I got recruited to be an electrician… 🔌🔌🔌
Why Marketers Struggle to Reach Customers: Ad Campaign Targeting Is WAY Off
The other day as I was scrolling through LinkedIn, I got served an ad to apply to be an electrician.
Although it sounds really fun, I’m a bit busy running a marketing agency. And truthfully, I’d probably burn your house down on accident if I tried to wire it.
I mean, I’m the guy who once melted an extension cord and nearly burned down a theater in college.
I’d be the worst electrician.
More than that, there is nothing in my browsing history, interests, or anything else that would indicate that I should be an electrician.
And this is the number one problem I see with many B2B marketing campaigns.
With the ability to put ads in front of literally anyone, I find that most ad campaign targeting is way off.
Many B2B companies tend to use things like demographics, age, or even job title as a way to reach prospects.
And if you’re selling a ubiquitous product (like Quickbooks Software or a Stapler), then that strategy can work.
But what if you’re selling a multi-million dollar water system or a software package with only 100 potential customers in the world?
Do you really want to target facilities managers between the ages of 40 and 65?
Sure, your target audience *might* be in that demographic, but there will be literally millions of people who aren’t your customers.
That means you’re going to spend money to put your marketing message in front of people who will never buy. Not because your marketing is bad, but simply because they aren’t your customers. They don’t care and never will.
Does that sound like a good strategy? Not really.
So as you move into 2019, here are a few ideas on how to refine your audience and actually reach the people who care:
- Set Up an XABM Campaign – Our XABM strategies work like a funnel in reverse. Instead of trying to reach as many people as possible, we make defined list of real people at real companies who can actually buy your product. Then we get ads in front of them. This is known as account based marketing.
- Use Intent Targeting – Using Google’s massive display network and YouTube video, you can display ads to people who have previously searched for relevant terms. You can even show ads to people who’ve searched for your competitors. So you know who is in the market. Serve ads to them.
- Use LinkedIn Groups Targeting – We’ve routinely seen a better CTR on ads when we’ve used LinkedIn and targeted groups instead of general job title/industry targeting. Find people who are active in groups that are relevant to your industry.
These are just a few of the dozens of ways we have to get in front of someone digitally.
Not to mention all the traditional sales methods, calls, emails, etc.
If you combine these two, you’ll be unstoppable.
Cheers to your success in 2019.
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