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Thinking Outside The AdWords Box
- by Heather McCormack , April 2, 2012
Social media is catalyzing a shift in how conventional advertising, PR, and digital converge -- and its impact means that there is an increased need for unified
brand messaging across all communications platforms.
Long gone are the days of “set it and forget it” marketing -- waiting around for your audience to find you. Today, brands must chase after consumers and target them everywhere they may be consuming media -- or rest assured that someone else will. So what can brands do to ensure that they are finding their target audience? Think outside of the Adwords text box. To be effective, brand marketers need to provide a strong, relevant and cohesive message that cuts across the noise.
To start, DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA) and the Google Display Network (GDN) are both display advertising platforms that advertisers use to target their most
qualified audience, using various types of display ads in different ways -- which include, but are not limited to, those mentioned in this article. While there are a variety of other platforms
available, these two utilize Google’s vast reach, audience pool, and market share in an effort to provide optimal results for reaching advertiser goals.
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If they have visited the site before, remarket
Remarketing only targets those who have previously visited a particular Web site, but have not converted. Both Google Display Network and DoubleClick for Advertisers are highly effective in remarketing. A user is first “cookied” (their information is captured for a set amount of time), and a remarketing pixel then “fires” in order to serve said user with ads in an effort to bring them back into the conversion funnel. Remarketing “lists” can also be used to target of users with specific interests (i.e., Booking Travel, iPads, Dog Collars). Remarketing is best used as part of an integrated campaign strategy, along with PPC and social media campaigns, to drive those who reach the site back to the site, thereby creating and increasing brand awareness. According to Coremetrics, site visitors browse products during two of every five visits, representing a significant percentage of active browsers to target with messaging that encourages repeat site visits.
Monitor audience behaviors and pounce
Similar to remarketing, behavioral and predictive targeting delivers users to your brand who are already the most likely to be influenced by the brand’s message, using algorithms to sort through user data over a set period of time in order to match users to your product/service, and then serving these users contextually specific ads based on their search behavior, and propensity to visit and convert on similar sites. These types of targeting can increase click-through rates -- and help a brand not only define its best target audience, but also use the audience data to make informed decisions and gain insights for future optimizations. Both DoubleClick for Advertisers and Google Display Network offer a range of options for behavioral and predictive targeting.
Grab 'em where they already are - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube - Social Applications
Like. Link. Share. Tweet. Perhaps four of the most important words in the past decade. These applications are familiar to users and advertisers alike. Nine out of every 10 Internet users visit a social site at least once a month. Now, users can Like, Link, Share and Tweet anytime, anywhere. As the Internet infrastructure becomes more personalized, so do advertisers’ efforts to reach them with initiatives such as:
*Sponsored stories
*Sponsored tweets
*Targeting by “Likes”
*Niche video targeting
*Apps
The more these “targeting tools” ae used in conjunction with one another as part of an integrated marketing strategy, the more likely it is that advertisers will be able to solidify the brand message and gain only the most qualified traffic, facilitating higher ROI and an overall increase in brand awareness and conversions.
