Blue Suede Shoes – It’s a Matter Of Targeting

Back in the days when my blue suede shoes were considered hip, I used to go clubbing. I had a friend who hit on 99% of the ladies at the party, and when we asked him if this one phone number he rarely gets - is worth the effort, he always said “well, all I need is one”.

As an advertiser in the digital realm, I am sure you can relate…. Those poor conversion rates may not sound appealing to almost any kind of advertising model, and as an advertiser you always aspire to target your ads to market shares with the highest ROI. The real pickle for advertisers, before selecting those golden-stars-cash-cow shares, which will potentially create a positive ROI – is how can you prefect your targeting so that you reach your top potential audience  and maximize your lead-to-sale conversion rates?

Smart targeting is the name of the game for all media types. On TV/radio commercials and billboards, the level of controlling the audience is minimal, and narrows downs to broadcasting times and locations. This goes way wider when dealing with smartphones. The user agent information being received just by engaging to one’s SDK is a goldmine for advertisers. Their city, IP, OS version, screen size, 3G/WiFi, language, carrier, age, gender, interests, and the list goes on.. Sounds like it’s everything we need, doesn’t it?

Well, sure enough that a bingo application will be better optimized when targeted to London, on winter time, for 35-60 year old women using a PC. This is the cherry on top of the crème of the crop, and there is no argument about it potentially deriving the best results. But what about the rest of the pie? Better yet, what about those individuals within this market share who don’t wish to receive any bingo apps’ ads? Isn’t it a double swing and a miss? Both for spending money on miss-targeted advertisements and causing a bad user experience damaging the brand’s reputation?

Sorry, but I like to think of myself as a special individual who wants to decide when and when not to consume advertisements. Of course I am included in endless market shares, but after falling off a cliff on ‘Temple Run’, I do not wish to watch an anti-bolding products videos. there is a limit of failure I can endure… being reminded of my receding hairline on top of that is just too much to handle…! It might be more relevant to me after reaching a high score. What I am trying to say is get to know me! Know my likes and dislikes, my interests and my preferences and react to them with your ad content. It is about each and every user’s CHOICE to engage, or not, with your ad content – and this is a choice you have to respect.

This market share is the most zoomed-in and accurate market share possible – the single person market share. There are advanced technologies that enable advertisers with outstanding ad-engagement results, focusing not only on targeting relevant users with the relevant content, but mostly on displaying the right content to the right user while in the right mindset of engagement.   

Such technologies can determine, based on machine learning algorithms, which ad content to display to whom and when, as an organic part of the game flow. They can also identify when not to display an advertisement so as not to interrupt a user’s gameplay experience. Unlike standard digital media advertising, which is statically displayed in pre-determined media slots (for example, banners located within a website), these innovative technologies seek to identify the exact moment a user is likely to engage with a brand before displaying the ad.   

If my friend would have invested some time to focus on one high potential date, get to know her, buy her a drink, give her a value proposition she could relate to and a date experience she would have enjoyed – he would not be watching “Friends” re-runs with his mom right now…

Give your audience what they want when they want it, respect and cater to their choice of engagement - and you are bound to acquire some real advocates for your brand or app too.