Targeting Online Audiences in 2017

By Natalie Poppy Boyce | 22 February 2017

Consumers today are operating in an increasingly digital way, but this is surely not news to you. Let’s face it, we are all aware that people are becoming more and more connected and that instant gratification is fast becoming the order of the day. The “I want, I get” attitude is fueled by the fire that is the simple yet satisfying *click*.

At the click of a button you can buy a first-class plane ticket to Ibiza and simultaneously watch a live stream video of the beach party you’re on your way to. Sound a little flashy? Yeah, it does. How about this – at the click of a button you can upload photos of your fat, old dog to the internet and make money from those. The point is it’s unreal what people are getting up to online – all sorts of people, from all sorts of places, with all sorts of interests and habits.

Staring at their screens, ready to see whatever crosses their paths, are millions of people eligible to be targeted by marketers. Businesses look at this and ask two simple questions:

  1. How do we identify our target audience online?
  2. How do we digitally tap into that audience to make a profit IRL?  

The answers to these questions can be complex because essentially these things are solved through a combination of web-savvy tactics and detailed databases – allowing your brand to be catapulted ahead of competition, cutting through the murky clutter that is the digital marketplace. Of course, not every business owner has these “web-savvy tactics” or “detailed databases” or any employees who do – after all, each and every business has its core responsibility being the production of it’s value-add to consumers’ lives, and most of the time putting resources into that leaves little time and money left to spend on learning about how to conquer the world wide web.

This. Is. Why. We. Outsource.

Don’t be fooled, you may be thinking “this is rubbish though, I can manage a Facebook page and make a website on an app for free?!” and yes – you can! BUT, no matter how many hashtags you think you should use or how many filters you include in your audience definition on Facebook, you can’t compete that way these days as it’s a wasted effort. Refined direct targeting is changing the game. The market leaders in your industry, in every industry, are paying millions to get their brand omnipresent across the web. Now, don’t feel defeated just yet – this is the good part: you don’t need to spend millions to stand out online, all you need is to spend smart by outsourcing smart.

Marketing agencies are great. They know what to say, when to say it and who to say it to. However, in the digital realm the “who” part of the equation gets a bit more complicated and that’s where the web-savvy tactics and detailed databases come into play. Agencies with in-depth knowledge of SEO, paid ad stratagem, conversion and programmatic data methods that also have massive digital databases and other tools, are more likely to cut straight to the point. They’ll get your brand right on top of that screen in the hands of your ideal customer who is just one click away from a purchase.

Email: info@menziesmedia.co.za

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Website: www.menziesmedia.co.za