Audiences
If you are working with Programmatic Advertising or pursuing a course in Marketing, this term must have popped up quite often.
Before we start understand what Audiences are, let us try answering the all important question: How important are Audiences to Programmatic Advertising?
The simplest answer would be that Audiences are the most critical part of a Programmatic Campaign.
What are Audiences?
The term "Audience" encapsulates all users who have viewed and interacted with your Ad in the past or would to so in the future. Details of these users are grouped into lists based on common criteria (popularly called Audience lists) which are then used to deliver targeted and relevant Ads.
Why are Audiences so important?
Biryani is cliched in Hyderabad, so cliched in fact, that the city has lent its name to the dish. Thus, deciding the demographic targeting for a newly opened Biryani chain would not be a challenge. The challenge would be to ensure that it reaches the right audience because not everyone in Hyderabad would want Biryani at the same point of time. This is where Audiences play a crucial role.
Using pre-processed lists of Audiences (called Audience Lists), you can understand which set of people purchase food products that are at the same price range as your Biryani, which set purchase online as opposed to sets who prefer offline purchases. You would also know which people have visited your site or similar sites recently. One would naturally want to invest more in these people as they have a higher chance of buying the product.
This has a two-way advantage, Advertisers can spend efficiently by ensuring that their Advertising budget is invested in consumers who are relatively more inclined in purchasing their product. Consumers benefit because they see more relevant ads and not only does it enhance their online experience but also invest their money in things that are of interest to them.
All said I would like to make one correction: Everyone in Hyderabad would want Biryani all the time. And if you're there, you would too. Long live Biryani!
Audience Lists
We've talked about Audiences in terms of Digital marketing. Now we will understand what Audience Lists are. If your guess is that they are lists of Audiences, you're right!
Audience lists are lists of users who are grouped on the basis of a particular trend that is common to users on the list. Some popular lists are:
Behavioral lists: Shoppers, Art and Entertainment
Income lists: Income < $25,000, Income between $25,000 to $55,000
Gender
Interest-based lists: Motorcycle enthusiasts, Outdoor enthusiasts
What is important to understand is that a particular user may fall in more than one Audience list. Also, targeting multiple Audience lists will target all audiences that fall in each list as each list.
A thumb rule in marketing is to target as many Audience lists as possible while still keeping the targeting relevant to the campaign goals. This ensures that the campaign gets the highest audience reach while also ensuring that Audiences that fall in multiple targeted lists are targeted more frequently as they are more likely to purchase the product.
A deep understanding of Audience behavior is key to Programmatic Buying as all campaigns cater to a certain segment of the Audience. Knowing the right audience for your campaign prevents overspending and underperformance.
Keep following the site for more updates on Audiences and similar topics. Happy marketing!
Shaibal Nandy Mazumdar