7 big ways to do microtargeting by thinking small

microtargeting
Microtargeting is a marketing strategy that uses consumer data and demographics to identify the interests of specific individuals or very small groups of like-minded individuals and influence their thoughts or actions.
Marketers see the most success in microtargeting when data helps them know their target audience so well the messages get delivered through the target’s preferred communication channel. And when they are most likely to act.
How to do it? Where to do it? Who’s doing it well?
Here are 7 big ways to do mircrotargeting by thinking small.

  1. TARGET MOST READY TO ACT WITH LONG TAIL KEYWORDS: Amazon, Apple and Google are pushing us into voice search. 60% of searches now come from mobile devices according to Hitwise. ComScore says that by 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice searches. Voice activated searches are longer. They tend to be three-to-five keywords in length, and questions. Phrases like “where to buy honda motorcycle parts near me” or “how to get honda oem parts” are examples. Why pursue long-tail keyword targeting. 88% of consumers who search for a local business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours according to Nectafy.
  2. FIND YOUR FANS WITH FACEBOOK ADVERTISING: In 2013, Facebook forged partnerships with data brokers including Epsilon, Acxiom, and Datalogix. These companies have access to trillions of data transactions each year. Facebook advertising is based on finding the audiences that are most likely to become your fans or your customers. You can target Facebook users by: 1) Recent purchase behaviors, 2) life events, 3) custom audiences (e.g. job function, income, zip code, website behaviors) 4) lookalike audiences and 5) layered audiences (behaviors, demographics, and geo-location data to reduce your audience to as little as one person). Facebook for Business is one of the most powerful microtargeting tools.
  3.  GEO-TARGET WITH GOOGLE ADWORDS: Paid search ad can be served in your neighborhood instead of nationally and for a small fraction of the cost. Google Adwords can be targeted by: 1) City, state, country, region, 2) DMA (designated market area), 3) ZIP code, 4) radius around a point and 5) location extension targeting. With geo-targeting, you won’t squander your ad budget on wasted clicks from people who are outside your target area, and you’ll increase the chances that the people clicking on your ads are actually eligible to receive your products and services.
  4.  KNOW TIME TO TARGET WITH GOOGLE TRENDS. By tracking when and where people are searching Google, Google Trends shows how often a particular term is searched. For example, for a company with a product related to the flu, flu symptoms and flu treatments, Google has been able to predict  for these terms outbreaks of influenza before government agencies do. Google Trends has made it easier to track the path of a flu virus. If Google Trends can help target at the local level where and when the flu is most active before the government, imagine what it can do for your business.
  5. TAP INTO AN INFLUENCER: A-list celebrities do not come cheap. Advertising dollars might be better spent best spent on hyper-targeted marketing and social media personalities. An example of the latter is Shoes of Prey’s collaboration with Blair Fowler. Shoes of Prey is a customizable women’s shoes business, They tapped Blair Fowler, a 16-year-old beauty video blogger, or “vlogger”, to host a giveaway on the style guru’s YouTube channel. The result: a permanent 300% uplift in sales. The firm cleverly leveraged the distribution and trust Fowler had with her fans to drive eyeballs and engagement at scale. To-date, the video has received 750,000 views and nearly 30,000 comments.
  6. DEFINE BOUNDARIES WITH GEO-FENCING: You can build a virtual “fence” around a geographic location (for example, an office building or sporting arena) and serve ads to people on their mobile devices whenever they are within a certain radius of that location. Geo-fencing is a feature in a software program that uses the global positioning system (GPS) or radio frequency identification (RFID) to define geographical boundaries. Using this type of targeting is a great addition to many types of online advertising advocacy campaigns to reach the majority of your intended audience in a unique way.
  7. DON’T FORGET SOCIAL NETWORK SEARCH FUNCTIONS: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and all social networks have a search function; that is, their own individual search engine. You can use to find people who is talking about the topics that matter most to you and who is in a location now where you are targeting. They are an invaluable research tool, data source and opportunity for promotion. And they are free to use.

Microtargeting is research, data collection and marketing all working together against a well defined niche achieving bigger results for a much smaller investment.
Do these ways convince you of the power of microtargeting? Could your business benefit?

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