While creative work is important in advertising, it is much more important to deliver the created content and message to the right target audience.. Internet and web technologies have made it very easy to follow the consumer, and moreover, to obtain detailed information about the consumer.. Therefore, it has become possible to determine the advertising audience in detail on the web beyond traditional advertising channels.. In this way, the opportunity to deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time has increased.. There are different targeting methods that can be used to fulfill different marketing purposes (Plummer et al., 2007);

Demographic Targeting

Demographic targeting is the oldest and most important in advertising. the most used method. Demographic targeting is generally appropriate for broader product categories that are not directly related to a particular behavioral pattern.. For example, demographic targeting can be both cheaper and more effective than behavioral targeting in product and service advertisements such as consumer electronics or travel services.. However, it is recommended to use different targeting methods to increase the effect of this method.. Richer targeting methods also increase the chances of better focused advertising.

INFO : Demographic targeting is generally suitable for broader product categories that are not directly related to a particular behavioral pattern.

Contextual (Contextual) Targeting

Contextual or contextual targeting means ad serving appropriate to the content of the website. The display of shampoo ads in the hair care sections of health and beauty sites, financial products on economy pages, hotel ads on travel sites can be examples of contextual targeting.

INFORMATION : Contextual or contextual targeting means ad serving in accordance with the content of the website.

These pages are where customers are already looking for information about certain products and services.. In this way, advertisers have the chance to reach consumers who are actively in the purchasing process.. At the same time, it is thought that the presence of the brand in places where there is quality content will benefit the brand.. For example, it has been seen that it is more effective to display automobile advertisements on automobile-related sites and to display dishwasher advertisements on kitchen products-related sites.. Of course, although the quality and popularity of the advertised site is also important, it has been seen that site-product compatibility is more important in such products. is gaining. For example, you can advertise toilet paper on a website about cars, but the fact that the site is a well-known and reliable site makes the advertisement more effective. It is also important to pay attention to the reputation of the site.. For example, a brand in the FMCG category should focus primarily on site reputation when evaluating the sites where it will advertise, while a brand in the luxury consumer goods category should primarily focus on sites that offer content compatible with its product.

Behavioral Targeting

Behavioral targeting is based on the idea of ​​showing consumers an ad that might be of interest to them, when and where they least expect it.. Interest in this type of targeting has grown rapidly in recent years.. Auto companies are among the first to adopt this type of targeting.. For example, a consumer who really wants to buy a car may come across a car ad while browsing the page of a newspaper.

Cookies owned by advertising networks track the pages consumers visit, the areas they click, the topics and products they are interested in on the sites within these networks.. In this way, for example, the consumer first examines certain brands of cars on a site that sells second-hand cars.. Afterwards, he read an article about the rock band he was interested in and even downloaded a song.. Finally, he searched for information about his child’s chickenpox.. Cookies, which track all these behaviors of the consumer, actually make it possible to create a much more detailed profile of the consumer compared to what demographic data offers.. Therefore, advertisers monitor the visits of consumers to different sites and ensure that the most appropriate advertisements are shown to them.

In content-linked targeting, the advertisement should be shown on a site that is compatible with the product category, while in behavioral targeting, advertisements can be shown to the consumer on any page he or she is interested in.. For example, in the example above, the car brand ad that the consumer is interested in will be able to show it to the consumer while browsing the music pages.. Context-linked targeting is expensive and ad slots on reputable sites are already too full, making behavioral targeting preferable.. Thanks to this targeting method, it is possible to show ads related to the person’s interests on different sites at a much cheaper cost.

Behavioral targeting provides many advantages to advertisers.. First of all, thanks to this type of targeting, advertisers turn to more cost-effective sites and reduce their total costs in purchasing advertising space.. On the other hand, click-through rates of behavioral targeting were 108% higher than contextual targeting.. Customer action rates are 18% higher than contextual targeting. Ads using this type of targeting are reported to have higher brand awareness, ad awareness, and ad recall rates.

Geo-Targeting

Broader focus on the entire Internet means reaching an audience, but 27% of searches are aimed at finding local products and services. Thus, geotargeting greatly increases the likelihood that consumers within a particular region will find the ad.. Geographical location can be determined by asking area codes, zip codes, GPS, IP addresses and their location directly to the visitors. /p>

Although the Internet is a global tool, local use of this field has significant potential.. This type of targeting is very useful, especially in terms of travel and tourism.. It is a method that can be preferred by local hotels, restaurants or car rental companies.. Although this type of targeting is slightly more expensive, it has better clickthrough and consumer activation rates. It’s also a great way to capture customers who search online and shop offline.

Targeting by Parts of the Day

By parts of the day targeting was first introduced with radios.. Since there are morning and evening commute and return hours, radios can reach a large number of listeners during these hours.. Similarly, for television, the hours of 08.00-11.00 in the evening (prime time) constitute the hours of greatest interest.. Different times of the day have different types of visitors and viewing features. The product categories they focus on may also be different.. Based on this, the advertisement content offered at different times of the day also varies.

INFORMATION : Targeting by parts of the day is based on the idea that different hours of the day have different types of visitors and tracking features.. From this point of view, it is a targeting method focused on presenting different advertising content at different times of the day.

There is a similar structure on the Internet.. Basically, work rhythm or working hours affect Internet use.. Business hours are the most suitable hours to reach the desk-bound group over the Internet.. Internet use of this segment reaches its peak in the first hours of the morning.. These hours are the most suitable hours to reach the white-collar workers who work at the desk.. In the afternoon, usage drops slowly.

For example, Budweiser focuses on Friday afternoons, when its target audience is craving a break from work and some fun, in order to reach white-collar employees and acquire new customers.. Budweiser advertised on CBS’s Market Watch site on Friday afternoons for two years to reach its target audience of young, white-collar, male employees.

Interest Targeting

There are many websites created around specific interests.. There are websites that focus on different interests, from cars to airplanes, from movies to music, and there are more popular ones among them.. It has been observed that consumers who are more interested in a particular site within the framework of a particular interest, spend more time on that site, as well as evaluate the ads in the appropriate category on these pages more positively.. These people stated that the advertisements on the relevant pages belong to higher quality products and services, they think that these are more reputable brands, and that they notice and read these advertisements more.

INFORMATION : Relevance

Attention targeting is based on identifying the sites that consumers are interested in, liking or following and advertising on them.. For example, before the new episodes are aired, a TV series can identify the websites they visit frequently, where the viewers are interested in the series or the actors who play in the series, and can promote their new episodes through these sites.

Targeting by Purchasing Basis

One of the newer targeting methods, targeting by purchase, is the name given to targeting by analyzing the Internet behavior of the target consumers of products or brands and then targeting them.. For example, if a shaving foam company has determined that its customers who use its products the most spend a lot of time on sports and auction sites, it may focus on advertising more on these sites.. Or, if a company that sells diet products sees that their customers who buy low-carb products frequently visit health-related sites, they may direct their advertisements to these sites.. However, this method also requires a special data collection and analysis work.

INFORMATION : Targeting on the basis of purchase, analyzing the Internet behavior of the target consumers of the products or brands and targeting over this. is the name given to doing.

Creating-Targeting Strategy

There are some important points that brands should consider when creating a targeting strategy;

• Successful targeting can be achieved by using more than one method together.. For example, a local market can reach a more accurate consumer audience by doing purchase-based targeting in addition to geo-targeting.
• The targeting strategy should be in line with the marketing objectives.. Acquiring new customers, promoting a new product or increasing sales for a certain period may require the use of different targeting methods.
• Each targeting method offers different perspectives to companies.
• The most used The targeting method is to advertise on sites that have product or brand-related content and have a good reputation in the eyes of consumers.. In this way, the brand both gets the chance to reach motivated consumers who are interested in the product category and paves the way for a more positive perception of its own brand thanks to the reputation of the site. presenting the ad. Here, the content of the site where the advertisement is presented does not have to be related to the advertisement.
• If your main marketing purpose is to increase brand awareness, targeting and behavioral targeting according to parts of the day may be more appropriate.
• If your main marketing objective is positive referrals to the brand, contextual and behavioral targeting may be more appropriate.

You Can Follow All Topics of New Media Education Series in Advertising Here