We spend a lot of time assessing audience strategy at Rise. Far too often, we talk with clients whose existing approach to engaging customers seems efficient but lacks the flexibility and transparency the client needs. Or they’re hitting a few target metrics but aren’t building real connections with real consumers and, in turn, haven’t delivered real value.
The hard truth? When it comes to audience strategy, brands should be coming to the table with a set of non-negotiables. Here are three to insist on:
1. No false promises: get specific about campaign “optimization”
It’s time to ditch the tactics that don’t deliver. That means moving on from a reliance on platform-based segments, which are inherently flawed and fickle. (When’s the last time you updated your “interests” on Facebook?) They may also push you into using automated campaign settings, which promise to optimize spend to meet your targeted, reach-based awareness goals.
But these campaigns often disregard who you want to target, instead seeking to maximize impressions at the lowest cost, regardless of the audience. We recently reviewed data from an automated campaign where around 85% of the impressions were served outside the brand’s target audience.
2. No black boxes: real data-driven marketing is transparent (and flexible)
Many third-party audience platforms enable you to select pre-defined segments. Sure, these may look attractive based on their names, but they’re often black boxes. Which consumers comprise these segments?
You should be able to leverage truly custom audience segments and do so at scale. Ideally, you can tap into a proprietary core dataset like the one we deploy at Rise. It covers more than 250 million U.S. consumers, mapped to a resilient identifier: their physical home address. Using household as the backbone, we layer in multiple identifiers to create high-intent audience This provides flexibility and transparency, allowing our marketers to build highly granular audience segments across channels.
3. No assumptions: better media strategy starts with better audience data
You need a way of targeting audiences based on where they consume media to build a meaningful connection and inspire action.
Your audiences are in different mindsets depending on what type of media they are engaging with; by better understanding those mindsets and motivations as they relate to platforms, you’ll be able to better capture their attention and drive engagement.
Creating an omnichannel strategy tied to media consumption will also enable you to maximize unduplicated reach across platforms, unlocking new audiences to drive meaningful connections with. Connections planning should be tailored to different segments based on actions, not assumptions.
Ready to take your audience strategy to the next level? Start by downloading Rise’s (free) Audience Strategy Guide. Then reach out.
