So, as I'm starting to launch my first campaigns, I'm realizing that audience targeting is a bit daunting. For someone that is new to a vertical, it's tough to really know who to target right off the bat. My logic tells me to go as broad as possible and slowly optimize down until the right demo is found. However, that can be extremely expensive.
Would anyone care to share their strategy for audience targeting with a new campaign/vertical/offer - assuming you have ZERO knowledge of the vertical's twerks, interests, and other info?
Is anyone using sites like Alexa or Compete to obtain demographic info? How are you applying this information to your audience targeting?
Research. Lots of research.
If I'm entering a totally new vertical, I'll start by approaching it as if I was joining that vertical as a consumer. Say I was planning to get into CPS plans for golf tuition, for example, I'd start by tracking down as many forums and blogs on golf as I could. I'd look for the big ones, and then I'd start reading and making notes.
I'd be looking for pain points specifically - things that lots of people complain about that I can use in headlines and body copy - but I'd also look through to determine what the demo looks like. A lot of forums have an "introduce yourself" section, like STM - they're gold dust for figuring out who a) is in your vertical and b) spends a lot of time reading about it on the Internet.
To be honest, I put more faith in that sort of research than I do in free demographic tools. Alexa, in particular, is sometimes useful, but sometimes spouts a giant fountain of bullshit.
That's some info....Also use Facebook's targeting to get demo info...using the golf example, you may want to target men that are interested in PGA, Popular proshops, and coarse
Awesome info! Thanks guys.