to be constantly tested to ensure optimal optimization The first part of the group is really before Keyword amp8211 what is the intention of a user who searches with that keyword Can a different intention be inferred from users using that same keyword across various search engines Should we show a person with a different intention a differently worded ad Use a different matching strategy Bring them to a different landing pageNow let39s consider how grouping impacts display We think we are simplifying the game by predetermining the exact content and demo target and now all we have to do is worry about which creative to serve them But let39s look at the entire group The user39s IntentionampgtChoice of CreativeampgtServed on a particular deviceampgtat that timeampgt with that geotargetampgtlanding pageampgtconversion path to desired action With all of those moving parts how sure can we be that the correct target is M 34amp821239 HHI over 150k interested in finance etcamp8230with the ad served when the content is relevant contextual targeting or irrelevant BT Even if we worked out the perfect grouping strategy recipe on a different site or network can we be so sure it39d convert that way again on a different platform we are testing If we guess wrong on the target or guess wrong on being too tightly targeted we miss learning what is just outside of our bullseye Maybe the next outer ring would convert better Or have a higher AOV average order value or higher LTV lifetime valueMaybe we should spend more time creating the right landing pages and less time guessing the perfect target Think about that the next time you are tempted to overtarget when testing a new campaign or a new site or networkNext time we will look at 2 amp8211 how Referring Traffic data may be more important than overtargetingThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecom MyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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The Opportunity Cost of Targeting to Death: Part I of IV - Steve Bookbinder- Digital Media Training

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