What is the most "optimal" way of targeting? (8)
So far, here were some of the methods i've used to target
1) The most obvious - Interested based. Promoting, say, a bike rental offer.. i would target bikers. People who like bike related magazines, blogs, forums, brands,
influencers, etc.
2) Demographics based - If I'm promoting, say solar, I'd be targeting M, 40+, who live in certain zip codes. Basically, people who "look" like the people who might buy solar.
3) Behavioral based - Ex. people who recently bought X or did Y. Obviously, this is of higher intent than just interest because now they are taking action .. and thus competitors are more likely to bid for their traffic.
4) Broad - Nothing other than country/age/sex. I've still yet to get it to work effectively, but the theory behind it is that going broad lowers CPC. Basically going for shotgun approach, but only effective for broad appeal products & services (obviously, solar would not work here)
When you guys start a brand new campaign where the targeting options could be one of many (or combinations of), what is the most effective way to target ? Is there a STM guide on this somewhere? ( I study this forum inside and out, and yet i haven't seen much on this)
Targeting is in the guess work of campaigns. I mean you can do a lot of research before hand with google and facebook audience insight but in the end its about which targeted audience works best with whatever you are selling or promoting and the best way to find out is to test different audiences. Maybe put more coin into your testing stage! 
Theres 9 basic ways you can target on a gdn campaign.
If youve been doing adwords for as long as i have it becomes second nature to always test all methods then find the most effective and run with it.
In some camps topics work best. In others keywords. Whilst in some cases simple affinity based on costum urls kills.
Best way is to try it and see what works. Remember sure youll lose money trying but youll make it back 10x once you find the best way.
Originally Posted by iAmAttila
Depends on a lot of things, but mostly the scope of your offer. The very best luck I've had is with uploading my lists and making lookalike audiences combined with demo. Other than that, I always layer demo & interest, demo & behavior, and sometimes I work all three.
Audience insights isn't very helpful, but it's worth checking out.
What's your niche?
Trying a new niche. Real estate lead gen
Niiice... Unfortunately all kinds of people buy houses.
I would try combos expectant parents, new job, child 0-3, renters, people interested in zillow, etc. You're going to have to get a little creative, and pretty tight with your targeting... A lot of your power is going to come from your copy...
The most effective method this being fb is to make a page. Then get 5 to 10 articles that solve problems of your demo written.. then publish em and do boost posts so they end up going to your website to read the full story.
At the website create a custom audience.
After youve built it up run ads to this custom audience.
Gluck
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