The Era of Precision Targeting

With the advent of smartphones, consumers are exposed to a world of choices. The power is with them who have the freedom to control, compare and change brands. Brand marketers on the other hand also have a world of choices on how to reach their target audience effectively. Still today, there are many cases of bad advertisement targeting making brands fail to connect with their audiences in such a way that they develop enduring relationships. Experiences drive relationships, which is why brands need to spend time and effort to develop the right precision targeting strategy starting today.

Why do you need precision targeting?

A successful ad strategy starts with marketers breaking down their target audiences into specific groups, so that they can cater to their distinctive needs with different creatives and messaging. Precision targeting follows after, and it is crucial for successful conversions. If a prospect is incorrectly targeted, then he/she may lose faith in the brand, and the chances of an ad conversion diminish. Brands have now realised the importance of precision targeting and the impact it can have. There are three main reasons why precision targeting is paramount:

1. Respect the user and only target them with relevant ads. The user experience has to be treated with extreme care so that a real positive emotional connection can be sparked from an ad. 
2. Enhance the overall campaign performance. If an ad is targeting the right audience, engagement rates and overall performance will be positively impacted as well.
3. Prevent budget wastage. Brands are always looking to reduce the wastage that goes outside of their target; otherwise, they need to spend more money to reach their desired volume of target users.

How do we measure precision?

Data precision can be measured through OTR (On-Target Reach), which tells us the number of impressions that are seen by the right target audience. If, for example, a data provider offers 18 per cent OTR for a men’s 18-24 age target group, that means that for every thousand impressions delivered, 82 per cent of the client’s media budget is thrown at people they didn‘t intend to target. You need to buy over 5,000 impressions to reach a thousand people in the men’s 18-24 age target group. To ensure precision then, advertisers have no choice but to work with data providers who can assure a high OTR, so that they can achieve a more effective On-Target CPM.

Data Providers who deliver a high OTR

How can brands spot the right data providers who can deliver on the high OTR promise? Of course, this can be as easy as testing different data providers for different test campaigns. However, the process can be simplified by conducting due diligence on each data partner before engaging with them. Making sure brands understand the source of the data and the collection methods is critical. For example, data that has been ID-verified, like the one coming from telcos is highly accurate and will offer high OTR rates. Also, brands need to ensure that the data partners they work with follow strict quality audits to make sure the data quality they ingest is always good even if volumes and number of partners increase. These audits will ensure that OTR rates stay consistent over time. For example, that includes testing a sample data set before closing a contract with a partner, testing the whole data set again and conducting regular check-ups.

Conclusion

In this fast-paced world, everyone demands information on the go. People don’t want to spend their time on things that do not matter to them. Advertisements have a lot of relevance in today’s life but only if they are correctly placed. Feeding ads to the wrong target will never achieve the objective. The right targeting not only increases the chances of ad conversion but can also increase brand loyalty. Most of the brands have already started using deterministic data due to the high OTR rates they can provide, and they are experiencing much better campaign results and savings. Without precision targeting, brands will lose not only money but also the trust of the consumers.